The bestselling author explores the impact of WW2 - highlighting the stories of twenty people from around the world.
How does the experience and memory of the Second World War - one of the most catastrophic events in human history - affect our lives today?

The years after 1945 were a time of both terror and wonder, whose impact still dominates our lives. Out of the ashes of war came the superpowers and nations of the modern world. From the new technologies delivered by scientists came the possibility of nuclear war. Politicians fantasized about overhauled societies, with some arguing for global government, others for independence, leading to the arguments about nationalism, immigration and globalisation that exist today.

As well as analyzing the major changes and the myths that emerged, The Fear and the Freedom uses individual stories to examine the philosophical and psychological impact of the war, by showing how leaders and ordinary people coped with the post-war world and turned one of the greatest traumas in history into an opportunity for change. This is the definitive exploration of the aftermath of WWII - and the impact it still has.

Part I. Myths and legends --
The end of the world --
Heroes --
Monsters --
Martyrs --
The beginning of the world --
Part II. Utopias --
Science --
Planned utopias --
Equality and diversity --
Freedom and belonging --
Part III. One world --
World economy --
World government --
World law --
Part IV. Two superpowers --
USA --
USSR --
World polarization --
Part V. Two hundred nations --
The birth of an Asian nation --
The birth of an African nation --
Democracy in Latin America --
Israel: nation of archetypes --
European nationalism --
Part VI. Te thousand fragments --
Trauma --
Loss --
Outcasts --
The globalization of peoples.