Beyond the War challenges war-centered interpretations of one ot the twentieth century’s most publicized armed conflict by recontructing the largely overlooked history of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands before 1982. Whereas most scholarship treats the Islands’ past and aftermath as chapters in a bilateral sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom, this book shifts the focus to the complex and evolving relationships between islanders—mostly of British origin—and Argentines in the four decades preceding the war. It traces how mutual ignorance shaped these relations until the 1960s, and how political, economic, and diplomatic changes gradually transformed them. The book examines the Islands’ structural vulnerabilities, Argentina’s claims following the 1965 UN resolution, and the controversial actions of Argentine nationalists, while reconstructing the impact of the 1971 Communications Agreement both in the Islands and in the mainland. It also explores how ordinary Argentines perceived the Malvinas by analyzing popular culture. Ultimately, the book argues that war was not inevitable, revealing moments of collaboration and exchange that made alternative futures conceivable.