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Grand Improvisation : America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957 by Derek Leebaert (2018, Hardcover)
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GRAND IMPROVISATION: AMERICA CONFRONTS THE BRITISH SUPERPOWER, 1945-1957 By Derek Leebaert - Hardcover **BRAND NEW**.
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherFarrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN-100374250723
ISBN-139780374250720
eBay Product ID (ePID)242514695
Product Key Features
Book TitleGrand Improvisation : America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957
Number of Pages624 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicModern / 20th Century, World / General, International Relations / General
Publication Year2018
IllustratorYes
GenrePolitical Science, History
AuthorDerek Leebaert
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.8 in
Item Weight31.7 Oz
Item Length0.9 in
Item Width6.4 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2018-002520
Reviews"A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries--the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith--in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort." --Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History "Derek Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue as a scholar and author is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom. Reading this account of how reluctant the British were to relinquish--and Americans to assume--world power after 1945, I found myself nodding repeatedly: 'Yes, this rings totally true . . . and the endnotes confirm it.' The foreign policy implications of Grand Improvisation are enormous even today." --Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania " Grand Improvisation is a fascinating and provocative account of Anglo-American relations after the Second World War, rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities. Lively and entertaining, this book will change the way we look at the immediate post-war years and carries profound lessons for the world today as power once again shifts across the globe." --Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning Lords of Finance, " Grand Improvisation is an elegant work of revisionism that relies on documentary evidence to relentlessly advance its case. The author's eye for detail, stylistic verve and command of archival records from two continents set him apart from other historians . . . Leebaert's magisterial book proves that there is still much to learn from [ . . . ] early episodes of the Cold War." --Ray Takeyh, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy "A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries--the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith--in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort." --Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History "Derek Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue as a scholar and author is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom. Reading this account of how reluctant the British were to relinquish--and Americans to assume--world power after 1945, I found myself nodding repeatedly: 'Yes, this rings totally true . . . and the endnotes confirm it.' The foreign policy implications of Grand Improvisation are enormous even today." --Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania " Grand Improvisation is a fascinating and provocative account of Anglo-American relations after the Second World War, rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities. Lively and entertaining, this book will change the way we look at the immediate post-war years and carries profound lessons for the world today as power once again shifts across the globe." --Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning Lords of Finance, "Riveting . . . Important and engaging . . . Mr. Leebaert . . . emphasizes bitter controversies and disagreements between Britain and America . . . yet in the first half of the book, he argues also that a close relationship existed between two near-heroic figures... Dean Acheson [and] Ernest Bevin, the British foreign secretary, . . . a man of moral integrity with an all-embracing intellect bordering on genius . . . In the second half of the book, there are no heroes." --Wm. Roger Louis, The Wall Street Journal "Smoothly written and well-sourced . . . This excellent history reflects the quality of the scholarship that Leebaert displayed in his remarkable work The Fifty Year Wound. Recommended for all collections." -- Library Journal (starred) "A decidedly revisionist narrative brings neglected figures to the forefront while critically reassessing others . . Leebaert''s . . . account puts a different spin on American and British history with an eye to current policy challenges. Besides showing the difficulties of managing empire--especially without professional diplomats and civil servants relying on practical experience rather than academic training--it makes a persuasive case for offshore balancing as a strategy." --William Anthony Hay, The National Interest "[Leebaert''s] reconstruction of events from 1945 to 1957 . . . draws impressively on many original sources . . . Britain was not the 97-pound weakling of the Charles Atlas muscle-building craze of the time . . . he stresses the countervailing points that made Britain an effective international partner, stiffening a ''jittery'' America in looming collisions with the Soviet Union." --Harold Evans, New York Times Book Review " Grand Improvisation is an elegant work of revisionism that relies on documentary evidence to relentlessly advance its case. The author''s eye for detail, stylistic verve and command of archival records from two continents set him apart from other historians . . . Leebaert''s magisterial book proves that there is still much to learn from [ . . . ] early episodes of the Cold War." --Ray Takeyh, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy "A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries--the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith--in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort." --Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America''s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History "Derek Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue as a scholar and author is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom. Reading this account of how reluctant the British were to relinquish--and Americans to assume--world power after 1945, I found myself nodding repeatedly: ''Yes, this rings totally true . . . and the endnotes confirm it.'' The foreign policy implications of Grand Improvisation are enormous even today." --Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania " Grand Improvisation is a fascinating and provocative account of Anglo-American relations after the Second World War, rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities. Lively and entertaining, this book will change the way we look at the immediate post-war years and carries profound lessons for the world today as power once again shifts across the globe." --Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning Lords of Finance, Praise for Magic and Mayhem "Derek Leebaert artfully portrays the many grand delusions about America's role in the world that have arisen from a heady brew of magical thinking going back generations. Leebaert writes with exceptional verve and his book is a real pleasure to read." -Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst and author of Holy War, Inc .
Table Of ContentCONTENTS Introduction 3 I: THEY THOUGHT IT WAS PEACE 1. The Three in 1945 11 2. Keynes & Co. 33 3. Entering the Middle East 56 4. False Starts 79 II: A CHILLING WORLD 5. Warfare States 111 6. Year of the Offensive 137 7. Defending the West 161 8. The Outer Fortress: Protecting the Middle East, Africa, and Asia 188 III: CHIPS ON THE TABLE 9. Auditing an Empire 213 10. Pivoting to Asia and into Vietnam 235 11. War on the Rim 256 12. Asia's Three Fighting Fronts 280 IV: THE GROUND CHANGES 13. "Holding the Ring" in Iran and Egypt 305 14. Churchill Is Back 328 15. Stemming the Tide 352 16. Coronations and Crises 374 V: A NEW SUPREMACY 17. The Break Points of 1954 401 18. Ordering Chaos 426 19. No End of a Lesson 451 20. What Happened Next 480 Conclusion 505 NOTES 517 ACKNOWLEDGM ENTS 583 INDEX 587
SynopsisA new understanding of the post World War II era, showing what occurred when the British Empire wouldn't step aside for the rising American superpower--with global insights for today. An enduring myth of the twentieth century is that the United States rapidly became a superpower in the years after World War II, when the British Empire--the greatest in history--was too wounded to maintain a global presence. In fact, Derek Leebaert argues in Grand Improvisation , the idea that a traditionally insular United States suddenly transformed itself into the leader of the free world is illusory, as is the notion that the British colossus was compelled to retreat. The United States and the U.K. had a dozen abrasive years until Washington issued a "declaration of independence" from British influence. Only then did America explicitly assume leadership of the world order just taking shape. Leebaert's character-driven narrative shows such figures as Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennan in an entirely new light, while unveiling players of at least equal weight on pivotal events. Little unfolded as historians believe: the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Korean War; America's descent into Vietnam. Instead, we see nonstop U.S. improvisation until America finally lost all caution and embraced obligations worldwide, a burden we bear today. Understanding all of this properly is vital to understanding the rise and fall of superpowers, why we're now skeptical of commitments overseas, how the Middle East plunged into disorder, why Europe is fracturing, what China intends--and the ongoing perils to the U.S. world role., An enduring myth of the twentieth century is that the United States rapidly became a superpower in the years after World War II, when the British Empire-the greatest in history-was too wounded to maintain a global presence. In fact, Derek Leebaert argues in Grand Improvisation , the idea that a traditionally insular United States suddenly transformed itself into the leader of the free world is illusory, as is the notion that the British colossus was compelled to retreat. The United States and the U.K. had a dozen abrasive years until Washington issued a "declaration of independence" from British influence. Only then did America explicitly assume leadership of the world order just taking shape. Leebaert's character-driven narrative shows such figures as Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennan in an entirely new light, while unveiling players of at least equal weight on pivotal events. Little unfolded as historians believe: the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Korean War; America's descent into Vietnam. Instead, we see nonstop U.S. improvisation until America finally lost all caution and embraced obligations worldwide, a burden we bear today.Understanding all of this properly is vital to understanding the rise and fall of superpowers, why we're now skeptical of commitments overseas, how the Middle East plunged into disorder, why Europe is fracturing, what China intends-and the ongoing perils to the U.S. world role.
LC Classification NumberE183.8.G7L35 2018
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