Grand Improvisation; America Confronts the British Superpower 1945-1957
Jeffrey L. Ward (Maps) and Nancy Crampton (Author New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. [10], 611, [3] pages. Maps Illustrations. Notes. Index. Minor edge creases at several back pages. Derek Leebaert is an American technology executive who writes books on history and politics, which evoke insights on leadership. He won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award for Grand Improvisation, and he's a founder of the National Museum of the United States Army. Leebaert's book on elite military operations, To Dare and To Conquer has been on various United States Special Operations Command reading lists. It has been required reading in the Q Course at Ft. Bragg as well. To Dare and to Conquer was a Washington Post Book World "Nonfiction Best Book" of 2006, as was his subsequent book, Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan, for 2010. His latest book, Grand Improvisation (2018) was a New York Times "Best Book," and reviews are found in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Review of Books, the Times (London), et al. Leebaert also co-authored the MIT Press trilogy on the IT revolution, including The Future of the Electronic Marketplace and The Future of Software. He holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt (history/economics), an M.A. from Columbia University (international affairs), and a D.Phil. in political economy from Oxford University (1983). From 2001-2010, he taught "The Price of U.S. Global Engagement" for Georgetown's Department of Government. He is a founding editor of three enduring periodicals: International Security, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and The International Economy. A 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. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Maynard Keynes, Dean Acheson, Clement Atlee, Ernest Bevin, John Foster Dulles, Anthony Eden, Korean War, George Marshall, Nationalism, NATO, John Wesley Snyder, Cold War, Vietnam, Israel
ISBN: 9780374250720
[Book #85054]
Price: $45.00