In 1918, the war is over, but the world finds no peace. All certainties have been shaken, and the struggle continues: between the left and the right, conservatives and modernists, workers and entrepreneurs. Following his bestseller "The Tumultuous Continent" about Europe's years before World War I, Philipp Blom continues the story up to 1938 and expands the horizon to the USA. Jazz spreads a new sense of freedom, while democracy comes under pressure. Newspapers and radio experience their best years, yet books are being burned in Berlin. "The Torn Years" vividly illustrates that unique period which led to World War II.