Tracing the history and intended goals of the Marshall Plan (1947)-named for its primary creator, Secretary of State George C. Marshall-Mills passionately argues that it was a successful nation-building tool that offers many lessons for the United States today. According to Mills (American studies, Sarah Lawrence Coll.), Marshall emphasized that American aid after World War II should not be used against nations but against "forces that deprived people of their dignity." His goal was to help revive the economies of Europe, creating stable political and social units that would facilitate the existence of free institutions. In this, Mills declares the Marshall Plan a success in that it supplied Europe with "a crucial margin of aid" that enabled it to recover without slashing needed welfare programs or reducing wages. In other words, the Marshall Plan was Europe's New Deal, providing the foundation for a stable Europe that would include Germany in its economic center. Well written, engaging, and likely to be considered controversial owing to its praise of the plan, Mill's book should promote discussion, especially in light of current events. Recommended for academic and larger public library collections.
—Patti C. McCall
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* Tracing the history and intended goals of the Marshall Plan (1947)—named for its primary creator, Secretary of State George C. Marshall—Mills passionately argues that it was a successful nation-building tool that offers many lessons for the United States today. According to Mills (American studies, Sarah Lawrence Coll.), Marshall emphasized that American aid after World War II should not be used against nations but against "forces that deprived people of their dignity." His goal was to help revive the economies of Europe, creating stable political and social units that would facilitate the existence of free institutions. In this, Mills declares the Marshall Plan a success in that it supplied Europe with "a crucial margin of aid" that enabled it to recover without slashing needed welfare programs or reducing wages. In other words, the Marshall Plan was Europe's New Deal, providing the foundation for a stable Europe that would include Germany in its economic center. Well written, engaging, and likely to be considered controversial owing to its praise of the plan, Mill's book should promote discussion, especially in light of current events. Recommended for academic and larger public library collections.
—Patti C. McCall, AMRI, Albany, NY ( Library Journal , February 15, 2008)
During the spring of 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall promulgated what would come to be known as the Marshall Plan: a proposal to spend up to $20 billion to restore the infrastructure and economies of Europe, then still foundering in recession and poverty after the ravages of WWII. As Mills, American studies professor at Sarah Lawrence, shows in this elegant study, the plan not only offered relief but brought about a degree of European unity by forcing countries to work in concert to mend their fractured continent. The U.S. mostly refrained from influencing specific solutions, an approach that Mills argues the present administration should think about adopting today. The plan worked to the advantage of the United States as much as it worked to the advantage of noncommunist Europe: much of the economic aid supplied was to be used to purchase American merchandise, and legislation required that this merchandise travel on U.S. merchant vessels. Six years after Marshall’s first proposal, the U.S. had invested some $13 billion, and virtually all of Western Europe stood restored. This overview covers a complex subject straightforwardly and well. (Feb.) ( Publishers Weekly , November 26, 2007)
