Born from necessity, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has always seemed on the verge of collapse. Even now, some seventy years after its inception, some consider its foundation uncertain and its structure weak. At this moment of incipient strategic crisis, Timothy A. Sayle offers a sweeping history of the most critical alliance in the post-World War II era.

In Enduring Alliance, Sayle recounts how the western European powers, along with the United States and Canada, developed a treaty to prevent encroachments by the Soviet Union and to serve as a first defense in any future military conflict. As the growing and unruly hodgepodge of countries, councils, commands, and committees inflated NATO during the Cold War, Sayle shows that the work of executive leaders, high-level diplomats, and institutional functionaries within NATO kept the alliance alive and strong in the face of changing administrations, various crises, and the flux of geopolitical maneuverings. Resilience and flexibility have been the true hallmarks of NATO.

As Enduring Alliance deftly shows, the history of NATO is organized around the balance of power, preponderant military forces, and plans for nuclear war. But it is also the history riven by generational change, the introduction of new approaches to conceiving international affairs, and the difficulty of diplomacy for democracies. As NATO celebrates its seventieth anniversary, the alliance once again faces challenges to its very existence even as it maintains its place firmly at the center of western hemisphere and global affairs.

"The logic, history, and analysis of Enduring Alliance are impeccable, and Timothy Andrews Sayle's account is particularly useful at this moment when the Atlantic partnership is on unsteady ground. A must-read for policymakers seeking to ensure the Pax Atlantic is the indispensable and truly enduring alliance of our times."
- Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, 2009-2013, and author of The Accidental Admiral


"Enduring Alliance is a deeply researched and engaging account of the complicated and consequential history of the United States and NATO. Sayle offers new insights, exposes various myths, and explores the complexities and challenges of this unique, oft-troubled, but resilient alliance. Must-read for scholars of history, security studies, and institutions, as well as anyone concerned about the state of NATO today."
- Francis J. Gavin, author of Nuclear Statecraft


"Enduring Alliance is an ambitious, wide-ranging, and much-needed book in the development of inter-alliance politics within NATO."
- Matthew Jones, London School of Economics, and author of After Hiroshima

"Timothy A. Sayle's Enduring Alliance abounds with keen insights and brilliant turns of phrase. Enduring Alliance excavates a vital history that speaks to our present moment and will be a valuable resource for scholars, students, and interested readers and policymakers."

- Christopher McKnight Nichols, Oregon State University, and author of Promise and Peril
 

"At a time when the president of the US is questioning the future of NATO, it is essential to understand the alliance's past. Timothy Andrews Sayle's engaging account shows why NATO came into being, how it has endured, and where it may be going. Highly recommended."

- Mary Sarotte, author of 1989

Registration Link: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/event/27741/

Until the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, Mackenzie King prided himself on never publicly saying anything derogatory about Hitler or Mussolini, unequivocally supporting the appeasement policies of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and regarding Hitler as a benign fellow mystic. In Mackenzie King in the Age of the Dictators Roy MacLaren leads readers through the political labyrinth that led to Canada's involvement in the Second World War and its awakening as a forceful nation on the world stage.
 
Roy MacLaren has been a diplomat, businessman, minister in three federal cabinets, and Canada's high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
 

The Bill Graham Centre is a joint undertaking of Trinity College and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, in the University of Toronto.

Event Registration: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/event/27741/

In Detained Daniel Livermore analyzes the emergence of Islamic fundamentalist extremism and its Canadian implications, including the erroneous investigations that targeted Canadians and led to their detentions in Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Tunisia, and Sudan. Scrutinizing the most prominent cases, he details the role of Canadian agencies in the imprisonments and relates how subsequent court cases brought the situations to light, resulting in settlements and apologies to Ahmad Abou-El-Maati, Abdullah Almalki, and Maher Arar, among others. Drawing on his experience in Canada’s foreign ministry, Livermore explains how an essentially misguided War on Terror emerged and how Canadian-American cooperation went wrong.

Daniel Livermore, former director general of security and intelligence at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, is senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and senior visiting fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at Trinity College and the Munk School, University of Toronto.

For registration, click here.

This event will be held in the Observatory Building’s Library at 315 Bloor St W.

Please join Massey College's Public Policy program for a talk and reception celebrating the launch of True North Rising by Whit Fraser, former chairman of the Canadian Polar Commission, former executive director of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and former CBC journalist. His work took him to every community in Canada’s three northern Territories and much of the circumpolar world. He covered some of the most important stories to the today's Arctic region, including the McKenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, Constitutional negotiations that enshrined aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution of Canada; Aboriginal Land Claims from initial concept and demands through to the final Agreements.

True North Rising recounts Whit Fraser's involvement with and coverage of these remarkable events and more. His book highlights the extraordinary people who spoke up across Canada’s Northern Territories to challenge the colonial attitudes and policies of the past, bringing lasting change and the prospect of greater justice and equality to come. The book is published by Burnstown Publishing House. 

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/book-launch-true-north-rising-with-whit-fraser-tickets-50874153964

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Emily Tsui at emily.tsui@mail.utoronto.ca 

The BGC is honoured to host the debut of Professor Hitchcock's New York Times bestseller The Age of Eisenhower. 

To register, please click here. Books for sale and signing. Refreshments provided. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

William I. Hitchcock is the William W. Corcoran Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He has written or edited six books on the international, diplomatic and military history of the 20th Century, in particular the era of the World Wars and the Cold War. 

He received his B.A. degree from Kenyon College in 1986, and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1994. His book The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe (Free Press, 2008), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a winner of the George Louis Beer Prize, and a Financial Times bestseller.

He lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Elizabeth Varon, who is a historian of the US Civil War.

For more about the book, visit AgeofEisenhower.com.

What are the realities of today’s China, and what do they mean for us? Journalist and filmmaker Alexandre Trudeau explores these questions in his first book, Barbarian Lost (HarperCollins). Following his lifelong fascination with China, Trudeau travels throughout the country and meets a variety of Chinese men and women, exploring the human dimension of this country whose economic and geopolitical rise is so consequential for Canada and the world. 

The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, in partnership with the Canadian International Council, the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice, and HarperCollins is pleased to launch this important book. 

Join us Monday, September 19th, in the George Ignatieff Theatre, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 15 Devonshire Place, to hear Alexandre Trudeau share his perceptions of contemporary China. 

Doors open at 4:30pm
Presentation begins at 5:00pm
Reception and book signing to follow