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The Visionaries
  • Published: 1 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857509727
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99
Categories:

The Visionaries

The Making of the Post World War II Order in the West

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
1 Sept 2026
Hardback
7 May 2026
Audiobook
7 May 2026
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A penetrating examination of the consequences of the Second World War which draws uncomfortable parallels with the world in which we live today.

'A gripping, behind-the-curtain story of the men and women who rebuilt the world after the carnage of World War II—and, in the process, engineered an age of unprecedented peace and prosperity. A must-read for anyone trying to understand how stability is built, how prosperity scales, and how we can protect what those architects created. Essential reading for anyone who cares about leadership and the future.' Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director
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Although the Second World War was still a long way from being won, even by early 1941, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was already planning for peace. America’s entry of the war may still have been almost a year away, but he could already see the new world order that needed to emerge from the smouldering ashes of Europe. The business of war was very quickly going to have to become the business of peace.

Three years later, under the guidance of his successor, President Harry S. Truman, the Marshall Plan would emerge, a forward-thinking combination of global philanthropy and canny self-interest, rooted in a profound sense of Christian and moral duty, and which kickstarted unprecedented European growth and a chance for the world as a whole to rebuild after the ruinous catastrophe of war.

From the world on the eve of war in 1914 through to the Versailles Treaty and the global financial catastrophe of the late 1920s and early thirties, and the political earthquakes that followed, The Visionaries takes a broad sweep of history with important lessons for today. It’s a reminder that while history does not repeat itself, patterns of human behaviour certainly do.

James Holland’s knowledge of the Second World War and its aftermath gives him unique insight into the far-reaching consequences of the financial policies of Roosevelt and Truman. The sustained period of economic stability they initiated delivered peace to the western democracies for over eighty years and stand in stark contrast to our transactional approach to the world today.
  • Published: 1 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9780857509727
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99
Categories:

About the author

James Holland

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently The Savage Storm and Cassino '44, he is also the author of ten works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts. He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels. With Al Murray, he has a successful Second World War podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which also has its own festival, and is a research fellow at St Andrew's University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940 and on Instagram as @jamesholland1940.
portrait photo of James Holland

Also by James Holland

Cassino '44
Victory '45
Alvesdon
The Savage Storm
The Second World War
The War in Burma 1943-1944: A Ladybird Expert Book
The Battle for Normandy, 1944
See all

Praise for The Visionaries

James Holland has delivered a masterwork. The Visionaries is the gripping, behind-the-curtain story of the men and women who rebuilt the world after the carnage of World War II—and, in the process, engineered an age of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Holland shows that the postwar order didn’t happen by accident; it was designed with courage, clarity, and an audacious belief in human progress. This book reminds us that leadership matters, ideas matter, and that vision—real vision—can bend the arc of history. A must-read for anyone trying to understand how stability is built, how prosperity scales, and how we can protect what those architects created. Essential reading for anyone who cares about leadership and the future.

Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director

A brilliant reassessment of the two wartime US presidents - FDR and Truman - whose far-sighted ideas helped to rebuild a shattered world and deliver 80 years of (mostly) peace and prosperity for the West, and a timely reminder during a time of flux that freedoms dearly won are much more easily lost.

Saul David

The statesmen who rebuilt western Europe and northeast Asia after 1945 got more things right than any leaders ever before or since. At this moment when so many seem to have forgotten their lessons - and forsaken their legacy - James Holland retells their magnificent story vividly and accessibly. The remedy we need at the time we need it.

David Frum, The Atlantic

Highly readable and deeply researched…Holland has provided grist for readers of all political and national persuasions to understand the structures upon which today’s international order was formed and the dangers that exist if they are to be cavalierly done away with. One hopes that the work put into this book will be read, digested, and acted upon.

James Webb, former Senator and Secretary of the Navy

In The Visionaries, James Holland brings to bear his prodigious knowledge of the long Second World War era to provide not only a fresh look at that crucial period but also a series of reflections for our own time. Threats to democracy can emerge quickly and powerfully, and if we are not on our guard, as Holland demonstrates, they can threaten the entire international order.

Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien

A brilliant reassessment of the two wartime US presidents - FDR and Truman - whose far-sighted ideas helped to rebuild a shattered world and deliver 80 years of (mostly) peace and prosperity for the West, and a timely reminder during a time of flux that freedoms dearly won are much more easily lost.

Saul David