Berlin In The Balance: The Blockade, The Airlift, The First Major Battle Of The Cold War

In March 1948, Soviet authorities in Germany imposed restrictions on freight and personnel moving through the Soviet zone into the Western sector of Berlin. It was the beginning of the 14-month Berlin blockade and the enormous answering effort of the Berlin airlift. It was also the end of any naive hope American leaders had that wartime allies would be friends in peace. Parrish, a Cold War scholar and author of The Cold War Encyclopedia and Roosevelt and Marshall, focuses on the blockade as the opening salvo of the 50- year conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. He covers a great deal about the early components of Cold War doctrine, such as Kennan's Long Telegram, the domino theory, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The emphasis on these and the currency crisis that was the immediate cause of the blockade puts the whole of subsequent Soviet-American relations into a welcome perspective. As a narrative, however, it lacks the urgency of the usual tales of American innovation and German resolve, a problem exacerbated by the interpolation of unrelated tidbits (like a reporter's observation of greasy water discarded from a house abutting the Airlift Task Force hq). Parrish also concentrates on the American side of things, so while General William Tunner, who took over organization of the airlift in August, gets his full share of credit, there is little attention to the unshakable Ernst Reuter, the first mayor of West Berlin. With relatively few interviews with the lowly, this is a view from the air, with all the attendant benefits and drawbacks.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet army's blockade of West Berlin, Parrish, the author of encyclopedias on WWII and the cold war as well as of Roosevelt and Marshall: Their Partnership in Politics and War (1989), ably recounts the story with an eye to dramatic detail, as well as clearly defined villains and heroes. Of particular value are the first several chapters, which outline in brief Berlin's history and its role in WWII. American readers will perhaps not be surprised to learn of internal conflicts between presidents Roosevelt and Truman, their closest advisers, and Congress. Few people in power in America had any expertise regarding the postwar situation in Europe, although most were convinced that they had the right answers. Professional historians will no doubt find fault with this work because it makes no use of German or Russian documents, only the translated manuscript of Soviet foreign minister Molotov. Still there is an abundance of material to work with, even if Parrish fails to use or even address a work that appeared in 1996 to numerous awards and accolades while fundamentally challenging our conception of the division of Germany, Caroline Eisenberg's Drawing the Line: The American Decision to Divide Germany. Parrish, instead, is clearly within the traditional Cold War historiography, careful to point out the atrocities committed by the Soviet troops (including several gruesome pages on systematic rape), while failing to mention concomitant atrocities committed by German troops in eastern Europe. This could be done without in any way exonerating the Soviets for their brutish behavior while imparting necessary historical and cultural context to the end of the war. One of the precious few clear victories of the Cold War, told with a triumphalist tone. (b&w photos, maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

If Europe was the most important region during the Cold War, then Berlin was its center. Divided into four Allied occupation zones and located in Soviet-controlled eastern Germany, this devastated city was a constant source of confrontation in the immediate post-World War II era. Parrish (The Cold War Encyclopedia, LJ 12/94) offers a history of the failed programs and Western frustration that eventually led to the Soviet blockade of the Western Zones and the inspiring airlift mounted by Western Allies to keep their portions of Berlin supplied with food and fuel. Throughout, he focuses on high-level government and military actions. Parrish has mined the primary sources and conducted interviews, and the inclusion of material from newly opened resources in Russia and Germany is an added plus. One interesting point is the Americans' continuing misperception that they could deal with Stalin, who was supposedly in conflict with his own Politburo. Librarians may also be interested in Michael D. Haydock's recently published City Under Siege: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-1949 (LJ 5/15/98). Recommended for all academic and public libraries.ADaniel K. Blewett, Loyola Univ. Lib.,Chicago
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.