Böcker av Derek Leebaert

A new understanding of the post World War II era, showing what occurred when the British Empire wouldn't step aside for the rising American superpower-with global insights for today.An enduring myth of the twentieth century is that the United States rapidly became a superpower in the years after World War II, when the British Empire-the greatest in history-was too wounded to maintain a global presence. In fact, Derek Leebaert argues in Grand Improvisation, the idea that a traditionally insular United States suddenly transformed itself into the leader of the free world is illusory, as is the notion that the British colossus was compelled to retreat. The United States and the U.K. had a dozen abrasive years until Washington issued a "declaration of independence" from British influence. Only then did America explicitly assume leadership of the world order just taking shape. Leebaert's character-driven narrative shows such figures as Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennan in an entirely new light, while unveiling players of at least equal weight on pivotal events. Little unfolded as historians believe: the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Korean War; America's descent into Vietnam. Instead, we see nonstop U.S. improvisation until America finally lost all caution and embraced obligations worldwide, a burden we bear today.Understanding all of this properly is vital to understanding the rise and fall of superpowers, why we're now skeptical of commitments overseas, how the Middle East plunged into disorder, why Europe is fracturing, what China intends-and the ongoing perils to the U.S. world role.

"Masterful." -The Guardian"Propulsive." -The Wall Street Journal"Leebaert has done the near impossible-crafted a fresh and challenging portrait of the man and his inner circle."- Richard Norton Smith, author of An Uncommon Man, former director of the Hoover, Eisenhower, Reagan, and Ford presidential libraries."A fascinating and absorbing analysis of FDR's brilliantly chosen team of four courageous and creative men and women."-Susan Dunn, author of 1940: FDR, Willkie, Lindbergh, Hitler-the Election Amid the Storm, Massachusetts Professor of Humanities, Williams College.Drawing on new materials, Unlikely Heroes constructs an entirely fresh understanding of FDR and his presidency by spotlighting the powerful, equally wounded figures whom he raised up to confront the Depression, then to beat the Axis.Only four people served at the top echelon of President Franklin Roosevelt's Administration from the frightening early months of spring 1933 until he died in April 1945, on the cusp of wartime victory. These lieutenants composed the tough, constrictive, long-term core of government. They built the great institutions being raised against the Depression, implemented the New Deal, and they were pivotal to winning World War II.Yet, in their different ways, each was as wounded as the polio-stricken titan. Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace were also strange outsiders. Up to 1933, none would ever have been considered for high office. Still, each became a world figure, and it would have been exceedingly difficult for Roosevelt to transform the nation without them. By examining the lives of these four, a very different picture emerges of how Americans saved their democracy and rescued civilization overseas. Many of the dangers that they all overcame are troublingly like those America faces today.

The true story of the British Empire's fall and America's rise in the aftermath of World War II