The Cold War in Europe: Era of a Divided Continent

From back cover: "Now that the Cold War is over, this book is especially timely: it analyzes and summarizes the events that ushered in an epoch of history nearly 50 years ago, and provides an analysis of the forces that were suppressed or strengthened during the Cold War- and some of which are now unleashed again. Professor Maier, one of America's leading scholars on postwar Europe, begins his book by discussing the different interpretations of the Cold War among leading commentators. A selection of the most important essays on the origins of the Cold War by well-known politicians and scholars, including Averell Harriman, John Gaddis, Thomas McCormick, Radomir Luza, Geir Lundestad, Alan S. Milward, Antony Carew, Michael Hogan, and Lutz Niethammer, provides the critical spectrum of the debate on the acceleration of the Cold War. These contributors investigate the events that led to a division of Europe into spheres of influence on both a global and regional basis. The roles of the giants of history, such as Churchill, Stalin, and Truman, as well as those of local leaders, are illuminated in these essays. Special emphasis is placed on the political economy of the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, the conditions for new Labor Movements, welfare capitalism, the European economies after the collapse of Fascism, and the politics of productivity." ***** CONTENTS: I - CONTEXTS OF INTERPRETATION 1 - After the Cold War:Introduction to the 1991 Edition (Charles S. Maier) 2 - America's Half Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War (Thomas J. McCormick) II - DIVIDING EUROPE 3 - Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin - W. Averell Harriman and Elie Abel 4 - Czechoslovakia between Democracy and Communism - Radomir Luza 5 - Spheres of Influence: the United States and Europe, 1945-1949 - John Gaddis 6 - Empire by Invitation? The United States and Western Europe, 1945-1952 - Geir Lundestad III - THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE COLD WAR ERA 7 - The Politics of Productivity: Foundations of American International Economic Policy after World War II - Charles S. Maier 8 - The Marshall Plan - Michael Hogan 9 - The Reconstruction of Western Europe - Alan S. Milward 10 - Structural Reform and a Compact for Growth: Conditions for a United Labor Union Movement in Western Europe after the Collapse of Fascism - Lutz Niethammer 11 - Labour and the Marshall Plan - Anthony Carew

This new edition draws upon documentation from Soviet archives that was not previously available, and opens up the role of nuclear strategy in the Soviet-American conflict. The editor's revised introduction likewise reconsiders the historiography of the Cold War in light of the recent archival disclosures. "The depth and variety of these analyses leads to the title's usefulness as a classroom text." -Midwest Book Review