On 15 February 1942, General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese, along with over 85,000 British, Indian and Australian soldiers. Churchill declared the fall of Singapore to be 'the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history'. The reputation of General Percival, who commanded the land forces defending Malaya, has been permanently tarnished by the infamous surrender.

The author argues that Percival has been too easily blamed for the disaster and too readily written off as the over-promoted staff officer and protege of Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Others were more culpable than the GOC Malaya and foremost in the list of those who bore responsibility was Churchill himself.

Percival had an outstanding early record as a fighting commander and took up his post as GOC Malaya in the worst possible circumstances. In Scapegoat, the first full biography of Percival to be published, Major General Clifford Kinvig, author of the critically acclaimed River Kwai Railway, evaluates him in the context of his earlier military exploits as well as his generalship during the critical Malayan campaign and at the surrender of Singapore, about which serious misperceptions still linger.

He also covers Percival's years as a prisoner of the Japanese with the small group of Allied military and civilian leaders, as well as his post-war activities.