The Visionaries

A sweeping look at what happens when we forget the lessons of history, from the Sunday Times bestselling author James Holland 'The remedy we need at the time we need it' The Atlantic 'A brilliant reassessment of the two wartime US presidents... and timely reminder' Saul David 'Essential reading for anyone who cares about leadership and the future' Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director The post-war world wasn't an accident - it was designed. So what happens when we forget the lesson? 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 into 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. Three years later, the Marshall Plan would emerge, a forward-thinking combination of global philanthropy and canny self-interest, 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, to the Great Depression 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. 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.