It’s a story we thought we knew. The Second World War ended and the United States succeeded Britain as leader of the free world. But the reality is the British Empire did not simply relinquish power and neither was America eager to take up the mantle of global affairs. Instead the two allies improvised an uneasy, shifting partnership for twelve long years while most of western Europe lay in turmoil and Russia grew increasingly bellicose. Then, in 1956, things changed.

Derek Leebaert spins a riveting global narrative of secret ties, diplomatic quarrels and military interventions, casting political giants Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson in a new light. In a volatile world of decolonization, Zionism, proxy wars and the Suez Crisis, we witness the development of the ‘special relationship’, rising tensions with Russia and China, and – ultimately – the shaping of the modern world order. What emerges is an eerily familiar story of an overstretched global empire meeting a rising power as it gains in confidence and might.