Great Negotiations: Agreements that Changed the Modern World
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"Stanton has done a masterful job. He has added importantly to our understanding of the art of treaty making on which our very existence on this planet may soon depend, as shown in his detailed and terrifying account of the Cuban missile crisis and the tragic mistakes of the Versailles treaty." —LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS"Stanton brings back to life both famous and some long forgotten personalities in the history of major American, European, and Asian negotiations. He persuasively makes his case for the importance of negotiators and negotiations both when wars can be kept from beginning and when wars end. He weaves in deft descriptions of the personal strengths and foibles of negotiators and homes in on the ability of the best to improvise when maneuvering on unfamiliar terrain."—AMBASSADOR RICHARD W. MURPHY, Council on Foreign RelationsWords as much as weapons have shaped the course of history. Whether to avert, resolve, assist, or secure the outcome of a conflict, diplomacy in the modern age has had great triumphs and bitter failures, from the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which narrowly spared humanity from a nuclear Armageddon, to the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, which created problems that still confront us today. Drawing on primary sources, transcripts, and interviews, Great Negotiations: Agreements that Changed the Modern World tells the stories of eight key episodes in modern diplomacy. From Benjamin Franklin securing crucial French support for the American revolution to Reagan and Gorbachev laying the groundwork to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons, Fredrik Stanton explains what each party brought to the negotiating table, the stakes, theobstacles to success, and how they were overcome. Library Journal Our most direct access to history is through the grand public gestures—the speeches, battles, and photo opportunities. But just as frequently, history is truly made in the backroom deals. Here Stanton, who has served as an elections monitor in the Balkans and several former Soviet republics, gives us a solid primer on some of the most important haggling sessions of the modern world. This lucid and evenhanded overview reveals much about the sometimes excruciating push and pull that shaped the international politics of today, from how Benjamin Franklin's clever subterfuge ensured an alliance with the French and victory in the Revolutionary War to how competing interests and a poor planning sunk Woodrow Wilson's dream for the League of Nations and how, in the most nail-biting chapter, Kennedy and Khrushchev raced to find a mutually acceptable resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis and stave off what could have become a global nuclear holocaust. VERDICT A thought-provoking, informative book, highly recommended for all readers interested in international affairs.—Ned Resnikoff, Library Journal
Franklin at the French Court, 1778 The Louisiana Purchase, 1803 The Congress of Vienna, 1815 The Portsmouth Treaty, 1905 The Paris Peace Conference, 1919 The Arab-Israeli Accord, 1949 The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 The Reykjavik Summit, 1986
