People have a tendency, when they expend much time and energy working on a project, to inflate the significance of their work. We all like to believe the work we do is important. Authors and historians are no different from the rest of us in that respect. That phenomenon is the major flaw in Michael Cotey Morgan's book about the 1975 Helsinki Accords, The Final Act.
Morgan's extensively researched account of the varied approaches undertaken by the United States and its European allies, the interplay between the Soviet Union and its East European satellites, and the diplomatic jousting between East and West in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) is well written and informative. Had he written a straightforward and detailed history of the CSCE and the Helsinki Final Act, without attributing to them the transformation and end of the Cold War, this would be a good book.
Read Full Article »