Ian Buruma examines the seven months (in Europe) and four months (in Asia) that followed surrender of the Axis powers, from the fate of Holocaust survivors liberated from the concetration camps, and the formation of the state of Israel, to the incipient civil war in China, and the allied occupation of Japan. If construction follows destruction, 'Year Zero' describes that extraordinary moment in between, when people faced the wreckage, full of despair, as well as great hope.