Fighting with Allies:: America and Britain in Peace and War - Hardcover

Renwick, Sir Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812927095 ISBN 13: 9780812927092

Publisher: Crown, 1996

Synopsis

Written by Britain's former Ambassador to the U.S., Fighting With Allies focuses on the often-troubled relationship between Britain and America, fro m the War of 1812 to the war in Bosnia. Featuring a cast of characters that includes Churchill, Roosevelt, Chamberlain, and Kennedy, here is a sweeping, very human history of the alliance between two great nations.

About this title

About the Author

ROBIN RENWICK

From Kirkus Reviews

Britain's former ambassador to the US attempts a comprehensive survey of Anglo-American diplomatic relations. Renwick gets off to a bad start by first declaring himself unwilling to attempt an ``interpretation'' of the history of relations between the US and Great Britain, and then embarking on a summary history of those relations since the War of 1812. Facts have to be put in order, and putting them in order is a matter of interpretation. So what we get is interpretation after all, and Sir Robin's account of events before WW II combines conventional history at the textbook level with mistakes based on wishful thinking. An example of the latter is his assertion that everyone in Great Britain was united behind a desire to see slavery eliminated from the American South at the time of the Civil War. The narrative becomes more lively with the advent of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and gets better as we approach the present. Sir Robin obviously believes that things have turned out well, despite some close calls. His blow-by-blow approach to history helps to make sense of the misunderstandings that led to the Suez crisis of 1956. But even in his account of recent events, the author's insistence on disguising his own point of view behind a bland narrative interferes with opportunities to make the book interesting. Whether dealing with the broad sweep of 19th-century history, or the intimate personal relationships that have forged Anglo-American diplomacy during the last half-century, Sir Robin's attempt to let the facts speak for themselves does little to help readers understand the true nature of America's special relationship with Great Britain. One is left wishing for a more assertive, and personal, history of Anglo-American relations since 1940. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0812927095
• ISBN 13: 9780812927092
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 450