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A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations from the Cold War to Iraq
In the comprehensively revised and updated new edition of this highly-acclaimed text, John Dumbrell assesses how and why the Anglo-American special relationship found a new lease of life under Blair as Britain repeatedly 'chose' the US in its evolving foreign policy orientation rather than Europe.
328 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 29, 2009
Dumbrell's outing is an effort to provide a survey of 60 years of complex personalities and more complex policymaking. "A Special Relationship" largely succeeds in this effort with a combination of chronological and thematic chapters that touch upon the major factors affecting Anglo-American relations. This book is short and very readable (excepting perhaps the final thematic chapter on Ireland which is marred by a sudden influx of new terms, names, and titles as well as an excess of parenthetical citations and asides that detract from the chapter's flow), and would be well-suited for any survey course on the matter.
That said, there are a number of problems with the book. Most notably, it limits itself temporally from Kennedy forward, yet it is forced to concede in virtually every chapter that the 'special relationship' had its start under FDR and Truman. There was a great deal going on the wartime and postwar era to form the basis for the Cold War relationship, and figures such as Sir John Dill, Lewis Douglas, and George Marshall are barely mentioned throughout. Some sort of supplement covering those years would be necessary if the book was presented to someone with little knowledge of the 'special relationship' ex origo. A second issue is its treatment of the relationships of Reagan-Thatcher and Blair-Bush; though much hype is given to how they personally 'clicked,' the author does little to expand upon the notion, most likely owing to space constraints. It nonetheless left me feeling disappointed that I wasn't given more detail on these friendships and their dynamics.
The final problem is that the book is riddled with obvious and embarrassing typographical errors. Periods appear in the middle of sentences, particularly in the latter half of the book, and the United Nations Security Council becomes, on three separate occasions, the United Nations Secretary Council. Such issues make this book (a 2nd edition, at that!) seem more like a rushed undergraduate paper. Given the hefty price for this slim paperback, it really disappointed me to see these issues.
Overall, "A Special Relationship" is a useful though limited survey work that provides a helpful overview of Anglo-American diplomatic and military history for the layman or those beginning study in the field.
-WO 7/29/09
That said, there are a number of problems with the book. Most notably, it limits itself temporally from Kennedy forward, yet it is forced to concede in virtually every chapter that the 'special relationship' had its start under FDR and Truman. There was a great deal going on the wartime and postwar era to form the basis for the Cold War relationship, and figures such as Sir John Dill, Lewis Douglas, and George Marshall are barely mentioned throughout. Some sort of supplement covering those years would be necessary if the book was presented to someone with little knowledge of the 'special relationship' ex origo. A second issue is its treatment of the relationships of Reagan-Thatcher and Blair-Bush; though much hype is given to how they personally 'clicked,' the author does little to expand upon the notion, most likely owing to space constraints. It nonetheless left me feeling disappointed that I wasn't given more detail on these friendships and their dynamics.
The final problem is that the book is riddled with obvious and embarrassing typographical errors. Periods appear in the middle of sentences, particularly in the latter half of the book, and the United Nations Security Council becomes, on three separate occasions, the United Nations Secretary Council. Such issues make this book (a 2nd edition, at that!) seem more like a rushed undergraduate paper. Given the hefty price for this slim paperback, it really disappointed me to see these issues.
Overall, "A Special Relationship" is a useful though limited survey work that provides a helpful overview of Anglo-American diplomatic and military history for the layman or those beginning study in the field.
-WO 7/29/09
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August 9, 2011A balanced and comprehensive analysis of the Anglo-American 'special relationship', and how it has coped both during and after the Cold War. Dumbrell pulls no punches about the quite obvious power asymmetry at the heart of the US-UK alliance - the chapters on the relationship during Vietnam/Falklands and the Northern Ireland issue are particularly revealing. However, he quite rightly concludes that the relationship between the two nations is to an acute degree 'special', with foundations in 'soft power' conceptions such as culture and familiarity, as well as 'hard power' areas such as intelligence sharing and military cooperation.
May 20, 2012
I really did not like this book. Dumbrell makes an interesting claim at the beginning that this special relationship is based on cultural similarities, and then he fails to mention it in the rest of the book and instead regurgitates the same boring foreign policy facts. Bleh. It is amazing this went to press, in my opinion.
July 25, 2011
Author stresses the problems between the United States and the United Kingdom, promoting Britain to maintain and expand ties with Europe.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews