Politics & Government
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Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
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 has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents-including many that have never been published before-which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides."-Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker
"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.
"Sarotte has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents-including many that have never been published before-which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides."-Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker
"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.
Editorial Reviews
"Sarotte has the receipts, as it were: her authoritative tale draws on thousands of memos, letters, briefs, and other once secret documents-including many that have never been published before-which both fill in and complicate settled narratives on both sides."-Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker
"Prize-winning historian Mary Elise Sarotte . . . charts all the private discussions within the western alliance and with Russia over enlargement and reveals Russia as powerless to slow the ratchet effect of the opening of Nato's door."-Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
"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. I look forward to the contretemps this book will inevitably produce."-Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post
"‘Not one inch to the east' . . . [is] a history so often repeated that it's practically conventional wisdom. Mary Sarotte . . . [describes] what actually happened [between the US and Russia], and how both the reality and distortion really shape today's events."-Max Fisher, New York Times, from "The Interpreter" newsletter
"A riveting account of Nato enlargement and its contribution to the present confrontation. Sarotte tells the story with great narrative and analytical flair, admirable objectivity, and an attention to detail that many of us who thought we knew the history have forgotten or never knew."-Rodric Braithwaite, Financial Times
"Masterful and exhaustively researched . . . For this well-written and pacy book, [Sarotte] has uncovered previously unpublished details of former president Bill Clinton's role in deciding Europe's fate."-Con Coughlin, Sunday Telegraph
"There's no one who has researched the relevant sources more thoroughly than historian Mary E. Sarotte, who has just published Not One Inch . . . successfully reconstructing the most significant days [in NATO expansion]."-Stefan Kornelius, Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Sarotte weaves together the most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available."-Andrew Moravscik, Foreign Affairs
Selected as a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021
"A tour de force of research and analysis."-Richard Aldous, host of American Purpose's "Bookstack" podcast
"A must-read for anyone interested in U.S.-Russian relations or the study of U.S. foreign policy since 1991."-Emma Ashford, War on the Rocks
"[A] gracefully written history . . . the most authoritative account of this historical episode that is ever likely to be written."-Michael Mandelbaum, American Pu...
"Prize-winning historian Mary Elise Sarotte . . . charts all the private discussions within the western alliance and with Russia over enlargement and reveals Russia as powerless to slow the ratchet effect of the opening of Nato's door."-Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
"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. I look forward to the contretemps this book will inevitably produce."-Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post
"‘Not one inch to the east' . . . [is] a history so often repeated that it's practically conventional wisdom. Mary Sarotte . . . [describes] what actually happened [between the US and Russia], and how both the reality and distortion really shape today's events."-Max Fisher, New York Times, from "The Interpreter" newsletter
"A riveting account of Nato enlargement and its contribution to the present confrontation. Sarotte tells the story with great narrative and analytical flair, admirable objectivity, and an attention to detail that many of us who thought we knew the history have forgotten or never knew."-Rodric Braithwaite, Financial Times
"Masterful and exhaustively researched . . . For this well-written and pacy book, [Sarotte] has uncovered previously unpublished details of former president Bill Clinton's role in deciding Europe's fate."-Con Coughlin, Sunday Telegraph
"There's no one who has researched the relevant sources more thoroughly than historian Mary E. Sarotte, who has just published Not One Inch . . . successfully reconstructing the most significant days [in NATO expansion]."-Stefan Kornelius, Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Sarotte weaves together the most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available."-Andrew Moravscik, Foreign Affairs
Selected as a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021
"A tour de force of research and analysis."-Richard Aldous, host of American Purpose's "Bookstack" podcast
"A must-read for anyone interested in U.S.-Russian relations or the study of U.S. foreign policy since 1991."-Emma Ashford, War on the Rocks
"[A] gracefully written history . . . the most authoritative account of this historical episode that is ever likely to be written."-Michael Mandelbaum, American Pu...
Readers Top Reviews
H N Thakore Kunde
It is a deep study book with cogent analysis and shows the geo political situation very well It is well researched as well
Philip Seibmichel pa
As the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union splintered, leaders of the United States and Western Europe faced the challenges of shaping the future. This was a task of enormous complexity. Professor Sarotte sorts the pieces of this giant jigsaw puzzle and gives us a book featuring great research and great writing.
Peter Podbielski
In the meticulously researched history, Not One Inch, M.E. Sarotte details the backstory of U.S.–Russian relations in the critical years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and Putin’s rise to power. Sarotte describes the clashes over German unification, NATO enlargement, Ukraine, arms control, and the post-Cold War security order that underscore several points of contention between the U.S. and Russia. While the United States successfully safeguarded its strategic interest - keeping NATO viable – Russia, weakened after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, felt compelled to accede to the undesired political changes. The new political realities fermented resentments that escalated in 2008 with Russia’s conflict with Georgia and Ukraine in 2014. In addition to a valuable historical reference, Not One Inch stands as a primer for how nations identify and pursue national interests. To answer, “How can an understanding of these events guide efforts to create a better future?” Sarotte offers three principles: 1. The necessity of renewed competition from Moscow provides a unifying mission that can help bridge fractures within the United States. 2. Washington should address Russian challenges by aggressively and unashamedly prioritizing transatlantic cooperation. One issue requiring transatlantic focus is Ukraine, a country crucial to European stability. 3. Understanding history can help us, if not to predict, then certainly to prepare for the future. Sarotte reminds us that both the United States and Russia undermined the opportunity for a lasting and enduring partnership.
Ralph Eastwick
Mary Elise Sarotte's "Not One Inch" is an incredibly well-researched and documented history of U.S.-Russian relations immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Sarotte has read every relevant document, read every important memoir by the various participants, interviewed countless statesmen, and written a flowing narrative that is a pleasure to read. While she answers a qualified "yes" to the question of whether the U.S. could have handled the relationship better, she also grants the former members of the Warsaw Pact had legitimate economic and security reasons for looking to the West. The horror of those peoples, Poles, Hungarians, and Czechs, for example, at the brutal conflict in Chechnya instigated by Yeltsin in late 1994 stand to confirm those desires. And it appears that not much has changed since with the rise of Vladimir Putin and his maniacal desire to re-constitute the Russian Empire, and his grotesque and brutal methods to accomplish this. As historians have pointed out, his model is not Stalin, but Peter the Great. During the debates over NATO expansion, which Sarotte exhaustively details, scholars such as George Kennan and Michael Mandelbaum warned that expansion would turn out badly, while advocates such as National Security advisor Anthony Lake were able to push the issue to their favored conclusion. Having read the book and reviewed the arguments on both sides, I have concluded that whether the former Warsaw Pact members became NATO members or not, became EU members or not, whether the Partnership for Peace had evolved into something much stronger, whether there had been some type of Nordic-Baltic security arrangement, it would matter little in the end in the face of an onslaught the likes of which we are witnessing in Ukraine presently. The economic ties and resulting democratic and economic progress in the Baltics and Balkans was something a maniac like Putin simply could not abide.
