Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe

Here, Neiberg (Stimson Chair, Dept. of National Security and Strategy, U.S. Army War Coll.; Dance of Furies) takes a long overdue look at the Potsdam Conference between U.S. President Harry S. Truman; Soviet leader Joseph Stalin; and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and later Clement Attlee succeeding Churchill, at the end of World War II. In a departure from the few other books available on the Potsdam Conference, Neiberg approaches the event not as the beginning of the postwar period, but as the end of the period of all-out war that started in 1914. He examines the effect of the different ways the principals of this conference look at history, which varied widely between the three men. Finally, he also examines the "great man" theory of history and how it may not apply in this instance. Neiberg, a specialist in World War I history, has succeeded on all three counts, writing an intriguing and readable book about a conference that still has a huge impact on today's world but has been relegated to footnotes for much too long.