Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957

A new understanding of the postwar power struggle between the fading British Empire and the rising American superpower—with insights for today: "Riveting." —The Wall Street Journal

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 in...