The Second World War casts a long shadow, portrayed as a necessary and paradigmatic war that defeated fascism. During recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, US presidents and British prime ministers have tried to claim they were following in the footsteps of Winston Churchill by standing up to dictators.

In The Second World War Chris Bambery tests this position in a thorough account of the war and demonstrates why it continues to dominate TV history channels and school history books.

Arguing that the conflict was as much about a division of the world between the great powers as it was as a rising of ordinary people against fascism, he offers a nuanced and radical analysis that sets the book apart from conventional histories of the war.