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What has defined the 21st century so far?

Eight shocks that made the world we live in — from the dot-com crash to Gaza. What happened, how — and the shockwave that never stopped.

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The century is a quarter done and it has already rewritten the rules several times over. These eight reports trace the shocks in order — money, war, money again, revolt, a moving border, terror, plague, and Gaza — each signed by one of our correspondents, writing as a historian: facts, zero slant.

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Eight shocks that made the world we live in — from the dot-com crash to Gaza. What happened, how — and the shockwave that never stopped.…

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