The Year That Never Was: Heath, the Nixon Administration and the Year of Europe

Drawing on recently declassified documents from both the British and American National Archives, Hynes examines how the Year of Europe, a Nixon-Kissinger initiative for a comprehensive reassessment of the transatlantic alliance, became a pivotal year in British foreign policy - for all the wrong reasons. Set against the turbulent world climate of the early 1970s, it provides a vivid insight into the bizarre diplomatic modus operandi of the Nixon-Kissinger White House. It also offers a fresh interpretation of the difficulties faced by British Prime Minister Edward Heath as he sought to rebuff Kissinger's overtures and reorientate Britain's foreign policy towards Europe.