NATO, the European Union, and the Atlantic community : the transatlantic bargain reconsidered /

Sloan, a former analyst at the Congressional Research Services for 32 years, has produced an excellent and comprehensive overview of NATO's strategic evolution beginning with its creation in 1949 up to 2002. All major challenges and changes that NATO faced during this period are addressed. Sloan provides especially good treatment of France's 1966 withdrawal from NATO's military arm. He also examines the post-Cold War changes NATO implemented, including a discussion of NATO's 1991 Strategic Concept, which authorized peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations for the alliance. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is Sloan's personal insights and experiences with US senators as they evaluated President Clinton's desire to extend NATO membership to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The book focuses on the theme of the "transatlantic bargain" between the US, Canada, and the European allies. Sloan raises serious concern about widening transatlantic political differences and calls for NATO to formally recognize the European Union's growing importance if NATO is to remain relevant. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. C. Hendrickson Eastern Illinois University