Rachel Chin is Postdoctoral Research Associate on an AHRC-funded research project at the University of Glasgow and a member of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs.

• Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. From the Dunkirk evacuations to the Franco-German armistice: Renegotiating the Franco-British alliance; 2. The real question at issue.: British policy and the French fleet; 3. A necessary tragedy? The British bombardments of the French fleet at Mers El-Kébir; 4. Vichy, the free French and the battle for imperial influence at Dakar in September 1940; 5. Promises of independence: Operation exporter and the struggle for the Levant; 6. Operation torch: American influence and the battle for French North Africa; 7. Independence on French terms: The 1943 Lebanese parliamentary crisis; 8. Holding on to empire: The French bombardment of Damascus, May 1945; 9. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'War of Words innovatively analyzes the powerful role played by rhetoric in the strained relations between Britain and France during World War II. As the Free French, Britain, and Vichy clashed over questions of empire, each mounted a public defense of their actions that in turn constrained their policy making.' Alice L. Conklin, Ohio State University