Politicians of every stripe frequently invoke the Marshall Plan in support of programs aimed at using American wealth to extend the nation's power and influence, solve intractable third-world economic problems, and combat world hunger and disease. Do any of these impassioned advocates understand why the Marshall Plan succeeded where so many subsequent aid plans have not? Historian Nicolaus Mills explores the Marshall Plan in all its dimensions to provide valuable lessons from the past about what America can and cannot do as a superpower.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
During the spring of 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall promulgated what would come to be known as the Marshall Plan: a proposal to spend up to $20 billion to restore the infrastructure and economies of Europe, then still foundering in recession and poverty after the ravages of WWII. As Mills, American studies professor at Sarah Lawrence, shows in this elegant study, the plan not only offered relief but brought about a degree of European unity by forcing countries to work in concert to mend their fractured continent. The U.S. mostly refrained from influencing specific solutions, an approach that Mills argues the present administration should think about adopting today. The plan worked to the advantage of the United States as much as it worked to the advantage of noncommunist Europe: much of the economic aid supplied was to be used to purchase American merchandise, and legislation required that this merchandise travel on U.S. merchant vessels. Six years after Marshall's first proposal, the U.S. had invested some $13 billion, and virtually all of Western Europe stood restored. This overview covers a complex subject straightforwardly and well. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
* Tracing the history and intended goals of the Marshall Plan (1947)—named for its primary creator, Secretary of State George C. Marshall—Mills passionately argues that it was a successful nation-building tool that offers many lessons for the United States today. According to Mills (American studies, Sarah Lawrence Coll.), Marshall emphasized that American aid after World War II should not be used against nations but against "forces that deprived people of their dignity." His goal was to help revive the economies of Europe, creating stable political and social units that would facilitate the existence of free institutions. In this, Mills declares the Marshall Plan a success in that it supplied Europe with "a crucial margin of aid" that enabled it to recover without slashing needed welfare programs or reducing wages. In other words, the Marshall Plan was Europe's New Deal, providing the foundation for a stable Europe that would include Germany in its economic center. Well written, engaging, and likely to be considered controversial owing to its praise of the plan, Mill's book should promote discussion, especially in light of current events. Recommended for academic and larger public library collections.
—Patti C. McCall, AMRI, Albany, NY (Library Journal, February 15, 2008)
—Patti C. McCall, AMRI, Albany, NY (Library Journal, February 15, 2008)
During the spring of 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall promulgated what would come to be known as the Marshall Plan: a proposal to spend up to $20 billion to restore the infrastructure and economies of Europe, then still foundering in recession and poverty after the ravages of WWII. As Mills, American studies professor at Sarah Lawrence, shows in this elegant study, the plan not only offered relief but brought about a degree of European unity by forcing countries to work in concert to mend their fractured continent. The U.S. mostly refrained from influencing specific solutions, an approach that Mills argues the present administration should think about adopting today. The plan worked to the advantage of the United States as much as it worked to the advantage of noncommunist Europe: much of the economic aid supplied was to be used to purchase American merchandise, and legislation required that this merchandise travel on U.S. merchant vessels. Six years after Marshall’s first proposal, the U.S. had invested some $13 billion, and virtually all of Western Europe stood restored. This overview covers a complex subject straightforwardly and well. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, November 26, 2007)
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Michael
Format:Hardcover
This book was well written and flowed very well from beginning to end. I enjoyed it and would recommend reading it. I was a little disappointed that the author used the opportunity to use this venue for "Bush bashing" as multiple references were made to the current state of affairs in Iraq. I guess some people can't help themselves but I found this out of place, out of context and unnecessary. I did not know I was contributing to someone else's soapbox attempt at pushing their point of view on an unrelated subject. If the author wanted to compare the Marshall Plan to any failing is the US he could have found more agreement on how such a plan could be implemented to get the US out of the current economic mess or implemented to gain energy independence. Something more relevant than Iraq where the battles are still being fought.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am not sure what turned other reviewers off, but I found nothing of their complaints in this book.
Nicholas Mills has presented an excellent discussion of the Marshall Plan, its importance, value, origins, problems, successes and failures. Since with my review, there will be four reviews with four different ratings, I suggest the potential reader visit the library and check the book out. In my opinion, my money and time were both well spent in reading this work.
At the age of 66, my interest in history has deepened in the past five years. Few of the books I have read in that time period (there have been over 200 others following the death of my wife) have been as informative and educational as Mills' work. If you have an interest in what happened after WW II, why 67 years later we still have not had a repeat of the world-wide magnitude of WW I & II although there have been many smaller ones, why we really ought to have learned our lesson with the first two, and why we should literally pray to God that we have the sense to never do that again, you need to read this book. I make reference to prayer not irreverently but seriously, because the next time we might not have a George Marshall with the credibility and persuasiveness to convince America to implement a similar program.
I am a Vietnam veteran, a retired Baptist pastor, and deeply believe in peace, but if America is attacked (again, as in 1941 and 2001) I will volunteer to defend my nation with my life. I know the truth of the statement "War is Hell", but I never realized just how much truth is in that statement until I read what WW II did to Europe.
This book deserves to be read and read widely, regardless of any nay-sayers who were offended by references to Bush (I am a strong Bush supporter and saw nothing offensive in comments Mills made) or other weaknesses. Actually, I was slightly bored during parts of chapter 4, but the content was important in making the author's point. Give me a break: no book can cover everything in a story without becoming so long it doesn't get opened. I thought the book was the perfect length: long enough to tell the story and short enough to finish before I lost interest. And, I would like to see anyone write a book without making a single error. The story is factual, educational and compelling. I highly recommend it. And I recommend some folks might need to go back and read it again with an unbiased mind.
Five stars for the author and a hearty "Amen" to the committee who awarded George Marshall the Nobel Peace Prize for this gem of statesmanship, brilliance and leadership.
Nicholas Mills has presented an excellent discussion of the Marshall Plan, its importance, value, origins, problems, successes and failures. Since with my review, there will be four reviews with four different ratings, I suggest the potential reader visit the library and check the book out. In my opinion, my money and time were both well spent in reading this work.
At the age of 66, my interest in history has deepened in the past five years. Few of the books I have read in that time period (there have been over 200 others following the death of my wife) have been as informative and educational as Mills' work. If you have an interest in what happened after WW II, why 67 years later we still have not had a repeat of the world-wide magnitude of WW I & II although there have been many smaller ones, why we really ought to have learned our lesson with the first two, and why we should literally pray to God that we have the sense to never do that again, you need to read this book. I make reference to prayer not irreverently but seriously, because the next time we might not have a George Marshall with the credibility and persuasiveness to convince America to implement a similar program.
I am a Vietnam veteran, a retired Baptist pastor, and deeply believe in peace, but if America is attacked (again, as in 1941 and 2001) I will volunteer to defend my nation with my life. I know the truth of the statement "War is Hell", but I never realized just how much truth is in that statement until I read what WW II did to Europe.
This book deserves to be read and read widely, regardless of any nay-sayers who were offended by references to Bush (I am a strong Bush supporter and saw nothing offensive in comments Mills made) or other weaknesses. Actually, I was slightly bored during parts of chapter 4, but the content was important in making the author's point. Give me a break: no book can cover everything in a story without becoming so long it doesn't get opened. I thought the book was the perfect length: long enough to tell the story and short enough to finish before I lost interest. And, I would like to see anyone write a book without making a single error. The story is factual, educational and compelling. I highly recommend it. And I recommend some folks might need to go back and read it again with an unbiased mind.
Five stars for the author and a hearty "Amen" to the committee who awarded George Marshall the Nobel Peace Prize for this gem of statesmanship, brilliance and leadership.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mercifully free of statistics, well-written and not bogged down in minutiae or taking too wide a view: that's the strength of Winning the Peace.
Mills sticks to telling the story of how George Marshall pitched and sold the Marshall plan both in America and Europe; about two-thirds of the book describe events prior to the events from just prior to Marshall's 1947 Harvard commencement speech to the passage of the Economic Recovery Program in 1948. (The other third addresses the implementation of the ERP and its eventual folding into European rearmament programs.)
In that sense, this book is primarily an homage to Marshall, arguably one of America's least-heralded, but greatest, statesmen.
It does contain some glaring omissions.
For example, there are no plates -- not even a single decent photograph of Marshall -- which seems inexcusable.
Mills barely touches on the (admittedly few and feeble) programs in place to aid Europe immediately after the war, except for a sweeping condemnation of them as collectively ineffective (which is true enough, but an examination of why seems to be in order).
While Mills does keep the numbers to a minimum (and there's not a chart in sight anywhere), it doesn't help his case when he refutes some modern thinking on whether the Marshall plan was effective, or even needed. Context is called for here, but we get none.
Aside from these annoyances, Mills makes a very strong case that the Marshall plan was an unqualified success not in terms of its financial levels, but in re-establishing the ability of Europeans to trade with one another, and in getting past age-old animosities and making Western Europe more reliant upon one another, thus guaranteeing peace.
Overall, an excellent introduction to the Marshall plan and a reminder of how fortunate America was to have George Marshall, when he was needed most.
Mills sticks to telling the story of how George Marshall pitched and sold the Marshall plan both in America and Europe; about two-thirds of the book describe events prior to the events from just prior to Marshall's 1947 Harvard commencement speech to the passage of the Economic Recovery Program in 1948. (The other third addresses the implementation of the ERP and its eventual folding into European rearmament programs.)
In that sense, this book is primarily an homage to Marshall, arguably one of America's least-heralded, but greatest, statesmen.
It does contain some glaring omissions.
For example, there are no plates -- not even a single decent photograph of Marshall -- which seems inexcusable.
Mills barely touches on the (admittedly few and feeble) programs in place to aid Europe immediately after the war, except for a sweeping condemnation of them as collectively ineffective (which is true enough, but an examination of why seems to be in order).
While Mills does keep the numbers to a minimum (and there's not a chart in sight anywhere), it doesn't help his case when he refutes some modern thinking on whether the Marshall plan was effective, or even needed. Context is called for here, but we get none.
Aside from these annoyances, Mills makes a very strong case that the Marshall plan was an unqualified success not in terms of its financial levels, but in re-establishing the ability of Europeans to trade with one another, and in getting past age-old animosities and making Western Europe more reliant upon one another, thus guaranteeing peace.
Overall, an excellent introduction to the Marshall plan and a reminder of how fortunate America was to have George Marshall, when he was needed most.
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