Benn Steil is an American economist and writer known for his deep dives into international economics. His work often explores the complex interplay of finance and global politics, offering insightful analysis. Steil's contributions to the field are recognized through his leadership at the Council on Foreign Relations and his founding of the journal International Finance. His writing provides a crucial lens through which to understand the mechanisms of the global economy.
With Britain's empire collapsing and Stalin ascendent, U.S. officials set out to reconstruct Western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritariansim. This is the story of the Marshall Plan and the birth of the Cold War: a gripping account of the seminal episodes marking the post-WWII... číst celé
Upending the conventional wisdom that Bretton Woods was the product of an amiable Anglo-American collaboration, Steil shows that it was in reality part of a much more ambitious geopolitical agenda hatched within President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Treasury and aimed at eliminating Britain as an economic and political rival. At the heart of the drama were the antipodal characters of John Maynard Keynes, the renowned and revolutionary British economist, and Harry Dexter White, the dogged, self-made American technocrat. Bringing to bear new and striking archival evidence, Steil offers the most compelling portrait yet of the complex and controversial figure of White--the architect of the dollar's privileged place in the Bretton Woods monetary system, who also, very privately, admired Soviet economic planning and engaged in clandestine communications with Soviet intelligence officials and agents over many years. --
Au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, alors que l'Empire britannique s'effondre et que l'expansion de Staline se poursuit, l'équipe du secrétaire d'État George C. Marshall planifie la reconstruction de l'Europe de l'Ouest pour contrer l'autoritarisme communiste. Cette initiative massive confronte Européens et Américains à des visions en désaccord avec leur histoire. Elle conduit à la création de l'OTAN, de l'Union Européenne et à l'identité occidentale qui façonnent encore les relations internationales. Dans cet essai captivant, Benn Steil explore les années critiques de 1947 à 1949, redonnant vie aux événements marquants de l'Europe d'après-guerre, tels que le coup de Prague, le blocus de Berlin et la partition de l'Allemagne. Chaque épisode illustre la détermination de Staline à détruire le plan Marshall et à miner l'influence américaine en Europe. S'appuyant sur de nouvelles sources américaines, russes, allemandes et d'autres archives européennes, Benn Steil propose une histoire claire du plan Marshall, modifiant notre perception de ce programme, de l'émergence de la Guerre Froide et de l'après-Guerre Froide, période où l'avenir de l'Europe et l'implication des États-Unis sont à nouveau en jeu.