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A New York Times bestseller, this is the "outstanding" (The
Atlantic), insightful, and authoritative account of Dwight
Eisenhower's presidency. Drawing on newly declassified documents
and thousands of pages of unpublished material, The Age of
Eisenhower tells the story of a masterful president guiding the
nation through the great crises of the 1950s, from McCarthyism and
the Korean War through civil rights turmoil and Cold War conflicts.
This is a portrait of a skilled leader who, despite his
conservative inclinations, found a middle path through the bitter
partisanship of his era. At home, Eisenhower affirmed the central
elements of the New Deal, such as Social Security; fought the
demagoguery of Senator Joseph McCarthy; and advanced the agenda of
civil rights for African-Americans. Abroad, he ended the Korean War
and avoided a new quagmire in Vietnam. Yet he also charted a
significant expansion of America's missile technology and deployed
a vast array of covert operations around the world to confront the
challenge of communism. As he left office, he cautioned Americans
to remain alert to the dangers of a powerful military-industrial
complex that could threaten their liberties. Today, presidential
historians rank Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents,
and William Hitchcock's "rich narrative" (The Wall Street Journal)
shows us why Ike's stock has risen so high. He was a gifted leader,
a decent man of humble origins who used his powers to advance the
welfare of all Americans. Now more than ever, with this "complete
and persuasive assessment" (Booklist, starred review), Americans
have much to learn from Dwight Eisenhower.
Shaper Nations provides illuminating perspectives on the national
strategies of eight emerging and established countries that are
shaping global politics at the beginning of the twenty-first
century. The volume's authors offer a unique viewpoint: they live
and work primarily in the country about which they write, bringing
an insider's feel for national debates and politics. The
conventional wisdom on national strategy suggests that these states
have clear central authority, coherently connect means to ends, and
focus on their geopolitical environment. These essays suggest a
different conclusion. In seven key countries-Brazil, China,
Germany, India, Israel, Russia, and Turkey-strategy is dominated by
nonstate threats, domestic politics, the distorting effect of
history and national identity, economic development concerns, and
the sheer difficulty, in the face of many powerful internal and
external constraints, of pursuing an effective national strategy.
The shapers represent a new trend in the international arena with
important consequences. Among them is a more uncertain world in
which countries concentrate on their own development rather than on
shared problems that might divert precious resources, and attend
more to regional than to global order. In responding to these
shaper states, the United States must understand the sources of
their national strategies in determining its own role on the global
stage.
American s are justly proud of th e role their country played in
liberating Europe from Nazi tyranny. For many years, we have
celebrated the courage of Allied soldiers, sailors, and aircrews
who defeated Hitler's regime and restored freedom to the continent.
But in recounting the heroism of the "greatest generation,"
Americans often overlook the wartime experiences of European people
themselves -- the very people for whom the war was fought.
In this brilliant new book, historian William I. Hitchcock surveys
the European continent from D-Day to the final battles of the war
and the first few months of the peace. Based on exhaustive research
in five nations and dozens of archives, Hitchcock's groundbreaking
account shows that the liberation of Europe was both a military
triumph and a human tragedy of epic proportions.
Hitchcock gives voice to those who were on the receiving end of
liberation, moving them from the edge of the story to the center.
From France to Poland to Germany, from concentration-camp internees
to refugees, farmers to shopkeepers, husbands and wives to
children, the experience of liberation was often difficult and
dangerous. Their gratitude was mixed with guilt or resentment.
Their lives were difficult to reassemble.
This strikingly original, multinational history of liberation
brings to light the interactions of soldiers and civilians, the
experiences of noncombatants, and the trauma of displacement and
loss amid unprecedented destruction. This book recounts a
surprising story, often jarring and uncomfortable, and one that has
never been told with such richness and depth.
Ranging from the ferocious battle for Normandy (where as many
French civilians died on D-Day as U.S. servicemen) to the plains of
Poland, from the icy ravines of the Ardennes to the shattered
cities and refugee camps of occupied Germany, "The Bitter Road to
Freedom" depicts in searing detail the shocking price that
Europeans paid for their freedom.
Today, with American soldiers once again waging wars of liberation
in faraway lands, this book serves as a timely and sharp reminder
of the terrible human toll exacted by even the most righteous of
wars.
Historians of the Cold War, argues the author of this book, have
too often overlooked the part that European nations played in
shaping the post-World War II international system. In particular,
he contends that France has been given short shrift. Drawing on a
wide array of evidence from French, American and British archives,
he aims to show that France constructed a coherent national
strategy for domestic and international recovery and pursued that
strategy in the first post-war decade. France, the author claims,
played a vital part in the occupation and administration of
Germany, framed the key institutions of the ""new"" Europe, helped
forge the NATO alliance, and engineered an astonishing economic
recovery. In the process, France successfully contested American
leadership in Europe and used its position as a key Cold War ally
to extract concessions from Washington on a wide range of economic
and security issues.
The third volume for the OUP/National History Center series,
Reinterpreting History, this book offers a critical look at the
political movement encompassed by human rights, a term rarely used
before the 1940s. An agenda for human rights, with particular
attention to international justice in the wake of crimes against
humanity, women's rights, indigenous rights, the right to health
care, all developed in the second half of the 20th century. Drawing
on the work of legal scholars, political scientists, journalists,
activists, and historians, human rights as a field of research has
been characterized by analysis of natural rights, study of key
documents like the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
discussion of activism and NGOs, and analysis of rhetoric. This
volume will take a case study approach that will shed light on
different perspectives, methodologies, and conceptualizations for
the study of human rights history. The contributors to this volume
look at the wave of human rights legislation emerging out of World
War II, including the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the Nuremberg
trial, and the Geneva Conventions, and the flowering of human
rights activity in the 1970s and beyond, including anti-torture
campaigns and Amnesty International, Indonesia and East Timor,
international scientists and human rights, and female genital
mutilation. The book concludes with a look at the UN Declaration at
its 60th anniversary. Together the group of renowned senior and
junior scholars create a volume that can introduce students from a
range of disciplines to this topic, as well as offer new
perspectives for scholars.
In this timely collection, a dozen leading scholars of
international affairs consider the twentieth century's recurring
failure to construct a stable and peaceful international order in
the wake of war. Why has peace been so hard to build? The authors
reflect on the difficulties faced by governments as they sought a
secure world order after the First World War, the Second World War,
and the Cold War. Major wars unleashed new and unexpected forces,
the authors show, and in post-war periods policymakers were faced
not only with the reappearance of old power-political issues but
also with quite unforeseen challenges. In 1918, a hundred-year-old
order based on a balance of power among the states of Europe
collapsed, leaving European and American leaders to deal with
social, ideological, and ethnic crises. After World War II, hopeful
plans for peace were checked by nuclear rivalry, international
economic competition, and colonial issues. And unexpected
challenges after the Cold War-global economic instability, ethnic
conflict, environmental crises-joined with traditional security
threats to cast a pall again over international peace efforts. In
drawing out historical parallels and comparing how major states
have adapted to sharp and sudden changes in the international
system during the twentieth century, this book offers essential
insights for those who hope to navigate toward peace across today's
altered and uncertain strategic landscape. Contributors to this
volume: Carole Fink, Gregory Flynn, William I. Hitchcock, Michael
Howard, Paul Kennedy, Diane B. Kunz, Melvyn P. Leffler, Charles S.
Maier, Tony Smith, Marc Trachtenberg, Randall B. Woods, Philip
Zelikow
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