Overview

Only in times of great change can a superpower be challenged. But with Europe in turmoil, Russia newly belligerent, and the world's great superpower tied up with unrest in the Middle East, it finally seemed to be the right time to throw down the gauntlet. That year, 1956, America made the decision to confront Britain and take up the mantle of world affairs. American historian Derek Leebaert spins a riveting global narrative of secret ties, diplomatic quarrels and military interventions, featuring fresh encounters with such political giants as Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson. In a volatile world of decolonization, Zionism, proxy wars and the Suez Crisis, we witness the development of the ‘special relationship’, rising tensions with Russia and China, and – ultimately – the shaping of the modern world. Not only that, but this forgotten story provides a vital insight into the changing might of nations today – and the superpowers of tomorrow.

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9781786070968

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Reviews

`One of the most thoughtful books on the Cold War period that has come my way.' -- Norman Stone * <i>Literary Review</i> * `Derek Leebaert's fascinating book is far from just another story of the British empire's recession.' * <i>The Times</i> * `One of the most thoughtful books on the Cold War period that has come my way.' -- Norman Stone, <i>Literary Review</i> `Important and engaging... Leebaert aims to give a deathblow to the myth of hands across the sea ... Riveting.' * <i>Wall Street Journal</i> * `Leebaert's emphasis is necessary to demolish the common notion that after 1945 a bankrupt Britain and its empire faded from the scene, leaving the United States to become the world's policeman. The idea that a Washington-led world order snapped into place immediately after the war is accepted by any number of renowned historians. Leebaert's thesis should send everyone back to the original sources.' -- Harold Evans, <i>New York Times Book Review</i> `A brilliant achievement that challenges what we thought we knew about the power imbalance between post-war Britain and the US, the superpower that emerged in 1945 - written with intelligence, lucidity and a breathtaking width of knowledge.' -- Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics `A fascinating and provocative account...rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities.' -- Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Lords of Finance</i> `In The World After the War, Derek Leebaert offers what for many readers will be a challenging thesis: that in 1945, the United States was hesitant about taking on the mantle of Leader of the Free World, which it later embraced; moreover, in 1945, Great Britain retained the substance and profile of that anachronistic description, a superpower. Only in 1956, after the Suez Crisis, did the US emerge as the Lone Ranger of the planet. Unfortunately, it was not always terribly successful in this guise, as the author argues in this impressively researched book.' -- Kathleen Burk, author of <i>The Lion and the Eagle: The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783-1972</i> `Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue...is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom.' -- Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania `A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries - the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith - in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort.' -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of <i>America's War for the Greater Middle East</i>

`Derek Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue as a scholar and author is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom.' -- Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania

`A brilliant achievement that challenges what we thought we knew about the power imbalance between post-war Britain and the US, the superpower that emerged in 1945 - written with intelligence, lucidity and a breathtaking width of knowledge.' -- Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics `A fascinating and provocative account...rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities.' -- Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Lords of Finance</i> `In The World After the War, Derek Leebaert offers what for many readers will be a challenging thesis: that in 1945, the United States was hesitant about taking on the mantle of Leader of the Free World, which it later embraced; moreover, in 1945, Great Britain retained the substance and profile of that anachronistic description, a superpower. Only in 1956, after the Suez Crisis, did the US emerge as the Lone Ranger of the planet. Unfortunately, it was not always terribly successful in this guise, as the author argues in this impressively researched book.' -- Kathleen Burk, author of <i>The Lion and the Eagle: The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783-1972</i> `Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue...is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom.' -- Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania `A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries - the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith - in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort.' -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of <i>America's War for the Greater Middle East</i>

`A fascinating and provocative account...rich with revealing details, anecdotes and brilliantly wrought portraits of the key personalities. Lively and entertaining, this book will change the way we look at the immediate post-war years and carries profound lessons for the world today as power once again shifts across the globe.' -- Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Lords of Finance</i> `Leebaert is a Cold War historian of the first rank as well as a spellbinding narrator. But his greatest virtue...is a dogged pursuit of what really happened even, or especially, when it contradicts conventional wisdom.' -- Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, University of Pennsylvania `A nation in decline that persists in imagining itself indispensable is a menace to itself and to others. So it was with Great Britain after World War II. So too it is with the United States today. With sparkling prose and deft characterizations, Derek Leebaert examines the relationship between those two countries - the one on the way down, the other reaching its zenith - in the first decade of the postwar era. The result is both revealing and immensely instructive. This is historical revisionism of the very best sort.' -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of <i>America's War for the Greater Middle East</i>

Author Information

Derek Leebaert is the author of several books on American history and foreign policy, a subject he taught at Georgetown University for fifteen years. Between 2013 and 2015, he was an adviser to Obama’s secretary of defense Chuck Hagel. He lives in Washington, DC.

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