World War II, we've been told all our lives, was our greatest triumph, the moment when the forces of light - the Western democracies - prevailed over the forces of darkness - the Nazis and the other Axis powers. It was a conflict that began in Europe in September 1939, but became global only with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. It ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945.

Or did it?

In this series, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson challenges nearly all our enduring assumptions about what was, without question, the most destructive conflict the planet has ever seen. THE WAR OF THE WORLD will transform the way we think about World War II.

Mondays, June 30-July 14, 2008