"The chapters in this book build on a growing body of scholarly literature that challenges the traditional temporal and geographic frameworks of World War II, expanding the timeline to include a series of regional wars and revolutions that precede (from 1931) and follow (to the mid 1950s) the "central paroxysm" defined by the active participation of the United States. This approach works to decenter US- and Europe-centric accounts of the war and to highlight "bottom-up" agency in ways that destabilize conventional narratives"-- Provided by publisher.