In 1943 a young official from the German foreign ministry contacted Allen Dulles, an OSS officer in Switzerland who would later head the Central Intelligence Agency. That man was Fritz Kolbe, who had decided to betray his country after years of opposing Nazism. While Dulles was skeptical, Kolbe's information was such that he eventually admitted, "No single diplomat abroad, of whatever rank, could have got his hands on so much information as did this man; he was one of my most valuable agents during World War II." Using recently declassified materials at the U.S. National Archives and Kolbe's personal papers, Lucas Delattre has produced a work of remarkable scholarship that moves with the swift pace of a Le Carre thriller.

In the immediate aftermath of the events of September 11, people around the world -- and Europeans in particular -- came together in unprecedented demonstrations of compassion for and solidarity with the people of the United States. Since then, however, relations between Europe and America have become perilously contentious. The new unilateral and preemptive tone of U.S. foreign policy, wedded to old fears of American hegemony and an irreducible strain of anti-Americanism, have alienated and angered Europeans, even as Europe's refusal to endorse key American policies has drawn charges of ingratitude and irrelevance.

For noted French political observer Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, this growing rift dates back to the end of the cold war and poses profound dangers for the intertwined futures of America, Europe, and the world. In his new book, An Alliance at Risk, he argues that although the ties that have united Europe and America for decades remain stronger than the propagandists of a transatlantic schism would have us believe, deepening transatlantic differences foster an increasing mistrust that prevents constructive dialogue and action.

He begins by placing global anti-Americanism in historical perspective and tracing the evolution and progressive alteration of European-American relations from the postwar period to the Iraqi crisis. Stressing the need for strong transatlantic solidarity in the new global environment, Cohen-Tanugi sets forth the case and prerequisites for such cooperation, calling on Europe to assume fully its responsibilities on the world stage and on America to address the contradictions and inadequacies of its foreign policy and become more attentive to theinternational community, its sensitivities and rules. Envisioning what this renewed partnership might look like in the future, he concludes that in a world plagued by profound disorder and rabid anti-Westernism, the distance between the United States and the European Union must be bridged to propagate the democratic values they share, confront global challenges, and ensure the stability of the world.

Praise for Laurent Cohen-Tanugi's Previous Books

Le Droit sans l'Etet:

"This is the most Tocquevillian of the books on the United States written since Tocqueville, and for this very reason, the best one." -- Stanley Hoffman

"Laurent Cohen-Tanugi's Le Droit sans l'Etet must be the most profoudly pro-American essay to have come out of French intellectual milieu which has been quite favorably disposed toward the United States of late. The book's comparative analysis of the French and American judicial system may well constitute the high water mark of French liberal reconsiderations on the nature of the State, the role of civil society, and on the virtues of the American democratic model." -- Diana Pinto, author of French Politics and Society

L'Europa en Danger:

"Laurent Cohen-Tanugi's L'Europa en Danger is perhaps the best think piece in the flood of Maastricht referendum books." -- George Ross, author of French Politics and Society

"The best discussion of these issues I know of is by Laurent Cohen-Tanugi." -- Stanley Hoffman, The New York Review of Books