Post World War II Overview
It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of World War II on the modern world. First and foremost an exercise in human misery, the war claimed approximately 55 million dead and left approximately 35 million wounded. Passions and political changes stirred by the war resulted in a further 20 to 30 million postwar refugees and deportees, as states in Europe and Asia sought to make nationality lines conform with international boundaries; the westward movement of the Soviet Union's border, for example, displaced over 4 million Poles, while as many as 12 million ethnic Germans were driven from Eastern Europe and the Balkans into a divided and geographically reduced Germany. The economic costs of wartime destruction, taxes, debts, lost opportunities, and postwar resettlement are incalculable.
Image: displaying the U.N. flag, New York, 1945
Selected Books
The Rebirth of Europe by
This revised and updated edition covers the introduction of the euro, the fall of Milosevic, and the impact of September 11 in European integration. The rejuvenation of Europe as a totalitarian century ends and a global century begins is a remarkable story. This book brings together the three dynamics of Europe's position at this extraordinary moment: European monetary union, the deepening of intra-EU cooperation, and the widening of the EU and NATO to take in central European members. It looks at the broad political and policy implications of EMU and shows how the United States views this integration. Elizabeth Pond, a longtime observer of events in Europe and Russia, sees these developments as the beginning of a new postnational European system that is replacing the centuries-old nation-state system. She shows how belligerence and anarchy have faded away on the European continent as compulsory cold war cooperation becomes a habit and as French-German reconciliation becomes the pattern for reconciliation between other old enemies. She follows NATO's transformation into a reluctant peacemaker in Bosnia and the United States' decision to remain a European power. She describes the leap of faith needed to create European monetary union and charts the magnetic attraction of both NATO and the EU in shaping the democratic, economic, and social revolutions in central Europe. She warns about the strains that will face the transatlantic relationship when the euro is ona par with the dollar as a reserve currency. And she concludes by agreeing with former Polish foreign minister Wladyslaw Barteszewski that we are witnessing, after the original birth of European consciousness a millennium ago, the rebirth of Europe.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780815771593
The Cold War by
The cold war--the bitter standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union--lasted for over 50 years and polarized the world. The conflict had its roots in political and ideological disagreements dating back to the Russian Revolution of 1917--disagreements that intensified in the wake ofWorld War II. Allan M. Winkler excerpts speeches by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to demonstrate the growing abyss between the two political systems. President Harry S. Truman's announcement of the existence of a Soviet atomic bomb and his speech toCongress launching the Truman Doctrine testify to the gravity of the situation. The cold war was not always "cold"--armed conflicts were narrowly avoided in the Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs, and war did erupt in Korea and Vietnam. The complex politics of the Vietnam War are representedby voices as divergent as Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh, President Lyndon B. Johnson, antiwar protesters, and a participant in the My Lai massacre. Cold war paranoia permeated American society. The investigations of writer Ring Lardner, Jr., and government official Alger Hiss by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, along with speeches by Senator Joe McCarthy, lay bare the political repression at home generated by the perceived communistthreat. Excerpts from Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and the film script of High Noon capture the mood of uncertainty and fear. A picture essay entitled "The Atom Unleashed" collects photographs and cartoons to explore one of the most controversial discoveries of the 20th century. Agreements madein the SALT treaties show the cold war finally coming to an end. In his 1992 State of the Union address, President Bush declared, "By the grace of God, America won the cold war."
Call Number: D842.W56 2000ISBN: 0195123565
The Marshall Plan : America, Britain, and the reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947-1952 by
Michael Hogan shows how The Marshall Plan was more than an effort to put American aid behind the economic reconstruction of Europe. American officials hoped to refashion Western Europe into a smaller version of the integrated single-market and mixed capitalist economy that existed in the United States. Professor Hogan's emphasis on integration is part of a major reinterpretation that sees the Marshall Plan as an extension of American domestic and foreign-policy developments stretching back through the interwar period to the Progressive Era.
Call Number: HC240.H614 1987ISBN: 0521251400
The Politics of Economic Decline in East Germany, 1945-1989 by
Jeffrey Kopstein offers the first comprehensive study of East German economic policy over the course of the state's forty-year history. Analyzing both the making of economic policy at the national level and the implementation of specific policies on the shop floor, he provides new and essential background to the revolution of 1989. In particular, he shows how decisions made at critical junctures in East Germany's history led to a pattern of economic decline and worker dissatisfaction that contributed to eventual political collapse. East Germany was generally considered to have the most successful economy in the Eastern Bloc, but Kopstein explores what prevented the country's leaders from responding effectively to pressing economic problems. He depicts a regime caught between the demands of a disaffected working class whose support was crucial to continued political stability, an intractable bureaucracy, an intolerant but surprisingly weak Soviet patron state, and a harsh international economic climate. Rather than pushing for genuine economic change, the East German Communist Party retreated into what Kopstein calls a 'campaign economy' in which an endless series of production campaigns was used to squeeze greater output from an inherently inefficient economic system. Originally published in 1996. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
Call Number: HC290.78 .K66 1997ISBN: 0807823031
Act of Creation: the founding of the United Nations : a story of superpowers, secret agents, wartime allies and enemies, and their quest for a peaceful world by
In Act of Creation, Stephen C. Schlesinger tells a pivotal and little-known story of how Secretary of State Edward Stettinius and the new American President, Harry Truman, picked up the pieces of the faltering campaign initiated by Franklin Roosevelt to create a "United Nations." Using secret agents, financial resources, and their unrivaled position of power, they overcame the intrigues of Stalin, the reservations of wartime allies like Winston Churchill, the discontent of smaller states, and a skeptical press corps to found the United Nations. The author reveals how the UN nearly collapsed several times during the conference over questions of which states should have power, who should be admitted, and how authority should be divided among its branches. By shedding new light on leading participants like John Foster Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Nelson Rockefeller, and E. B White, Act of Creation provides a fascinating tale of twentieth-century history not to be missed.
Call Number: JZ4986.S358 2004ISBN: 0813332753
Selected Websites
- BBC - History: World War TwoScroll down to Post-war Reconstruction and Retribution