Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949-1969

Gray's book does a masterful job of elucidating a key part of the Cold War. In looking at the Cold War in Europe, historians, both academic and popular/armchair, often overlook what America's allies were doing as they fought their own fronts in the larger Cold War. While NATO allies like Britain, Germany, and Italy were loyal supporters of the U.S., and they played a role in Washington's strategy, they also had their own agendas. Nowhere was this more important than in West Germany. Unlike other American allies in Europe, West Germany had its own "personal" Cold War to fight (against East Germany). In doing so, however, its decisions could impact the larger global conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Additionally, West Germany was locked in a struggle with its own countrymen, in a sense. The "enemy" were fellow Germans. Using a tremendous array of archival evidence, Gray demonstrates the origins, nuance, and development of West Germany's own Cold War strategy. His bibliography is very impressive. This book is necessary reading for the graduate student or scholar of the Cold War, and it is an excellent choice for the casual reader looking to go beyond the History Channel.