The Transformation of the World — Juergen Osterhammel

Osterhammel's history of the nineteenth century is organised thematically rather than chronologically — chapters on mobility, living standards, cities, states, revolutions, empire — and covers the entire globe rather than just Europe and North America. The ambition is to describe the transformation of the world rather than simply to narrate its political events. At over a thousand pages, it is the most comprehensive account of the century available in English.