Building NATO
The Anglo-American Alliance and the Defense of Europe
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:18th Feb '27
£85.00
This title is due to be published on 18th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book explores US and British efforts to navigate the politics of the early Cold War and build a strong foundation for NATO and European defence.
By 1945, Britain was no longer a top tier world power and its leaders saw the need to create alliances for military support, which led to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, more commonly known as NATO. This book traces the development of this alliance, analysing US and British attitudes towards defence, security and the nature of the partnership across the North Atlantic.
As well as examining the development of NATO, Olmstead explores failed attempts at creating a European military alliance, such as the European Defence Committee, and in doing so establishes the political context in which NATO was formed from. In particular, he analyses the attitudes of leaders such as Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower in the development of this relationship, and how much the Anglo-American alliance affected the development of the organization. Using extensive archival sources, Olmstead demonstrates that from Churchill’s point of view, this was an opportunity to manage this relationship, whereas Eisenhower saw it as an opportunity towards providing Europe with political and psychological self-confidence and economic health. This timely work provides a deep understanding of an organization which is still influential on the world stage in the modern day.
Olmsted explains how, after winning a war, Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower sought to win the shaky peace that followed. In Building NATO, he convincingly argues that Washington and London’s shared belief in the need for a transatlantic security pact was crucial to the creation of NATO. * Tim Sayle, University of Toronto, Canada *
Building NATO is a highly readable and accessible new study of the conception and birth of the North Atlantic alliance, through the wartime, and post-war, US-UK relationship. It deals deftly with American and British policy towards each other – and the network of Churchill, Eden, Truman, and Eisenhower – and with the other, sometimes fractious, partner countries coming to terms with the chilling new reality of a Cold War. Clearly situated within the extensive existing literature, yet based on thorough archival research, it serves both as an engaging introduction but also the latest scholarly treatment of a subject which 75 years on has renewed resonance. * Martin Farr, University of Newcastle, UK *
An original and meticulously researched account of NATO’s founding and early years, this book is essential reading at a moment when the Alliance is being pulled at the seams. Olmstad’s penetrating focus on the United States and Britain reveals how power, wisely wielded, can transform shared ideals into durable and effective institutions—and compels us to reexamine the conditions NATO needs to endure. * Sten Rynning, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark *
ISBN: 9781793646811
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
208 pages