Not One Inch

This well-researched book, using prime sources, is an objective and important history. It explains why Washington failed to forge a new European security order in working with Moscow at the end of the “first” Cold War.

Sarotte examines the question as to why Mikhail Gorbachev appeared to be promised by then-US Secretary of State James Baker (and other Western officials) that NATO membership would not expand beyond East Germany at the time of German unification. Just as importantly, Sarotte’s book examines why the US-proposed “Partnership for Peace”―which could have helped to establish a new system of security for eastern European… show more.

The book is a great guide to understand Russia’s perspective on post-Cold War developments and the contemporary crisis of relations with the West. Written by a historian, the book reconstructs the role of NATO expansion in shaping Russia’s security interests since the 1990s. The author documents opportunities, errors, and (mis)perceptions by both sides in setting their relations in the course of growing geopolitical tensions.

Not One Inch is the perfect book to understand the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Sarotte brilliantly describes the collapse of the Soviet Union, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the origins of the existing tensions between the United States and Russia. Sarotte especially explains the original misunderstanding over the expansion of NATO that has beguiled European relations since 1990. This book is the perfect choice for a father who is interested in learning more about current global affairs.