Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II

The "bitter legacy," the author argues, was the consequence of America's having habituated Russia to dealing with political issues in Eastern Europe without the United States. Yet his history of the early postwar years (1945-47) fails to show how, in practical terms, the United States could have prevented the Communist takeover in Poland. The study, however, is a solid and informative history of what happened in those years, especially on the lesser known questions of relief and rehabilitation, repatriation of Polish nationals, and economic aid.