The book assesses the strains within the ‘Special Relationship’ between London and Washington and offers a new perspective on the limits and successes of British influence. The interaction between the main personalities on the British side – Attlee, Bevan, Morrison, Churchill and Eden – and their American counterparts – Truman, Acheson, Eisenhower and Dulles – are chronicled. By the end of the war the British were concerned that it was the Americans, rather than the Soviets, who were the greater threat to world peace. British fears concerning the Korean War were not limited to the diplomatic and military fronts – these extended to the ‘Manchurian Candidate’ threat posed by returning prisoners of war who had been exposed to communist indoctrination. The book is essential reading for those interested in British and US foreign policy and military strategy during the Cold War.
