Parting Ways: The Crisis in German-American Relations - Tapa dura

"A superb analysis of a watershed development in German-American relations. Szabo skillfully puts the Iraq war issue into the broader context of generational and value change on both sides of the Atlantic. Carefully researched and well-written, this is a must read for students and practitioners of American and European foreign policy." --David P. Conradt, East Carolina University "A meticulous, in-depth study of the cutting-edge political climate... A 'must-read' for anyone closely researching German-American relations, written in detail yet using terminology highly accessible to the lay reader." --John Burroughs, Reviewer's Bookwatch, 2/1/2005 "Stephen Szabo, for decades one of America's leading experts on German contemporary history, politics and foreign policy, provides an invaluable and lucid, if unsettling, account of how the most privileged transatlantic partnership of more than 50 years came apart over Iraq. Rich and substantial, and not least timely, this well-written book is a necessary read for anyone concerned about the future of this crucial relationship. It does not necessarily offer optimism about the outlook for the twenty-first-century German-American relationship, but it will surely influence discussion of the subject in the years ahead." --Victor Mauer, International Affairs, 4/20/2005 "This short, readable book should be of interst to policy makers and academics alike...[Szabo's] book demonstrates that he has understood extremely well the German politico-cultural dynamics as it relates to the relationship with the United States." --Dorothee Heisenberg, Johns Hopkins University, Political Science Quarterly " Parting Ways is very well researched and written. It offers profound lessons from failures in leadership on both sides, on unilateralism and on deeper currents of change." --Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, German Orient Institute, Middle East Policy "This book is a masterful example of how to write transatlantic political history. Parting Ways distinguishes itself from many contemporary comments on the recent crisis in German-American relations by it analytical vigor, historical depth, and the absence of any polemics." -- German Studies Review, 5/1/2007 "Szabo, writing about the crisis in German-U.S. relations, has done a great service to overcoming that crisis. His well-researched, well-argued, and well-written book is essential reading for all those who want to know what went wrong --and how to rebuild a relationship that remains as important in the new international environment as in the old." --Christoph Bertram, author of EUROPE IN THE BALANCE and director, German Institute of International and Security Affairs "This is the most detailed study to date of 'poisoned' German-American relations over the Iraq war. Szabo stresses the similarities in British and German aims in wanting to 'temper' and give some 'legitimacy' to unilateral American foreign policy. He outlines common endeavors that could again bring the allies together." --Elizabeth Pond, author of Friendly Fire and editor of Transatlantic Internationale Politik

Germany and the United States entered the post-9/11 era as allies, but they will leave it as partners of convenience -or even possibly as rivals. The first comprehensive examination of the German-American relationship written since the invasion of Iraq, Parting Ways is indispensable for those seeking to chart the future course of the transatlantic alliance. In early 2003, it became apparent that many nations, including close allies of the United States, would not participate in the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. Despite the high-profile tension between the United States and France, some of the most bitter opposition came from Germany, marking the end not only of the German-American "special relationship," but also of the broader transatlantic relationship's preeminence in Western strategic thought. Drawing on extensive research and personal interviews with decisionmakers and informed observers in both the United States and Germany, Stephen F. Szabo frames the clash between Gerhard Schroeder and George W. Bush over U.S. policy in Iraq in the context of the larger changes shaping the relationship between the two countries. Szabo considers such longer-term factors as the decreasing strategic importance of the U.S.-German relationship for each nation in the post-cold war era, the emergence of a new German identity within Germany itself, and a U.S. foreign policy led by what is arguably the most ideological administration of the post-World War II era.