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Not One Inch

America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate

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Not One Inch

By: M.E. Sarotte
Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
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A leading expert on foreign policy reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics in a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021

"Sarotte is the unofficial dean of 'end of Cold War' studies.... With her latest book, she tackles head-on the not-controversial-at-all questions about NATO’s eastward growth and the effect it had on Russia's relations with the west." (Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post)

"The most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available." (Andrew Moravscik, Foreign Affairs)

Based on over a hundred interviews and on secret records of White House - Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how the United States successfully overcame Russian resistance in the 1990s to expand NATO to more than 900 million people. But it also reveals how Washington's hardball tactics transformed the era between the Cold War and the present day, undermining what could have become a lasting partnership.

Vladimir Putin swears that Washington betrayed a promise that NATO would move "not one inch" eastward and justifies renewed confrontation as a necessary response to the alliance's illegitimate "deployment of military infrastructure to our borders." But the United States insists that neither President George H. W. Bush nor any other leader made such a promise.

Pulling back the curtain on U.S.-Russian relations in the critical years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and Putin's rise to power, prize-winning Cold War historian M. E. Sarotte reveals the bitter clashes over NATO behind the facade of friendship and comes to a sobering conclusion: the damage did not have to happen. In this deeply researched and compellingly written book, Sarotte shows what went wrong.

©2021 M. E. Sarotte (P)2022 Tantor Americas History & Theory International Relations Political Science Politics & Government Russia United States Military Soviet Union Cold War War Imperialism Socialism Middle East Imperial Japan American Foreign Policy Political Nonfiction
Well-researched History • Detailed Analysis • Objective Perspective • Informative Narrative • Timely Relevance
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it's a great starting point if you want to know more about how the world got in this terrible mess it is currently in.

important stuff.

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I thought that I had a good understanding of the history of NATO expansion, but this book really expanded my understanding. It is well-argued and provides a valuable perspective on NATO expansion that connects well to today’s U.S.-Russia relationship.

Fascinating, well-researched & timely

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In contrast to the new world order established in Europe following WW2, the decline and demise of the Soviet Union preserved the seeds of future conflict between the world and Russia. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the author describes a short window where many different outcomes were possible to heal the wounds of the Cold War. While opportunities identified and cultivated from this period led to a period of global peace and economic growth, the unresolved issues of the time continue to weigh over Europe more than 30 years onward. If you're curious about the conflict of Russia and Ukraine, or about Russia's isolation from the rest of the world, the foundation is covered in this relevant, and timely book.

Unresolved Order: 30 Years On

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Interesting narratives from behind the scenes how NATO expanded and came into being in the last 30 years

Relevant to where we are today in Ukraine

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The author has done such a great research. For the first time we have been introduced from the German side of story.

Wonderful book. Must read.

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A must read if you want to understand the conflict in Ukraine. Future historians will definitely use it.

Great work

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Absolute mesmerizing, well researched recounting of a formative period. Not being a witness benefits the author in their focus on sources from all parties as opposed to recounting (potentially colored) memories.
It is fascinating how much happened in these short years and how fluid, unpredictable and volatile the situation was. Hidden ultimatums, late night negotiations in bathrobes, government infighting, economic collapse and pride all throw the future of europe around like a boat in a storm.
I would have liked the author to give more time to the economic woes Gorbatchov had to deal with and illustrate more the precarious security situation the former Warsaw Pact states and especially Soviet Republics found themselves in, which must have had a huge impact on their decision making.
But this is nitpicking, this is a stellar compilation of events and due to the sheer density of what happened a real nail-biter.

Thorough, neutral and fact-dense

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Great insight on post-cold war geopolitics. Obviously incredibly well researched. 4.5 stars because it dragged a bit in a few chapters.

Solid book!

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A deeply researched history of the early post-cold-war period. It explores all the forces that ultimately drove us into the present confrontation with Russia. We ignored Churchill’s dictum, “In victory, magnanimity,” and much like with the Treaty of Versailles we contributed to the rebirth of a brutal empire.

The Full Story of the Early Post Cold War

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This is an excellent book about the diplomatic relations between the US (and to some extent its European allies) and Russia during and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, up to the beginning of the Putin era. It is not about everything -- mostly it is a close look at the relatively unguarded and informal words spoken by the principal actors, rather than about economic matters, the formal treaty language, military details, and so on. It is detailed, and does not appear to have much of an ideological ax to grind. I for one came back from reading it with the idea that most, but not all, of the US moves were clumsy, ill-thought-out, and (perhaps unintentionally to some extent) humiliating to Russia. The Russians were of course far from perfect themselves -- Gorbachev sort of out of it, Yeltsin a bad alcoholic as time went on, and of course Putin. But the US, instead of looking into the future and taking Churchill's advice to be magnanimous in victory, treated the weak remains of the Russian empire as though it did not really matter or deserve -- if only because of its nuclear arms -- a good deal of respect. We are reaping the whirlwind of the thoughtless expansion of NATO to the very doorstep of Russia. It was Russia itself (like the defeated Germany after WWII) that the US should have been solicitous of, more than Poland and the other countries eager to join NATO

America's NATO problem

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