B.J.C. McKercher is Professor of International History at the University of Victoria, Canada. He is the editor of the journal Diplomacy and Statecraft and is general editor of The Praeger Series on Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period (with K. E. Neilson) and The Praeger Series on Diplomacy and Strategic Thought. His recent publications include The Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft (2011, edited), War in the Twentieth Century (2003, edited with M. A. Hennessy) and Power and Stability: British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965 (2003, edited with E. Goldstein).

• List of figuresMapsChronology Who’s WhoAbbreviationsPart I: PrologueChapter 1: The Anglo-American ‘Special Relationship’ Part II: Britain, America, and the Origins of the Special RelationshipChapter 2: The Anglo-American Relationship before 1939 The Uneasy Relationship, 1782-1900 Britain, America, and Stability in International Politics, 1900-1914 The Drift to Co-operation in the First World WarThe Paris Peace Conference and the American Returnto Isolationism, 1919-Anglo-American Economic Competition, 1919-1939 Arms Limitation and International Security, 1919-1939 Chapter 3: The Second World War and the Advent of the ‘Special Relationship’ The Immediate Origins of the Relationship, September 1939-December 1941Churchill and Roosevelt: War and Diplomacy, December 1941-November 1943 Britain, America, and the Advent of a New International Order,November 1943-May 1945 Part III: Cold War, Limited War, and the ‘Special Relationship’, 1945-2015 Chapter 4: The ‘Special Relationship’ and the Early Cold War,May 1945-July 1954 The Genesis of the Cold War, May 1945-June 1948 The German Question and the Rise of NATO, June 1948-May 1954 Britain, America, and Decolonisation in East Asia, May 1945-July 1954 Chapter 5: From Cold War to Détente, 1954-1968 British decolonisation and the Road to Suez, 1954-1956 Britain, America, and the Problem of the Middle East,November 1956-November 1968 European Defense and the German Question, 1954-1968 Chapter 6: From Détente to Renewed Cold War, 1965-1979 Britain and American Involvement in Vietnam, January 1965-April 1973 Britain, America, and European Economic Integration, January 1969-December 1979 Soviet Russian Expansionism and the Anglo-AmericanResponse, May 1975-December 1979 Chapter 7: Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and the ‘Special Relationship’, December 1979-December 1988Carter, Reagan, and Thatcher: To Euromissile Deployment in Europe, 1981-1985 The Falklands War and the Strength of the ‘Special Relationship’, 1982-1983 Thatcher, Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev: The Weakening of Soviet Russia, 1983-1988 Chapter 8: The ‘Special Relationship’ and the New International Order, 1989-2015 George H.W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War, 1989-1990 The ‘Special Relationship’ and the Gulf War, 1990-1992 Britain, America, and the Balkans, 1992-1998 George Bush, Jr, Tony Blair, the War Against Terrorism, and Changing International Politics, 2001-2007 Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, and David Cameron:Challenges Old and New after 2007 Part IV: EpilogueChapter 9: The Anglo-American ‘Special Relationship’ and InternationalPolitics since 1941: An Appraisal Part V: Documents GlossaryGuide to Further ReadingIndexBibliography

"Brian McKercher’s book is a very useful starting point for students looking for a critical analysis of the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’ since 1945."Tony McCulloch, University College London, UK