Customer Reviews

Picking Up the Reins

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This is a lively, lucidly told account of one of the most significant transformational geopolitical developments of modern times. It clearly sketches how the nations of the western world emerged from the debris of the Second World War to forge a new alignment of power, with the United States supplanting Great Britain as the major world power, the nations of Europe beginning their historic trudge toward union, and wartime ally Russia morphing into a dangerous adversary. Spicing his narrative with telling anecdotes and touching all the bases, Moss sets the stage for today's geopolitical climate. He has made an admirable contribution to our understanding of how we got to where we are now.

This is a succinct little book on the post war decline of Britain's economic, diplomatic and military power and the concomitant emergence of the US as the dominant power in the "free world". It gave a fairly thorough account in only 256 pages. Moss described the economic problems of post-war Britain, which led it to withdraw from many of its world-wide military commitments. This withdrawal resulted in something of a "power vacuum" which the Soviets attempted to exploit to advance international Communism. The book also illustrates the difficulty Truman had focusing the American people and Congress on external affairs and extending US military power to cover those "gaps". The culmination of the book is its description of the passage and implementation of the "Marshall Plan" which was instrumental in the reconstruction of Europe and firmly cemented America's role as leader of the "free world" The writing was lively and consistently interesting with little tidbits and factoids scattered throughout to put the larger issues in perspective. I enjoyed it immensely!