Bestselling historian Keith Lowe's The Fear and the Freedom looks at the astonishing innovations that sprang from WWII and how they changed the world.

The Fear and the Freedom is Keith Lowe's follow-up to Savage Continent. While that book painted a picture of Europe in all its horror as WWII was ending, The Fear and the Freedom looks at all that has happened since, focusing on the changes that were brought about because of WWII-simultaneously one of the most catastrophic and most innovative events in history. It killed millions and eradicated empires, creating the idea of human rights, and giving birth to the UN. It was because of the war that penicillin was first mass-produced, computers were developed, and rockets first sent to the edge of space. The war created new philosophies, new ways of living, new architecture: this was the era of Le Corbusier, Simone de Beauvoir and Chairman Mao.
But amidst the waves of revolution and idealism there were also fears of globalization, a dread of the atom bomb, and an unexpressed longing for a past forever gone. All of these things and more came about as direct consequences of the war and continue to affect the world that we live in today. The Fear and the Freedom is the first book to look at all of the changes brought about because of WWII. Based on research from five continents, Keith Lowe's The Fear and the Freedom tells the very human story of how the war not only transformed our world but also changed the very way we think about ourselves.

Introduction
Part I - Myths and Legends
1. The End of the World
2. Heroes
3. Monsters
4. Martyrs
5. The Beginning of the World
Part II - Utopias
6. Science
7. Planned Utopias
8. Equality
9. Freedom and Belonging
Part II - One World
10. World Economy
11. World Government
12. World Law
Part III - Two Superpowers
13. The USA
14. The USSR
15. World Polarisation
Part IV - Two Hundred Nations
16. The Birth of an Asian Nation
17. The Birth of an African Nation
18. Democracy in Latin America
19. Israel: Nation of Archetypes
20. The Fall and Rise of Nationalism in Europe
Part V - Ten Thousand Fragments
21. Loss
22. Outcasts
23. Trauma
24. The Globalisation of Peoples