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Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate Hardcover – November 30, 2021

by M. E. Sarotte (Author)

423 ratings

Part of: Henry L. Stimson Lectures (10 books)

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A leading expert on foreign policy reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics

● A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021 and winner of the Pushkin House Book Prize

“Sarotte has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents—including many that have never been published before—which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides.”—Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker

“The most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available.”—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

Not one inch. With these words, Secretary of State James Baker proposed a hypothetical bargain to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after the fall of the Berlin Wall: if you let your part of Germany go, we will move NATO not one inch eastward. Controversy erupted almost immediately over this 1990 exchange—but more important was the decade to come, when the words took on new meaning. Gorbachev let his Germany go, but Washington rethought the bargain, not least after the Soviet Union’s own collapse in December 1991. Washington realized it could not just win big but win bigger. Not one inch of territory needed to be off limits to NATO.

On the thirtieth anniversary of the Soviet collapse, this book uses new evidence and interviews to show how, in the decade that culminated in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the United States and Russia undermined a potentially lasting partnership. Prize-winning historian M. E. Sarotte shows what went wrong.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sarotte has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents—including many that have never been published before—which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides.”—Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker

“Prize-winning historian Mary Elise Sarotte . . . charts all the private discussions within the western alliance and with Russia over enlargement and reveals Russia as powerless to slow the ratchet effect of the opening of Nato’s door.”—Patrick Wintour, The Guardian

“Sarotte is the unofficial dean of ‘end of Cold War’ studies. . . . With her latest book, she tackles head-on the not-controversial-at-all questions about NATO’s eastward growth and the effect it had on Russia’s relations with the west. I look forward to the contretemps this book will inevitably produce.”—Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post

“‘Not one inch to the east’ . . . [is] a history so often repeated that it’s practically conventional wisdom. Mary Sarotte . . . [describes] what actually happened [between the US and Russia], and how both the reality and distortion really shape today’s events.”—Max Fisher, New York Times, from “The Interpreter” newsletter

“A riveting account of Nato enlargement and its contribution to the present confrontation. Sarotte tells the story with great narrative and analytical flair, admirable objectivity, and an attention to detail that many of us who thought we knew the history have forgotten or never knew.”—Rodric Braithwaite, Financial Times

“Masterful and exhaustively researched. . . . For this well-written and pacy book, [Sarotte] has uncovered previously unpublished details of former president Bill Clinton’s role in deciding Europe’s fate.”—Con Coughlin, Sunday Telegraph

“Highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and briskly written.”—Fred Kaplan, New York Review of Books

“There’s no one who has researched the relevant sources more thoroughly than historian Mary E. Sarotte, who has just published Not One Inch . . . successfully reconstructing the most significant days [in NATO expansion].”—Stefan Kornelius, Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Sarotte weaves together the most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available.”—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

“Not One Inch is the best history to date of how American and Russian leaders went from the early post–Cold War world where dreams seemed unnecessary to our current one, in which dreams seem out of reach.”—Fritz Bartel, Journal of Contemporary History

Selected as a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021

“A tour de force of research and analysis.”—Richard Aldous, host of American Purpose’s “Bookstack” podcast

“A must-read for anyone interested in U.S.-Russian relations or the study of U.S. foreign policy since 1991.”—Emma Ashford, War on the Rocks

“[A] gracefully written history . . . the most authoritative account of this historical episode that is ever likely to be written.”—Michael Mandelbaum, American Purpose

“An important book.”—Jacob Heilbrunn, National Interest

“Indispensable. . . . A history of the blunders and miscalculations of the post-Communist world.”—David Harsanyi, The Federalist, “Notable Books of 2022”

“[A] complex and rich look at the arguments underpinning Russia’s present concern about NATO.”—Diplomatic Courier

2022 Arthur Ross Silver medal winner, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations

Shortlisted for the 2022 Cundill History Prize

2022 ARBA Silver Medal Winner, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations

“A riveting account of fateful choices to expand NATO and their consequences for relations with Russia today.”—Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

“Sarotte deftly unpacks one of the most important strategic moves of the post–Cold War Era: the decision to enlarge NATO. Her detailed history of the 1990s is groundbreaking, and her assessment of the impacts of NATO expansion on European security is balanced and nuanced. A major accomplishment and a must-read.”—Charles A. Kupchan, Georgetown University and the Council on Foreign Relations

“Not One Inch will be considered the best-documented and best-argued history of the NATO expansion during the crucial 1989–1999 period.”—Norman Naimark, author of Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for Sovereignty

“Sarotte explores how and why NATO expanded and relations with Russia deteriorated in the post–Cold War world. It is an important book, well documented and told.”—Joseph Nye Jr., author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump

“A marvelous and timely book. This is history that policymakers, scholars, and pundits need to read right now.”—Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America

About the Author

M. E. Sarotte is the Kravis Professor of Historical Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 30, 2021
Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 568 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030025993X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300259933
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
Part of series ‏ : ‎ Henry L. Stimson Lectures

Best Sellers Rank: #303,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in International Political Treaties
- #135 in European Politics Books
- #141 in Russian History (Books)

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M. E. Sarotte
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Sarotte is the author, among other books, of THE COLLAPSE and 1989, both of which were named Financial Times Books of the Year. Thirty years after the Soviet Union’s collapse, her newest book, NOT ONE INCH, reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics between the Cold War and COVID.
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Mary E. Sarotte
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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Sarotte is the author, among other books, of THE COLLAPSE and 1989, both of which were named Financial Times Books of the Year. Thirty years after the Soviet Union’s collapse, her newest book, NOT ONE INCH, reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics between the Cold War and COVID.
See more on the author's page

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Customers praise the book's research quality, noting it is well-documented and informative. The writing receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as an excellent read.

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Customers praise the book's thorough research, noting its abundance of documented facts and detailed presentation of historical events.

"...In her detailed and informative book, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate, M. E. Sarotte, who teaches at John..." Read more

"An extraordinary, detailed diplomatic and political history. The author caused many of her sources to become publicly available...." Read more

"...Professor Sarotte’s book is not just a great read, it is a thoroughly scholarly work, well illustrated by the fact that almost half of the book is..." Read more

"...I will likely read this again because there is so much detail." Read more

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Customers praise the writing quality of the book, describing it as an excellent and well-written read, with one customer noting its flowing narrative.

"...In any event, this is an excellent read for anyone interested in the detailed history of how the current Ukrainian crisis arose." Read more

"An extraordinary, detailed diplomatic and political history. The author caused many of her sources to become publicly available...." Read more

"...Professor Sarotte’s book is not just a great read, it is a thoroughly scholarly work, well illustrated by the fact that almost half of the book is..." Read more

"...Last but not least, it’s also quite nice to read another great work by a female scholar in what is a pretty male-dominated field." Read more

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Patrick D. Gallaugher, Jr.
Important backdrop to the Ukrainian Crisis
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2022
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In February, 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker met with Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, to discuss a topic that, even a year earlier, would have been considered a pipe dream: reunification of East and West Germany. Gorbachev, a staunch Communist but also a naïve idealist whose grip on power was slipping, was willing to discuss German reunification but had one principal concern. If the USSR agreed to reunification of Germany, would NATO expand and post troops or station nuclear weapons in this former Soviet sphere of influence? Baker proposed a hypothetical bargain: what if, in return for the USSR agreeing to German unification, NATO would agree “not [to] shift one inch eastward from its present position?”

President George H.W. Bush disagreed with and quickly sought to disown and deemphasize Baker’s suggestion, and U.S. negotiators took pains not to recognize it as an explicit condition of German reunification. In return for a massive economic assistance package from West Germany, the USSR agreed to German reunification, removing hundreds of thousands of its troops from East Germany. The vaguely-worded German reunification agreement did not make it clear that NATO could never expand. But Gorbachev and other Soviet officials later claimed they agreed to reunification based on an understanding that NATO would not expand.

In late 1991, Gorbachev completely lost control as the USSR suddenly collapsed and dissolved, breaking up into its constituent parts including Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Boris Yeltsin, an alcoholic populist and non-Communist, was elected president of Russia. He forged a close friendship with U.S. President Bill Clinton and helped usher in a remarkable era of cooperation between the U.S. and Russia. The two countries reduced stockpiles of nuclear weapons, “de-targeted” ballistic missiles aimed at each other’s cities, and sent troops to serve alongside each other in a Bosnian peace-keeping mission. A primary U.S. goal at this time was persuading former Warsaw Pact and USSR territories—including Ukraine—to return tens of thousands of nuclear weapons to Russia, to prevent de facto creation of a dozen new nuclear nations and prevent sale of weapons on the black market. The U.S. engaged in considerable arm-twisting to persuade Ukraine to return thousands of nuclear weapons to Russia, assuaging Ukrainian concerns about future Russian aggression by agreeing to help preserve (but not “guaranty”) Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

That era of U.S./Russian cooperation is only a distant memory today as the U.S. and Russia seem close to war in the wake of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. In her detailed and informative book, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate, M. E. Sarotte, who teaches at John Hopkins and serves on the Council on Foreign Relations, analyzes the missteps and missed opportunities that led to the collapse of relations between the U.S. and Russia.

With the demise of the USSR, over a dozen countries and territories in Central and Eastern Europe that had suffered under Soviet or Russian domination suddenly won independence. They immediately began clamoring for admission into NATO, to obtain the benefit of its Article-5 protection before the “bad bear” of Russian imperialism had a chance to re-emerge. Yeltsin did not help calm fears when he invaded Chechnya, where Russian troops committed atrocities similar to those inflicted on Ukrainians today. The Clinton administration initially prioritized good relations with Russia and the opportunity for historic reductions in the countries’ nuclear arms. But with the collapse of the USSR, members of the U.S. state and foreign service departments (along with counterparts in other NATO countries) saw another historic opportunity—to expand NATO into former Warsaw Pact countries and protect them from future Russian imperialism.

Despite fierce opposition from a Russia too weak at the time to stop it from happening, in 1996 Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were invited to join NATO. Soon thereafter, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia were invited to seek membership. This shifted the old Cold War dividing line many Russians viewed as an important buffer zone (won at great cost in the Second World War) against possible future invasions like those of Napoleon and Hitler—to the borders of Russia. These Russian leaders—who included a former mid-level KGB agent named Vladimir Putin—were resentful and felt the West had taken advantage of Russia in a time of economic and military weakness. “[O]ne day,” warned French President Jacques Chirac, “there will be dangerous nationalist backlash.” British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind warned of another potential problem: “[O]ne should not enter into solemn treaty obligations involving a potential declaration of war . . . based simply on an assumption that one would never be called upon to honor such obligations.”

On the other hand, those who supported NATO's quick expansion might argue that Russia's actions in Ukraine entirely justifies that expansion.

In any event, this is an excellent read for anyone interested in the detailed history of how the current Ukrainian crisis arose.

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Stephen R Thomas
What made the aftermath of the Cold War hazardous
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2025
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An extraordinary, detailed diplomatic and political history. The author caused many of her sources to become publicly available. The argument is subtle but explicit, not impressionistic. The writing is admirably clear.

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Rognvaldur Hannesson
The roots of the war in Ukraine are long and twisted
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2023
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«Not one inch» is the title of a book by Yale professor Mary E. Sarotte. It comes from a question the then secretary of State James Baker put to Gorbachev on February 9, 1990:
“Would you prefer to see a unified Germany outside of NATO, independent and with no US forces, or would you prefer a unified Germany to be tied to NATO, with assurances that NATO jurisdiction would not shift one inch eastward from its present position?”
How different the world was then. The Soviet Union, with hindsight then in its death throws, still had to be consulted about the unification of Germany, let alone expansion of NATO to the previous sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.
The book is well written; I read it almost like a thriller. It covers the period from the fall of the Berlin wall to 1999, when the opportunities of a close cooperation between Russia and the US-dominated world had all but faded. I, who lived through all these years and followed the news reasonably well, am struck by how little I knew, but then I didn’t have access to all the archives that professor Sarotte has managed to pry open to study all the secret notes and documents from this period.
The book makes it abundantly clear that the roots of the war in Ukraine are long and twisted. Would a more accommodating and cooperative attitude by the US to Russia have managed to avoid it? Is the eastward expansion of NATO the direct cause of the present war? Professor Sarotte apparently has much sympathy for that hypothesis, even if she doesn’t say so directly, and would probably be the first to acknowledge that such counterfactuals can never be proven.
But there is another possibility which she also allows for, even if with less emphasis. Was Russia, sooner or later, bound to act aggressively to dominate its neighbors, simply because of its size, history and power, the latter even encompassing the ultimate, nuclear weapons? It is, to say the least, understandable that the previous Soviet satellites and the Baltic states tried everything they could to get NATO security guarantees as soon as possible. They knew from their own experience what Russian domination means. A more surprising fact is how eager successive American presidents were in providing those guarantees. Nobody knows better than the Americans themselves that without them NATO would not even deserve to be called a paper tiger. So much is clear from the present war in Ukraine; the military aid the Americans have provided dwarfs all else.
Professor Sarotte’s book is not just a great read, it is a thoroughly scholarly work, well illustrated by the fact that almost half of the book is endnotes! The general reader who buys the hardcover edition will end up with a lot of pages he’ll never flip, but that is a minor inconvenience.

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Richard M.
Excellent lesson in recent history
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2022
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M. E. Sarotte provides a better narrative of the fall of the Soviet Union than I have read. The story lays out the undercurrents that may have been festering for many years among hard right Russian leaders. I will likely read this again because there is so much detail.

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freddie60+
a must read
Reviewed in Germany on March 6, 2025
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Wer den Weg zum UKR-Krieg einigermaßen verstehen will, muss dieses Buch lesen. Es deckt ca. den Zeitraum 1989 bis 2000 ab, also den Weg von der deutschen Wiedervereinigung, über die Erweiterung der NATO nach Osten und die erste Zeit Putins. Die Autorin geht durch alle Protokolle an Besprechungen zwischen den beteiligten Entscheidern, Hauptfokus USA. Sie hat über das Thema promoviert und sich auch einige Zeit dazu in Deutschland mit den entsprechenden Archiven aufgehalten. Das ist phasenweise sehr trocken, aber angesichts der derzeitigen "verspannten" Situation auch wiederum sehr spannend. Für ein Urteil in der Sache muss man sicher noch viele andere Quellen zu Rate ziehen, vor allen Dingen für die Zeit ab 2000. Wer dieses Buch nicht kennt, oder nicht "verarbeitet" hat, ist allerdings vom Wissensstand in der Diskussion des Themas meiner Meinung nach sachlich nicht ganz "satisfaktionsfähig"

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Millan
Insightful research on 1990s relationship of the West with Russia
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2022
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“How we got here” could have been the title of the book. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia did not come really out of the blue. The book which is extremely well researched shows the events of the 1990s sowed the seeds of rising tension between the West and Russia that Putin has chosen to exploit. The author sets out the history without pushing an agenda leaving the reader to make up his own mind. Definitely a must read book.

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URK
Please read you will learn more than you imagine you could
Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2023
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If you think you know what happened you will learn much more and become to understand why and how it happened. This is a book you simply can not not read.

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Paradesi K.Yarikipati
How Gorbachev cheated by the West
Reviewed in India on September 22, 2023
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The Book is about the events before and after the fall of Berlin Wall and the promises made and agreements reached between the USSR and the West for reunification of Germany..The West is agreed to not to expand NATO one inch towards the East ..but mischievously skipped the promise in agreement..in other words Gorbachev was cheated..and NATO was expanded to the borders of Russia..the meek submission to the west by Gorbachev ultimately lead to August coup of 1991 and fall of USSR..Well researched and must read...

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Imprescindible
Reviewed in Spain on March 20, 2025
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Imprescindible

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Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate Hardcover – November 30, 2021

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5.0 out of 5 stars Important backdrop to the Ukrainian Crisis

5.0 out of 5 stars What made the aftermath of the Cold War hazardous

5.0 out of 5 stars The roots of the war in Ukraine are long and twisted

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent lesson in recent history

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful research on 1990s relationship of the West with Russia

5.0 out of 5 stars Please read you will learn more than you imagine you could

5.0 out of 5 stars How Gorbachev cheated by the West

5.0 out of 5 stars Imprescindible

Important backdrop to the Ukrainian Crisis

What made the aftermath of the Cold War hazardous

The roots of the war in Ukraine are long and twisted

Excellent lesson in recent history

a must read

Insightful research on 1990s relationship of the West with Russia

Please read you will learn more than you imagine you could

How Gorbachev cheated by the West

Imprescindible