two under review, Creating the Twentieth Century and Transforming the Twentieth Century, make a single argument, stretching from 1867 to the present. Oxford University Press has configured them as companion volumes, with similar layouts and jacket designs. Both author and publisher declare, correctly, that each book can be enjoyed on its own, yet they deserve to be read together. In Creating the Twentieth Century, Smil argues that the two generations before 1914 laid the foundations for an expan sive dvilization based on the synergy of fossil fuels, science and technical innova tion. He rejects claims that the computer nd the Internet have caused unprec edented economic acceleration and ar gues that the remarkable growth and social change of the 20th century were based primarily on refinement and de velopment of madiines and processes created before World War I. After a first