Lorenzo Trapassi answers a simple but crucial question: what feelings did Adenauer’s Germany, the absolute protagonist of the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact and, by extension, between capitalism and communism, have and what objectives did it pursue? If the archives of the East are still a largely unexplored mine, we have instead a multitude of sources on what they thought in Bonn and Washington: the author puts them in order with scientific rigor and genuine passion for historical reconstruction. An unexpected picture emerges, a harbinger of lessons for current events: that between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany was basically an alliance of convenience, inevitable but little felt; a “fragile understanding”: indeed, stained by mutual suspicion and cultural distances not easy to overcome, with the Russian threat perpetually in the background.
For years, diplomat Stefano Baldi has been responsible for the “La Penna del Diplomatico” project, which catalogs the works written by his Italian colleagues and moderates a series of recently published book presentations.
