A More Perfect Union

This book tells the history of the 'federal union', a concept that may be traced from the early Renaissance to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (1951), the predecessor of today's European Union.

Joshua Livestro worked as political adviser in London, Brussels, and The Hague before becoming a columnist and essayist. He published in the Wall Street Journal, Politico, and NRC Handelsblad. Previous book: De Adem van Grootheid, a history of 1950s Holland (Prometheus, Amsterdam).

Introduction, Chapter 1 The Machiavellian Moment: on Modes of Expansion, Chapter 2 A Taxonomy of Unions, Chapter 3 The European Republic, Chapter 4 The American moment, Chapter 5 The Necessity of Compromise, Chapter 6 The European Congress as Peace Pact, Chapter 7 Germany, from Staatenbund to Bundesstaat, Chapter 8 The Peace Movement's Federal Utopianism, Chapter 9 Peace through Union, Chapter 10 Europe's Anti-Federalist Moment, Chapter 11 The Hour for Union, Chapter 12 Europe's Federalist Moment, Conclusion, Epilogue: The United States of Europe, Acknowledgments, Index.