Allport’s ‘Advance Britannia’ Reviewed by the New York Times

January 8, 2026

The New York Times

Alan Allport

History Department

Center for European Studies

Conflict

Europe

The New York Times

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Alan Allport

Professor of History Alan Allport's recently published book, Advance Britannia: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1942-1945 (Penguin Random House, 2026), was reviewed in the New York Times.

“[An] elegant and unsparing history of London’s role in World War II, [including] the perspectives of the victims of British colonialism as well as its perpetrators. ...Allport is a fluid writer, a conjurer with the rare ability to sustain a gripping narrative without resorting to Vaseline-lensed sentimentality. He overturns one piece of conventional wisdom after another,” writes reviewer Kevin Peraino.

Read the full review via the New York Times Book Review website.