Synopses & Reviews
"An encyclopedic amount of information is analyzed with considerable wisdom and a felicitous style."Simon Serfaty, Johns Hopkins Univ. Laqueur presents a fascinating overview of post-war Europe, providing detailed analyses that cover every major political development, economic and social trends, and cultural movements since 1945. "An excellent work destined to become a standard text for the 90s."Library Journal.
About the Author
Walter Laqueur, a professor of history and an expert commentator on international affairs, has written and edited more than twenty-five books.
Table of Contents
Preface
PART ONE: POSTWAR
Europe Divided
The New Balance of Power: The European Vacuum
The Heritage of Fascism: The Purge of Collaborators
From War to Peace:
Britain: Labour in Power
France Liberated
Italy Divided
The Smaller Countries
Stalin's Last Years
The Sovietization of Eastern Europe
German Twilight
The Breakdown of the Wartime Alliance
The Origins of the Cold War
Toward European Cooperation
Christian Democracy and Democratic Socialism
The Rise of European Communism
Russia After Stalin
PART TWO: ECONOMIC MIRACLE
The Economic State of Europe in 1945
The Recovery of European Industry
The Surge of European Agriculture
The Transport Revolution
The Expansion of European Trade
France: Modernization and Its Discontents
The German Wirtschaftswunder
Italy: From Uncertain Beginnings to Stormy Growth
Britain: Stop-Go
Economic Development in the Rest of Europe
The Soviet Economy
The Industrialization of Eastern Europe
The Welfare State Emerges
Health and Housing
Prosperity and the New Consumerism
Leisure for All
The New Social Structures
Trade Unions: Power and Weakness
The New Managerial Class
PART THREE: EUROPEAN CULTURE: THE POSTWAR SCENE
Postwar Blues
PART FOUR: CONSOLIDATION 1955 72
The Two Blocs
False Dawn at Geneva
Rebellion in Eastern Europe
West-East Negotiations 1956 61
The Berlin Crisis
La France Seule
European Cooperation: New Initiatives
The Cuban Crisis
Polycentrism in Eastern Europe
1968: The Year of the Students' Revolt
The Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Britain: From Churchill to Heath
France: The Coming of the Fifth Republic
Germany: Adenauer and After
Italy: Opening to the Left
Spain: The End of the Franco Era
Benelux and Scandinavia
Austria and Switzerland
Greece
The Soviet Union: Khrushchev and His Successors
Eastern Europe: Between Conformity and Independence
PART FIVE: THE END OF THE POSTWAR ERA: WESTERN EUROPE
The European Economy 1970 90
Social Forces: Old and New:
Ecology and the Greens
Separatism and the National Minorities
Guest Workers and New Immigrants
Terrorism
Germany: From the Great Coalition to Reunification
Holland and Belgium
Britain: The Thatcherite Revolution
France Since de Gaulle
Italy: Domestic Crisis and Recovery
Spain After Franco
Scandinavia: Between National Concerns and European Cooperation
PART SIX: THE END OF THE POSTWAR ERA: THE SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN EUROPE
The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev and Gorbachev: Decline and Reform
Stagnation in Eastern Europe
The East European Revolution
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index