The dream of a United States of Europe is unraveling in the wake of several crises now afflicting the continent. The single Euro currency threatens to break apart amid bitter arguments between rich northern creditors and poor southern debtors. Russia is back as an aggressive power, annexing Crimea, supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine, and waging media and cyber warfare against the West. Marine Le Pen's National Front won a record 34 percent of the French presidential vote despite the election of Emmanuel Macron. Europe struggles to cope with nearly two million refugees who fled conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Britain has voted to leave the European Union after forty-three years, the first time a member state has opted to quit the world's leading commercial bloc. At the same time, President Trump has vowed to pursue America First policies that may curtail U.S. security guarantees and provoke trade conflicts with its allies abroad.
These developments and a growing backlash against globalization have contributed to a loss of faith in mainstream ruling parties throughout the West. Voters in the United States and Europe are abandoning traditional ways of governing in favor of authoritarian, populist, and nationalist alternatives, raising a profound threat to the future of our democracies.
In Fractured Continent, William Drozdiak, the former foreign editor of The Washington Post, persuasively argues that these events have dramatic consequences for Americans as well as Europeans, changing the nature of our relationships with longtime allies and even threatening global security. By speaking with world leaders from Brussels to Berlin, Rome to Riga, Drozdiak describes the crises. the proposed solutions, and considers where Europe and America go from here. The result is a timely character- and narrative-driven book about this tumultuous phase of contemporary European history.
Industry Reviews
"A compelling and urgent alert that Europe's creation of a peaceful community in place of a warring continent, may be unraveling. Great Britain is leaving. Other EU members are suffering from political and economic stresses and the burden of refugees fleeing conflicts and migrants escaping poverty. For the United States, a diminished Europe creates an alarming risk." -- James Hoge, Senior Advisor, Teneo Intelligence
"This is the best book I've read on the recent turmoil sweeping through Europe--excellent reporting, beautifully written and sensibly, carefully analyzed. Everything that I would expect from a journalist/scholar like Bill Drozdiak." -- Marvin Kalb, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice, Emeritus, Harvard University
"Europeans and Americans alike would benefit from heeding Drozdiak's warning: That European unification may go into reverse and unravel due to blinkered nationalism on both sides of the Atlantic." -- Politico.eu
"A veteran foreign correspondent views Europe's current dilemmas and power struggles through a series of chapters written from the key capitals, including Berlin, Moscow and London." -- Gideon Rachman, Politics Top picks of 2017 - Financial Times
"... William Drozdiak's fascinating book on Europe..." -- International New York Times
"... a very good survey of what the European experiment is for and why we need to have an integrated Europe, both economically and politically." -- The best books on The European Union recommended by Giles Merritt - Five Books
"Drozdiak's book doesn't read as an obituary but as a sombre plea to recognise the gravity and urgency of the problems facing Europe and, more broadly, the West." -- 8 best books on European politics - The Independent
