Covering the beginnings of the 20th century up to the present day with great detail and depth, more than 8,000 entries contain comprehensive information unavailable in any other similar volume. This highly detailed encyclopedia spans the full extent of world history since 1900, including world leaders, diplomacy, conflicts, government, explorers, inventions, music, literature, film, athletes, and more. Originally compiled from numerous Facts On File publications, this new edition has been completely updated by a senior scholar in world history and now contains hundreds of new entries concerning recent events. To accommodate the new entries, artwork, and recent information, this new edition has been expanded into three easy-to-use volumes. New entries include: Al Qaeda; Madeleine Albright; Kofi Annan; Osama bin Laden; Tony Blair; George W. Bush; William Jefferson Clinton; Clones and cloning; Czech Republic; East Timor; European Union; Bill Gates; Globalization; Human Genome Project; Islamism; Steven Jobs; Hamid Karzai; Microsoft; Napster; NASDAQ; Vladimir Putin; J.K. Rowling; September 11, 2001; and Tiger Woods.