Mental Maps of the World War Era

How did leaders as diverse as Lenin and Lloyd George, Hitler and Churchill, Mussolini and Roosevelt, Chiang Kaishek and Mao Zedong view the world? When they looked at maps, what areas stood out? Were they more interested in political borders, economic resources, race or class? And how far did they want to transform what they saw?

In this path-breaking book, thirteen leading historians address these questions. They look at the underlying political, cultural and social environments in which various leaders developed their world views and rose to influence. They explore the extent to which these leaders' beliefs influenced their actions once in power. And they reassess some of the key questions of the period, from the familiar distinction between status quo, revisionist and revolutionary figures to the deeper clashes between liberal internationalism and its challengers, especially Marxism on the left and Hitler's brutal form of imperialism on the right.