The Marshall Plan

Benn Steil's account follows the Marshall Plan, the American effort to rebuild war-shattered Western Europe so that its economies and governments could resist the spread of Soviet-backed communism. He focuses on a two-year stretch in which the wartime alliance between Washington and Moscow fell apart and the Cold War took shape.

The book examines the diplomacy, rivalries and economic calculations behind the plan, placing the decisions of American and European leaders against the growing hostility between the two superpowers. It is written for general readers interested in how postwar Europe was reshaped and how the Cold War began.