This book delivers a clear and balanced interpretive history of transatlantic security relations from the late-1940s to the present day. The author writes in the authoritative and highly readable style that has made his work required reading for policy makers as well as academic experts on and students of International Relations on both sides of the Atlantic. The lively text is also highly accessible for the citizen who wants to develop an understanding of how the United States and Europe came to their current, complex security relationship. The analysis suggests that the democratic principles and shared interests on which NATO and the European Union are based serve as the foundation for 'the West', a term that originated in the Cold War conflict between western democracies and the Soviet Union, but which continues to have meaning today in light of new challenges to Western security.

Foreword by Admiral James G. Stavridis (ret)Part I: Cold War alliance
1. The bargain and defense of the West
2. Genesis of the bargain
3. The transatlantic bargain revised
4. The bargain through the Cold War, 1954-89
5. The United States and Europe at the end of the Cold War: some fundamental factors
Part II: Post-Cold War alliance
6. The 1990s: transitions and challenges
7. The 2000s: turbulent transatlantic ties
8. The 2010s: new tasks, new traumas
Part III: Defense of the West
9. External threats and internal challenges
10. In defense of the West
Index