Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West [Hardcover]

Timothy Garton Ash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2004

At the start of the 21st century, the West has plunged into crisis. Europe tries to define itself in opposition to America; America increasingly regards Europe as troublesome and irrelevant; and Britain is split down the middle. What’s to become of what we used to call “the free world”?

No contemporary thinker writes with the combination of passion, historical insight, and reportorial brilliance of Timothy Garton Ash, and here he assesses the causes and implications of our current geopolitical quandary–which dates back to the end of the Cold War and is not merely political but existential. The question is not just “What should we do?” It’s “Who should we be?”

In Free World, Garton Ash draws on an extraordinary range of sources: from unique, personal conversations with Bush, Blair, and Schröder to encounters with farmers in Kansas and British soldiers in rural England; from history, memoirs, opinion polls, and sociological research to personal observations based on a quarter century of traveling in Europe and the United States.

The result is a book that explains why Washington can never rule today’s interconnected world alone, why the new enlarged Europe can only realize its aspirations in a larger, transatlantic community, and how the torments of the Middle East and the world’s poor can only be addressed by free people working together. To remain true to itself, the West must go beyond itself. As Garton Ash shows, Americans and Europeans have at hand a unique opportunity to advance from “the free world” of the cold war to a radically new international order of liberty.

And he urges us, with passion that comes from a lifetime of reflection on these issues, to seize that chance. Defying conventional wisdom and eschewing easy answers, this incisive book should be read not just by all those who purport to lead and and inform us but by everyone who wishes to be a citizen of a truly free world.

“Free World is a model of common-sense reasoning based on strong empirical evidence. Mr. Garton Ash has given us a readable and worthy argument, rooted in a sense of what is important and what is not and based on as informed and accessible a tour of the global situation as we're likely to have.”
–THE NEW YORK TIMES

A compelling manifesto for the enlargement of freedom and a new era of world politics."
--VACLAV HAVEL

“Timothy Garton Ash has long been among the world’s wisest writers on Europe and America. Now, at a pivotal moment in relations across the Atlantic, he offers us a brilliant analysis–practical, without illusions, original, sparklingly well-written, and, above all, inspiring.”
–MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT

“This is an important book, refreshingly positive yet without pulling any punches. Free World demonstrates that the Transatlantic West remains the key to a better world for all–but that much will depend upon whether the EU defines itself as a partner, or as a frustrator, of America. Learn and be stimulated. You will enjoy the reading.”
–GEORGE P. SHULTZ

“Not content with offering a brilliant analysis of today’s world, Timothy Garton Ash shows us what we must do to make the world a better place. He also tells us why it is reasonable to believe that this much-needed change is possible. This is a book that will inform, encourage, and even inspire readers everywhere.”
–PETER SINGER, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University

“Timothy Garton Ash is one of the most astute observers of Europe and its relationship with the United States. In this important book, he dissects the currently troubled Atlantic relationship, places it in a broader global context, and provides a sense of hope for the future. He writes with grace, wit, and lucidity.”
–JOSEPH S. NYE, JR., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Colossal events such as the fall of France during World War II or the dismantling of the Berlin Wall create seismic shifts in geopolitics. Alliances are broken or forged. Power and influence are redistributed. According to Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free World: Why a Crisis in the West Reveals the Opportunity of Our Time, the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent war in Iraq have produced such a crisis in the West. French and German opposition to America's war have signaled a severe rift between these one-time staunch allies and have raised questions about European identity, the role of Britain in this struggle, the direction of U.S. foreign policy, and most important, the spread of freedom and democracy to the poor and voiceless millions in the developing world.

France's attempt to become the voice of the European Union and to defy the will of the U.S. marks a departure from an age-old power structure. Or does it? In clear and engaging prose, Ash, an expert on European-American relations, places the crisis in a historical context dating back to the Second World War. Ash maintains that the future of the West depends on the EU's choice between Gaullism (Europe as "not-America"), or Churchill-style Atlanticism (Europe as a partner of the U.S. with England providing the bridge between the two). At the same time, the world's hyperpower, the U.S., must decide if it will continue to pursue unilaterally its foreign policy of self-interest combined with a Wilsonian edict to spread democracy, or embrace the kind of transatlantic interdependence that already exists in the business world. Wisely, Ash cautions against oversimplification and effectively deflates the myth that there is one America or one Europe. He shows that "There are not two separate sets of values, European and American, but several intersecting sets of values." Therefore, he urges cooperation between these two great powers. Only then, says Ash, can the West reverse its potential decline and spread its legacy of democracy and freedom to the "unfree" world. --Silvana Tropea

From Publishers Weekly

A Great Britain caught between America and its Continental neighbors—on Iraq and much else—commences Ash's look at the 21st-century's strains on relations in the West. As the eminent British scholar and journalist (The File) moves on to the Continent, he echoes several recent critiques of the call for a unified Europe to act as an alternative superpower, citing the "uneven development" of the European Union. He suggests, however, that the European community still has a vital role to play in advocating the spread of freedom around the world, and looks forward to the day when America treats Europeans as "full partners in a common enterprise" in doing so. For Ash, that enterprise is largely economic. He calls for a global "war on want" and urges Western nations to open their borders to trade from developing neighbors; emigrants from undeveloped countries in the Arab world will turn to Europe, he argues, for homes and jobs. He also points to the imminent threat of global warming, which inspires his harshest criticisms of the current American government. The combination of sweeping historical insight with journalistic immediacy, related in Ash's own conversational style, should help this incisive commentary on world affairs stand apart from its competitors.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (November 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400062195
• ISBN-13: 978-1400062195
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hands Across the Atlantic, Optimistic But Feasible, December 12, 2004

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West (Hardcover)

If you have read T.R. Reid's recently published "The United States of Europe" (strongly recommended), you will know that the European Union is certainly evolving into a formidable power. Unfortunately the U.S. has not paid much heed, much to our detriment given the lack of support for recent U.S. actions in Iraq. Author Timothy Garton Ash, a fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford, has written a perceptive and ultimately reassuring book about the current rift between the United States and Europe. Citing the Iraqi conflict as a touchstone, he convincingly argues that the West has always been in turmoil and that the current struggles only show the resonance of the democratic process on a more global plain. First, he accounts for the more fundamental differences in lucid terms marked by the governing administrations. He observes Americans are more religious than Europeans, which seems apt given the recent election results. Americans are more distrustful of government and tolerate greater economic inequality in return for greater individual freedom. Americans place more emphasis on economic growth than on protection of the environment. Americans are more jealous of national sovereignty and have strong feelings on issues anathema to Europeans like the death penalty and gun ownership.

From this Atlantic division, Ash recognizes sharper differences within the U.S. and Europe. Europeans are divided into "Euro-Atlanticists", who want political ties with the U.S. and worry about the sovereign tendencies of the European Union, and "Euro-Gaullists", who see the EU as an essential counterweight to the U.S. and support a consolidated welfare state. For their part, Americans are divided between what have come to be called red-state and blue-state voters. The blue side corresponds to the "Euro-Atlanticist" side, while the red side encompasses traditionally conservative issues such as gun ownership and resistant hostility toward international institutions like the EU. What results is an overlap in what the U.S. sees as the Democratic Party since Europe does not have a red-state equivalent resembling the republicans and the U.S. has no organized socialist party on movement with the two major parties. This overlap is where Ash sees the future of true partnership where he believes the U.S. can move toward greater multi-lateralism and Europe toward improved trans-Atlantic cooperation.

Clearly there is a great amount of optimism in Ash's viewpoint. He wholeheartedly feels that what divides the West is less significant than what unites it, even though he acknowledges the erosion in shared causes and memories due to both the "Euro-Gaullist" mindset shaped by French President Jacques Chirac and the unilateralism forced by the Bush administration. It is really this divisiveness that makes it difficult to believe Ash's vision of trans-Atlantic unity will come to fruition any time soon. One fundamental difference is the war on terrorism. Americans view 9/11 as the beginning of a new age of nihilistic, mass-casualty terrorism, while Europeans, used to random bombings, tend to think of it as a single lucky shot. Moreover, the perception of American credibility has been sorely tested given the lack of resolution in the Iraq conflict. But Ash gives one faith with his well-written arguments about the joint mission toward spreading freedom globally, even if there have been communication breakdowns on the death penalty and global warming. Highly recommended reading for those who realize we must face up to our responsibilities beyond our borders.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the Doctor ordered., November 14, 2004

By 

Lacrimatorium (Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West (Hardcover)

Given the current world climate it is hard to find a balanced voice. Free World is that. Timothy Garton Ash has the experience needed to write such a work. His books on Europe in the late Eighties and Nineties are essential reading if you wish to understand the European epoch since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This time around he covers more ambitious territory: America vs. Europe and the place of Britain in this new post September 11th world. This is quite readable and more importantly quite wise. Ash shows clearly that propagandistic hysteria in the face of the present moment is probably the worst of all responses. He emphasizes what is crucially needed in this polarized world: Dialogue. His recommendations are keen and genuine. Buy several copies of this book and give them to friends of ANY political persuasion. Let's not talk about 'them' in superior tones. Let's realize that our differences will never disappear and talk nonetheless.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Balanced overview of material, not surprising....., February 6, 2005

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West (Hardcover)

The message of Timothy Garton Ashe's FREE WORLD is familiar to those who are informed, but it remains useful because unlike many other English-speaking writers of these times, Ashe is not engaged in polemics. Rather he seeks to find a constructive middle ground among and between the various factions in the West-Europe and America - which he describes as not unlike lemmings fighting on the edge of a cliff (Briton and France he likens to Mattheau and Lemmon in `Grumpy Old Men'). He suggests that America is divided against itself, and Europe is divided about America. Furthermore, Europe cannot succeed alone and America cannot succeed alone, and the Atlantic-based West probably has only about 20 more years of hegemony before another superstar arises that may not have the best interests of the West at heart-probably from the East-perhaps China, Japan India, or Islamic centered in Indonesia.

Garton says the West needs to address issues of concern in four global areas: 1/ The Near East; 2/ The Far East; 3/ The South with its staggering poverty; 4/ The environmental health of the globe. These four areas are not mutually exclusive. Poverty and population growth which contribute to the degradation of the planet are still the major issues they have been for several decades. Rather than make the problem better the West has made the problem worse. Ashe reviews issues that plague the rest of the world, such as farm subsidies and import regulations in the West that harm rather than help. Free range, free trade, `free' is the operative word.

The educated and informed may not find Ashe is saying anything new, but this book is a good summarization of where we in the West stand at this moment in time, and what our role has been and might be.

If you want to become more informed, i.e. get a handle on current events without the polemics (the book does not "trash" Bush), FREE WORLD is excellent resource-and it reads well (I love his metaphors). Although many of us may want to drop out, every one of us has a stake in world affairs, if not for our own sake, for the sake of our children. This book raises consciousness of current affairs and how they revolve around decisions made in the West. You can contribute to the solution or be part of the problem--the choice is yours. No matter what part of the planet you call home, or what your politics might be, you will find this book informative--unless you know it all.