Benn Steil, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War *** 1/2

After reading Postwar, I wanted to know more about the Marshall Plan, the apparently innovative and uniquely successful approach to European economic recovery. How did it work exactly; for example, what's the deal with counterpart funds? How was the plan developed? Which aspects of its approach were specific to the post-war situation and which could apply today?

As its subtitle makes clear, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War spends more of its 400 pages on the realpolitik that shaped the plan than on its macroeconomic details. In Steil's telling, the Marshall Plan was the part of Allied postwar strategy that motivated most of Stalin's actions, such as the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the Berlin blockade. The book describes in exhaustive/exhausting detail the politics between the Allies and within the United States. (The chapter about Congressional debate on the Plan is titled "Sausage" :-). The namesake George Marshall plays a surprisingly small role in the drama.

From an economic point of view, the book captures well the fundamental goals of the Plan –– "the speediest possible reactivation of the European economic machine" by "affording them the space to liberalize and integrate their economies –– and the disputed principles behind its implementation, but I wanted more implementation details. There is one measly paragraph about counterpart funds. In fact, the book skips (Reservoir Dogs-style) past implementation of the Plan straight to a retrospective chapter about its "Success?". It ends with a prescient chapter about Russia's views on NATO expansion, proving that its subject is America's whole Cold War containment strategy and not just the Marshall Plan.

The writing style splits the difference between a popular history and an academic treatise. The prologue plunges straight into names-and-dates prose that presumes you're familiar with the background. (Maybe Steil assumes you've read his previous book about the Bretton Woods conference?) The copious footnotes provide literature references and not much else.