The formation of NATO represented a turning point in the history of both the United States and the other Atlantic powers. For the first time in peacetime, America had engaged in a permanent alliance linking it to Western Europe both in a military and in a political sense. NATO: A History tells the complete story of this historic alliance, from its shaky beginnings through its triumphs and failures to its current new grouping of nations. Peter Duignan's concise yet comprehensive history details How the founding of NATO had unintended consequences, such as weakening the long "special relationship" between the United States and Britain The ongoing conflicts between the allies over their respective contributions to the alliance How NATO successfully deterred the Soviet Union from blackmailing or "Finlandizing" Western European countries The reorganization of NATO in the 1990s and its cooperative arrangements with former Warsaw Pact members The continuing contentious debate over enlarging NATO The critical importance of NATO membership to new members such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic The development of the new post—cold war European-American relationship NATO's controversial involvement in Yugoslavia NATO's clash with Russia over Kosovo The role of NATO as we enter the twenty-first century As NATO celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, the world remains a dangerous place. NATO: A History represents a fitting tribute to this historic cooperative alliance of nations and its changing mission as the cold war has ended.
