In this thrilling book, Ian Kershaw narrates how ten crucial decisions were made regarding the outcome of World War II, with broader implications for the post-war world, between May 1940, when Britain chose to fight rather than surrender, and the autumn of 1941, when Hitler made the decision to exterminate the Jews.

In London, Tokyo, Rome, Berlin, and Washington, a series of politicians and generals, often with incomplete information and facing enormous difficulties on economic, logistical, and military levels, had to decide how to utilize or attempt to curb the ever-growing crisis. These decisions truly changed the world.

The book offers the reader a realistic picture of the limitations these leaders had to face, as well as the role of personality: Churchill continues the fight despite the devastation in France, Hitler orders an invasion of the USSR despite Germany's failure to defeat the British, Stalin trusts Hitler and leaves his country defenseless, Japanese generals decide to strike the US despite indications that they would lead to defeat.

The choices narrated and commented upon by the author are as follows:

• London, spring 1940 - Great Britain decides to continue the fight
• Berlin, summer and autumn of 1940 - Hitler decides to attack the Soviet Union
• Tokyo, summer and autumn of 1940 - Japan decides to seize the "golden opportunity"
• Rome, summer and autumn of 1940 - Mussolini decides to grab his share
• Washington, summer 1940-spring 1941 - Roosevelt decides to lend a hand
• Moscow, spring-summer 1941 - Stalin decides that he knows better
• Washington, summer-autumn 1941 - Roosevelt decides to conduct an undeclared war
• Tokyo, autumn 1941 - Japan decides to go to war
• Berlin, autumn 1941 - Hitler decides to declare war on the United States
• Berlin/Eastern Prussia, summer-autumn 1941 - Hitler decides to kill the Jews