Benn Steil

[A] brilliant bookby far the best study yet (The Wall Street Journal) of the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan and its long-lasting influence on our world.In the wake of World War II, with Britains empire collapsing and Stalins on the rise, US officials under new Secretary of State George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continue to shape world events. Benn Steils thoroughly researched and well-written account (USA TODAY) tells the story behind the birth of the Cold War, told with verve, insight, and resonance for today. Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steils gripping narrative takes us through the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relationsthe Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, Stalins determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe is vividly portrayed. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steils account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan. Trenchant and timelyan ambitious, deeply researched narrative thatprovides a fresh perspective on the coming Cold War (The New York Times Book Review), The Marshall Plan is a polished and masterly work of historical narrative. An instant classic of Cold War literature, it is a gripping, complex, and critically important story that is told with clarity and precision (TheChristian Science Monitor).Winner of the 2019 New-York Historical Society Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American HistoryWinner of the 2018 American Academy of Diplomacy Douglas Dillon AwardShortlisted for the 2018 Duff Cooper Prize in Literary NonfictionHonorable Mention (runner-up) for the 2019 ASEEES Marshall D. Shulman Prize

From the acclaimed economist-historian and author of The Marshall Plan, a timely, riveting (The Washington Post) new perspective on the political career of Henry Wallaceone that will forever change how we view the making of US and Soviet foreign policy at the dawn of the Cold War.Henry Wallace is the most important, and certainly the most fascinating, almost-president in American history. As FDRs third-term vice president, and a hero to many progressives, he lost his place on the 1944 Democratic ticket in a wild open convention, resulting in Harry Truman becoming president upon FDRs death. Books, films, and even plays have since portrayed the circumstances surrounding Wallaces defeat as corrupt, and the results catastrophic. Filmmaker Oliver Stone, among others, has claimed that Wallaces loss ushered in four decades of devastating and unnecessary Cold War.Now, based on striking new finds from Russian, FBI, and other archives, Benn Steils The World That Wasnt paints a decidedly less heroic portrait of the man, of the events surrounding his fall, and of the world that might have been under his presidency. Though a brilliant geneticist, Henry Wallace was a self-obsessed political figure, blind to the manipulations of aidesmany of whom were Soviet agents and assets.From 1933 to 1949, Wallace undertook a series of remarkable interventions abroad, each aimed at remaking the world order according to his evolving spiritual blueprint. As agriculture secretary, he fell under the spell of Russian mystics, and used the cover of a plant-gathering mission to aid their doomed effort to forge a new theocratic state in Central Asia. As vice president, he toured a Potemkin Siberian continent, guided by undercover Soviet security and intelligence officials who hid labor camps and concealed prisoners. He then wrote a book, together with an American NKGB journalist source, hailing the regions renaissance under Bolshevik leadership. In China, the Soviets uncovered his private efforts to coax concessions to Moscow from Chiang Kai-shek, fueling their ambitions to dominate Manchuria. Running for president in 1948, he colluded with Stalin to undermine his governments foreign policy, allowing the dictator to edit his most important election speech. It was not until 1950 that he began to acknowledge his misapprehensions regarding the Kremlins aims and conduct.Meticulously researched and deftly written, The World That Wasnt is a spellbinding work that shows how American historyand world historycould have turned out very differently if just a few things had gone the other way (The Wall Street Journal).

Au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, alors que l’Empire britannique s’effondre et que rien ne ralentit l’expansion de Staline, l’équipe du nouveau secrétaire d’État George C. Marshall planifie

La historia real que rodea los históricos acuerdos de Bretton WoodsEl nombre de la remota ciudad de New Hampshire, donde los representantes de cuarenta y cuatro naciones se reunieron en julio de 1944, en medio de la segunda gran guerra del siglo, se ha convertido en la abreviatura de la globalizacion. La historia real que rodea los historicos acuerdos de Bretton Woods, sin embargo, esta llena de un dramatismo sobrecogedor, con episodios de intriga, que son vividamente trasladados al papel en el relato epico de Benn Steil.