Paul Thomas Chamberlin is an associate professor of history at Columbia University. The author of The Cold War's Killing Fields and The Global Offensive, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Christian Science Monitor. He lives in New York.

While historians have long identified World War II as a seminal influence on our contemporary era, none have effectively argued that colonialism in its varied versions was its ultimate legacy-until now. In previous work, Chamberlin contested Cold War realism; likewise, here he upends common assumptions about the Good War. He demythologizes in a way that eloquently covers this epic conflict in all its details-experts and war buffs will find a lot of battle descriptions that are fresh here-while provoking us to rethink our understanding of history itself. Truly a tour de force!

Paul Thomas Chamberlin is an associate professor of history at Columbia University. The author of The Cold War's Killing Fields and The Global Offensive, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Christian Science Monitor. He lives in New York.

While historians have long identified World War II as a seminal influence on our contemporary era, none have effectively argued that colonialism in its varied versions was its ultimate legacy-until now. In previous work, Chamberlin contested Cold War realism; likewise, here he upends common assumptions about the Good War. He demythologizes in a way that eloquently covers this epic conflict in all its details-experts and war buffs will find a lot of battle descriptions that are fresh here-while provoking us to rethink our understanding of history itself. Truly a tour de force!