European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy? [Paperback]

John Gillingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0521012627 | ISBN-13: 978-0521012621

Integration is the most significant European historical development in the past fifty years, eclipsing in importance even the collapse of the USSR. This movement toward economic and political union has not only helped revive, transform and rejuvenate a battered civilization; it is opening the way to a promising future. Yet, until now, no satisfactory explanation is to be found in any single book as to why integration is significant, how it originated and has developed, how it has changed and continues to change Europe, and where it is headed. John Gillingham is a professor of history at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. His fields of research include European economic and cultural history as well as the history of international organizations. His book Coal, Steel and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945-1955(Cambridge, 1991) was awarded the prestigious George Lewis Beer Prize by the American Historical Association. In addition to two edited volumes and approximately fifty published articles, Gillingham is the author of Industry and Politics in the Third Reich (Columbia, 1985) and Belgian Business in the Nazi New Order (Ghent, 1977). Gillingham has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and elsewhere.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"John Gillingham's fascinating history of European integration brings out the shifts of gears, changes of direction and divergent impulses that brought the European Union to its present established but contested shape as the triumph of market over state. Gillingham wanted his book to 'trumpet like an elephant,' and it does. To extend his metaphor, it gores any number of sacred cows, from the myths of the Founding Fathers and of American benevolence to the European social model. It will stimulate lively and constructive debate."
Robert O. Paxton, Columbia University

"John Gillingham is the preeminent American historian of the European Union. His book builds on vast scholarly knowledge to provide the first full-length history of European integration from the Second World War to the present day."
Charles S. Maier, Harvard University

"Professor John Gillingham's sweeping reinterpretation of European integration since 1950 is informed, provocative, and fresh. It combines a deep appreciation of the market incentives that have made European cooperation inevitable, a subtle account of the ideologies and diplomatic circumstances that shaped its precise form, and a sharp Hayekian critique of the policy choices that were made. It is sure to generate scholarly debate for years to come."
Andrew Moravcsik, Harvard University

"John Gillingham has produced an excellent, up-to-date history of the EU which overturns many preconceived ideas and challenges the views of Eurofanatics and Eurosceptics alike. It is a dazzling performance, full of paradoxes and ironies and some very funny lines. If anyone wants to know what little actually works in the EU and why, this is the book to read. It is acidly critical yet economically rational. It leaves the usual hagiographical histories of European bureaucracy way behind. Every student of post-war Europe will have to come to terms with it. It is an astounding achievement."
Alan Sked, Department of International History, London School of Economics, formerly Convener of European Studies

"The European Union is very difficult to write about, because it can be bewilderingly technical, and at the same time invites windy rhetoric. It takes immense familiarity with the subject - and particular knowledge of what are still very different countries - to write a book both accessible and worth reading. John Gillingham has succeeded. This is a book that will be of great use at any level - politicians wishing to make serious speeches, teachers needing to put together a course, or just travellers in an aircraft. I am in the author's debt."
Norman Stone, Director of the Turkish-Russian Institute, Bilkent University, Ankara, formerly of Oxford University

"Gillingham has written the first comprehensive history of European integration and produced a profoundly original reinterpretation of this enormously complex process."
John P. McKay, University of Illinois, Urbana

"...impressive and engaging... The reader closes this book-length discourse ... with the certitude of having gained knowledge and insight into the workings and rocky foundations of the European experiment."
Business History Review

"John Gillingham has written an entertaining and informative history of European integration...[His] book breaks many conventions of historical and academic writing. It is bold in its scope and in its trans disciplinary methodological approach taken to its topic...It is a lively read with lots of political history detail. I recommend it."
Jeffrey Sommers, Andre Gunder Frank, Journal of World History

Book Description

Integration is the most significant European historical development in the past fifty years, eclipsing in importance even the collapse of the USSR. This movement toward economic and political union has not only helped revive, transform and rejuvenate a battered civilization; it is opening the way to a future that looks bright. Yet, until now, no satisfactory explanation is to be found in any single book as to why integration is significant, how it originated and has developed, how it has changed and continues to change Europe, and where it is headed.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521012627
• ISBN-13: 978-0521012621
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,057,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too many factual errors, August 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy? (Paperback)

European Integration is one of my favorites topics. I do not share the author's euro skepticism but I enjoyed his discussion about different theories of integration. However, I cannot recommend a book with so many factual errors about modern history of my native Spain. I do not know who told Mr. Gillingham that Prime Minister Felipe González was know as Pepe (it is González and not Gonzáles by the way), that the socialist inspired trade union is the Unión de Centro Democrático (as opposed to the Union General de Trabajadores) that the deputy PM name was Juan Guerra (as opposed to Alfonso Guerra) or that the Bank of Spain intervened BANESTA (as opposed to BANESTO). I recommend a full revision if this book is ever to be translated into Spanish and/or sold in Spain. I can only hope that he got the facts of the rest of the countries right.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mainly for Thatcherites, August 5, 2004

By 

A. Hyde (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy? (Paperback)

We need a one-volume history of European Integration, but not this five hundred page panegyric to...Margaret Thatcher? In Gillingham's funhouse, Thatcher is the key figure in European Integration, receiving more attention than any of the individuals who actually tried to integrate Europe, most of whom are dismissed, often in very personal terms. European integration indeed disappears from the book sometimes for sixty pages at a time while the author reviews political developments of right-wing governments in...New Zealand? A very distorted understanding of European integration.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting view of European Integration, February 17, 2004

By 

Nick Scharenberg (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy? (Paperback)

Unlike the last reviewer who had to review this work three times to air his/her views on this work, I will only need one. The author is extremely precise in his wording, and very knowledgeable with the subject matter presented. The book is a pleasure to read, and a great addition to the library of anyone with an avid interest in Europe.