This study examined how textbooks from England, Japan, Sweden, and the United States portray America's role in World War II. Analysis of the central story lines revealed that historical information purveyed to students in different nations varies considerably. Accordingly, U.S. textbooks emphasize the significant and pre-eminent role that the United States played in crushing the Axis forces in Europe and the Pacific. In contrast, English textbooks view the Allied war effort as a joint venture involving the British Empire, the U.S.S.R., and the United States as equal partners. Authors of Japanese textbooks afford the war in Europe extraordinarily limited attention and focus primarily on events in the Pacific. Significantly, Japanese textbooks emphasize the context leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and how U.S.-Japanese antagonism before events in December 1941 made war almost inevitable. Swedish textbooks tend to focus on the war in Europe and particularly on the eastern front. Above all, therefore, the study illuminates stark differences in national portrayals of World War II and suggests that textbook representations appear to be influenced by nationalistic bias, differing cultural and geopolitical perspectives, and the sociopolitical agendas of contemporary societies.