A Shadow Over the World
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
Will be published approx. on 22. October 2026
Book
Hardback
720 pages
978-1-9821-5772-2 (ISBN)
Description
From New York Times bestselling author William I. Hitchcock, a riveting, revelatory portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the lead-up to World War II, tracing his-and America's-awakening to the threat of fascism.
How did FDR and the American public respond to the rise of dictators across Europe and Asia on the eve of World War II? The familiar narrative is that they reacted with indifference and embraced isolationism. Only with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were Americans reluctantly drawn into the global conflict. But distinguished historian William I. Hitchcock reveals a far more complex and surprising story.
From the time Mussolini came to power in 1922 to America's entry into the war in 1941, Americans engaged in a fraught national debate over the rising threat-and for some, the lure-of fascism. At the center of this debate was Roosevelt himself. When he took office in 1933, Roosevelt was determined to avoid foreign entanglements that would harm his ambitious domestic agenda of the New Deal. But over the course of his first two terms, a network of journalists, activists, advisers, and diplomats gradually awakened him to the global dangers of fascism.
Roosevelt's transformation was part of a larger national reckoning with authoritarianism around the world. A Shadow Over the World shines a light on a time when a coalition of courageous humanists gathered around a visionary leader to forge a new purpose for America: to protect democracy, oppose imperialism, support human rights, and lead a global fight for freedom. Their successful struggle against the dark forces of fascism holds powerful lessons for our own perilous times.
How did FDR and the American public respond to the rise of dictators across Europe and Asia on the eve of World War II? The familiar narrative is that they reacted with indifference and embraced isolationism. Only with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were Americans reluctantly drawn into the global conflict. But distinguished historian William I. Hitchcock reveals a far more complex and surprising story.
From the time Mussolini came to power in 1922 to America's entry into the war in 1941, Americans engaged in a fraught national debate over the rising threat-and for some, the lure-of fascism. At the center of this debate was Roosevelt himself. When he took office in 1933, Roosevelt was determined to avoid foreign entanglements that would harm his ambitious domestic agenda of the New Deal. But over the course of his first two terms, a network of journalists, activists, advisers, and diplomats gradually awakened him to the global dangers of fascism.
Roosevelt's transformation was part of a larger national reckoning with authoritarianism around the world. A Shadow Over the World shines a light on a time when a coalition of courageous humanists gathered around a visionary leader to forge a new purpose for America: to protect democracy, oppose imperialism, support human rights, and lead a global fight for freedom. Their successful struggle against the dark forces of fascism holds powerful lessons for our own perilous times.
Reviews / Votes
"In popular memory, the story of World War II is straightforward: when darkness fell, Franklin D. Roosevelt's America rescued democracy from dictatorship. As William Hitchcock shows in this illuminating and compelling book, however, the victory was, as Wellington said of Waterloo, a close-run thing. By bringing FDR and his trials with public opinion at home back to vivid life, Hitchcock has given us an unflinching, unsentimental portrait of a president and a populace trying to make their way through uncertainty and complexity. This is history as it happened, reminding us anew of how vulnerable democracy can be when the forces of autocracy are on the march."-Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of America "William Hitchcock has done the improbable: he's given us a new FDR, deeply engaged with the nation's intellectual community. The high level dialogue he constructs on a foundation of wide ranging, original research is engaging and beautifully written. It's a fantastic read and an indelible contribution to modern history."
-Donald L. Miller, author of New York Times bestseller Masters of the Air "William Hitchcock writes history with the grandeur of the ancients-epochal figures, in all their personal complexity and political power, shaping the course of world events. Hitchcock's vivid account of America and its president as a bulwark of democracy in a world of rising authoritarians could not be more timely."
-Timothy W. Ryback, author of 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy "A Shadow Over the World is a superb book. Even those readers who know the story of the 1930s in a general way will be enthralled and surprised by Hitchcock's marvellously written, and deeply researched, narrative, which tells the story of how America gradually entered the fight against fascism. Rather than focusing simply on the isolationists, Hitchcock sheds light on how anti-fascists such as Dorothy Thompson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Robert Sherwood mobilized American sentiment to combat the Axis. Essential reading to understand the origins of World War II.
-Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend "As Americans are once again torn between international leadership and isolationist retreat, Hitchcock deftly chronicles how FDR rallied a divided and reluctant nation to face down fascism and defend democracy at home and abroad. With America's politics and its role in the world again up for grabs, this tour de force could not be more timely or important."
-Charles A. Kupchan, author of Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself from the World "The story of Franklin Roosevelt and America's entry into the Asian and European wars of the 1930's and 1940's has never been told so thoroughly, so compellingly, with as much insight, balance, and clarity as in this magisterial work. Will Hitchcock has given us the kind of definitive account that only a great historian at the top of his game could write."
-Dr. Eliot A. Cohen, Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and author of The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics "This is an extraordinary achievement: symphonic history. Will Hitchcock assembles a chorus of a thousand voices. They span all races, ages, and sexes from government officials through journalists, diplomats, politicians, soldiers, artists, farmers and many more. In vivid, riveting words he takes us down into the mid-twentieth century abyss and convincingly shows how these voices haltingly moved Franklin Delano Roosevelt from inadequacy to fulfill his great destiny."
-Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls "Told with vivid storytelling and rich human drama, Hitchcock's timely book captures the allure of fascistic extremism and the dangers of complacency. This powerful cautionary tale reveals both the fragility and the self-corrective capacity of American democracy at home-and the necessity of American leadership abroad."
-Matthew C. Waxman, Columbia Law School "A Shadow Over the World inverts the conventional account of Franklin D. Roosevelt's lonely struggle to awaken his isolationist countrymen to the menace of fascism as the world plunged toward the catastrophic cauldron of World War II. In William I. Hitchcock's richly nuanced telling, leader and led alike moved only reluctantly and fitfully toward the conclusion that the American experiment in democracy was inexorably linked to the fate of democracy in the broader world. Indeed, in a powerful corrective to the usual emphasis on 1930s isolationism, Hitchcock gives the legions of journalists, broadcasters, writers, street-corner preachers, and classroom teachers at least as much credit as the President for nurturing the eventual resolution to shoulder arms. Virtually every page of this important book sheds fresh light on once-familiar ground."
-David M. Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus, Stanford University
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
52 b-w images throughout and 5 maps
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
723 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-9821-5772-2 (9781982157722)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
William I. Hitchcock
A Shadow Over the World
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
E-Book
approx. 09/2026
Simon + Schuster LLC
€16.80
Not yet available
Person
William I. Hitchcock is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning teacher who has published numerous books relating to World War II and the Cold War, including The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a winner of the George Louis Beer Prize from the American Historical Association. He is also the author of The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s. He received his BA degree from Kenyon College and his PhD from Yale University. He has been a Fulbright scholar, a fellow of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, the holder of the Henry Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress, and a Berlin Prize fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He is now the James Madison Professor of History at the University of Virginia.