Harry Hamlin Memoirs: Dealing with Churchill and Stalin

Author: W. Averell Harriman, E. L. Abell, translated by Wu Shimin et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The original title of this book is "Special Envoy: Dispatches from Churchill and Stalin," which recounts the personal experiences of the renowned American diplomat W. Averell Harriman during World War II (1941-1946) when he served as envoy to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. In this book, he attempts to elucidate his views on Soviet policy through his own 50 years of diplomatic experience, pointing out current issues and proposing solutions, hoping that policymakers will adopt them. He advocates using "American ideals," or American lifestyles, to into the Soviet Union and leverage "economic and technological ties" to pressure the Soviet Union into compliance, thereby achieving the goal of "Washington as the center of power." Although the book is a reflection of Harriman's personal experiences and the historical events it describes are well-documented in specialized works and memoirs from the time, it still contains valuable first-hand materials. The international environment of that time is intricately linked to the world of today. Harriman's aforementioned proposals, tested by the history of the 20th century, still hold the historical value of "eyewitness accounts, firsthand observations, and direct experiences," making them a valuable lesson for posterity.