Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a New Century

A magisterial volume--a cocktail of autobiography, political analysis of the state of the world, and policy prescriptions. --Foreign Affairs

For fifty years, the Americans, British, and Europeans were close partners, yet today the Western alliance is strained to a moment of reckoning. In Cousins and Strangers, Chris Patten, one of Europe's most distinguished statesmen, scrutinizes what has happened in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, pinpointing the shifts in power and security that have reshaped our world.

In penetrating and sparkling analysis, Patten argues that to face the urgent threats of the twenty-first century--terrorism, nuclear proliferation, failed and failing states, massive environmental change--the Western alliance must stop bickering and kowtowing and start asserting cooperative leadership. Bad habits and easy, self-absorbed slogans must give way to smart politics in order to ensure the world's, and our own, best interests. Drawing on his decades of experience in government and international diplomacy, Patten sharply assesses the leadership of the United States, Great Britain, and Europe, and the stakes for all three if the West breaks apart.

Author: Chris Patten
Publisher: Holt McDougal
Published: 12/26/2006
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.92lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780805082579

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 01/28/2007 pg. 24

About the Author

Chris Patten, chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle universities, was from 1999 until 2004 European Commissioner for External Relations. He was previously the member of Parliament for Bath, chairman of the Conservative Party, and the last British governor of Hong Kong. He is the author of East and West: China, Power, and the Future of Asia. He lives in London.

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