A Question of Self-Esteem The United States and the Cold War Choices in France and Italy, 1944-1958

Subjects:

• History » American Diplomatic History
• Political Science » International Relations
• History » American History -- 1946 to Present
• History » European History -- Modern/20th Century

Reviews:

• [B[rogi offers a solid study, full of keen, intriguing, and incisive analyses, clearly and concisely written.
  —The Journal of American History December 2004
• Interesting and serious...[a] contribution to both Italian and French postwar history....Brogi opens up new avenues of exploration of the Cold War....Brogi's book is certainly matter for thought about the Cold War
  —Project Muse muse.jhu.edu June 2003
• [t]he first specialist study of the subject, challenges standard readings.
  —International History Review
• [B]rogi's work is a highly detailed and well-documented retelling of U.S.-French and U.S.-Italian diplomacy from 1944 to 1958 and beyond.
  —H-France Book Reviews

• Endorsement From Federico Romero
  Professor of North American History
  University of Florence: This intelligent comparison of two countries with different power resources but analogous predicaments is a good piece of international history. It enriches our understanding of postwar interdependence and provides good food for thought on the transformations of European nationalism in a multilateral context. Whether or not one agrees with Brogi's interpretation, any scholar of postwar American hegemony will have to deal with his compelling argument on the competitive nature of European 'invitations' to U.S. hegemony.
• Endorsement From Frank Ninkovich
  Professor of History
  St. John's University: In this original, stimulating, and provocative work of international history, Alessandro Brogi expertly describes and analyzes the emergence of international politics in a new key.... His story of how former great powers like France and Italy shifted away from old-style politics to the quest for prestige in the post-World War II years provides fresh insights into cold war alliance diplomacy and illuminates the dynamics on international politics in a new regional context of interdependence. Both the peculiar tensions within the Atlantic alliance politics and its long-term staying power are more intelligible after reading Brogi's work. This history, which encompasses multiple perspectives, will be must reading for all students of European-American relations during the cold war.
• Endorsement From Charles S. Maier
  Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and Krupp Foundation Professor for European studies
  Harvard University: Alessandro Brogi's subtle of the French and Italian search for status within the American alliance system brings these two inquiries together and reveals how these two European countries renewed their international roles by the politics of ambiguity. This is a cunning history of the Cold War's new framework for old competition.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Invitation and Pride
• The Old Game
• Mastering Interdependence? Status, The "Third Force" and the Western Alliance
• Mastering Interdependence? Status, Nationalism, and the European Army Plan
• Mediterranean "Missions"
• A Question of Leadership
• Conclusions
• Bibliography