Bringing together for the first time leading historians of European decolonization, this book is a landmark in the comparative analysis of the fall of the European empires, viewed both as a problematic of European policy-making and as a formative experience in the development of new states.

R. F Holland

The Historian "Though hardly edifying, these fresh insights from recently opened archives are crucial to our understanding of contemporary history in general and decolonization, an important aspect of the Cold War, in particular.