Originally published in 1962, this book analyses the nature of British commercial policy in relation to Europe during the 1783-93 period. The text suggests that the beginnings of a more liberal approach to Europe during this time can be related to a series of major commercial negotiations with France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Prussia, Poland, the Netherlands, and the Two Sicilies. Other related issues are also discussed: the interaction of diplomacy and commercial policy; methods of policy-making; and the relations between government policy, mercantile interests and economic theory. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the historical development of British foreign policy, European history and economic history.

This book was originally published in 1958. John Ehrman shows that the nature and range of government in Great Britain was transformed by the two world wars. At the end of the nineteenth century the administrative system barely recognised the demands of war. In the two wars it had to be capable of mobilising the whole resources of the country and the Commonwealth, and this affected the scope of government in peace: almost every aspect of national life was subject to supervision. Yet this profound change did less in Britain than elsewhere to destroy the country's traditions and institutions. Mr Ehrman shows that the Cabinet Government retained its basic features and traditional strength. This book is based on the Lees Knowles Lectures given at Cambridge in 1957. Historians will find it gives important information about the conduct of the last war, against the constitutional background necessary for its understanding.

The presidency of Ronald Reagan has become a Rorschach Test for politicians and citizens alike. While many conservatives see the Reagan era of the 1980s as the high-water mark for their movement and a time of national recovery from the difficulties of the 1970s, many liberals maintain that the rosy Reagan legacy is based largely on myth, and that in fact his eight years as president caused serious harm to the country. John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm give due attention to the lasting controversies surrounding the Reagan record and provide a balanced view of the fortieth president's foreign and domestic policies. Students are encouraged to draw their own conclusions by reading key primary documents.

First published in 1953, this volume by John Ehrman traces the role played by the English navy during the years 1689-97, during which time England became the dominant sea power of Europe. The study is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the background of naval administration, considering ships of the line and their construction, shipyards and dockyards, naval personnel, provisions, finances, and the Lord Admiral's department at the end of 1688. The second part provides the context of the war, beginning with the legacy of Samuel Pepys and the initial mobilization in 1688, and then tracing the successive years of war to the eventual demobilization in 1697. Replete with numerous illustrations and fourteen detailed appendices, this volume will appeal to anyone interested in the naval history of England at the end of the seventeenth century.

The presidency of Ronald Reagan has become a Rorschach Test for politicians and citizens alike. While many conservatives see the Reagan era of the 1980s as the high-water mark for their movement and a time of national recovery from the difficulties of the 1970s, many liberals maintain that the rosy Reagan legacy is based largely on myth, and that in fact his eight years as president caused serious harm to the country. John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm give due attention to the lasting controversies surrounding the Reagan record and provide a balanced view of the fortieth president's foreign and domestic policies. Students are encouraged to draw their own conclusions by reading key primary documents.

A small group of neoconservatives-Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Norman Podhoretz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and others-has had an influence on American politics that far outweighs their numbers. This book is the first discussion of their impact on foreign policy. John Ehrman tells how the neoconservative movement evolved out of the broad anticommunist coalition that dominated American liberalism from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. The neoconservatives continued to advance hardline anticommunism, gradually broke with what they viewed as liberalism's and the Democratic Party's dangerous turn to the left during the 1970s, and regained their influence as part of Reagan's conservative coalition during the 1980s. John Ehrman traces the neoconservatives' shift from cold-war liberalism to conservatism, focusing on the careers and thinking of the most intellectually and politically important members-especially Moynihan, whose political and intellectual careers are here analyzed for the first time. Ehrman shows how the neoconservatives who held office under President Reagan tried to reinforce the administration's anticommunist outlook while also moving it toward a policy of actively assisting foreign governments and groups trying to develop democratic institutions of their own. Ehrman corrects many misconceptions about neoconservatives, illustrates the differences among them, and traces the consistencies in their foreign policy thinking. He also examines their successes and failures in translating their concepts into political action, and analyzes their place in both modern American liberalism and the conservative movement.

A decade—and a president—that transformed America. During the Reagan years, Americans witnessed an extraordinary array of changes, from major technological advances to sweeping revisions of the tax code to the deregulation of major industries and the advent of the culture wars. America emerged from the decade completely transformed: political and social arrangements derived from post–World War II liberalism had given way to the highly competitive, fast-changing, technology-driven society we know today. In The Eighties, John Ehrman tracks this transformation in the context of Ronald Reagan’s policies and convictions and examines the broader trends that enabled Reagan to achieve so much of his agenda. At a time when most Americans remained fairly centrist in their political commitments, Reagan was able to shift policy toward the right by building support for a few key policies. His gradualist approach met with little opposition from Democrats, who failed to mount a coherent response. Based on a broad range of primary source material, The Eighties offers an accessible and balanced account of a watershed decade in American history.