The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? [Paperback]

 

 

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May I recommend (though not 100% wholeheartedly) The Great Deception by Christopher Booker & Richard North. (First published 2003. New edn 2005 - possibly there's a newer one by now). This book goes right back to the roots. It puts most of the blame on Monnet, who acted through various others who generally wanted, and got, the attention; the original idea coming from Salter (civil servant influenced by international control of shipping) and Monnet himself (rather shady uncreative businessman, more interested in sales and secret deals than productivity) - these two types of person seem to have established the pattern. I think there was an unconscious wartime input: de Gaulle and others were treated as governments-in-waiting or in exile, which established a pattern in which unelected groups formed shadow 'governments'.

This book disentangles many myths - the sort of thing vaguely remembered from incompetent and inchoate BBC programmes. Such as the myth of the post-war carve-up - in fact the federal ideas were thought of much earlier, but one of the main arguments for federation - that it would prevent war in Europe - clearly hadn't worked. Another myth is about Britain and CAP; the French would not accept Britain unless we accepted huge sums for French farming, which of course was a bit pointless from our point of view. Britain as a slow foot-dragger was the message. Fascinating to read how the 'supranational' idea was disguised and hidden by euphemisms: the intent all along was undemocratic. There's an alphabet soup of organisations, mostly with 'E' in - Council of Europe, ESDP, EDC, EDB, EIB, EMS, etc etc. These helped kill off other approaches to Europe - supernational, free trade, etc.

Booker & North don't treat the EU in isolation - world events such as Suez and Berlin and the U2 incident and nuclear issues are factored in, often with new information - Suez for example was re-arranged between Israel, UK, and France, but went wrong. Macmillan, Thatcher, Major and others are shown to have never really quite known what was happening.

However, it's not a perfect book; Booker is an unrevised right-winger; I never liked him - he regards for example Dien Bien Phu as a 'disaster'. North I assume to have done much of the research (including from original documents on Internet, and recent material released under 30-year or other rule). The book doesn't mention the Soviet Union at all, incredibly, despite the model it must have provided for decades; nor Russia as a European unit; it's not too good on raw materials - e.g. oil; and north African gas which was one of the motives for inclusion of Africans in Europe. The book mentions, briefly, the CIA's funding, and Bilderberg, and Foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller, though not (yet?) Common Purpose. Briefly, though - the idea the book is full of conspiracy theories is entirely wrong. If anyhting, there are too few conspiracy theories - for example UKIP gets few mentions, but its failure to do anything much is widely interpreted as it's being a fraudulent party invented to waste votes. Booker and North seem not very good on law - how on earth such a system be expected to work? Their book does not disentangle exactly why the USA opposed 'communism' - if indeed it did. It has a few pages on immigration.

But it's a handy and hefty one-volume reference/ source/ account. It has a twenty-page detailed index which in a book of this size is a very valuable enhancement. It is in places hard going, but the fact is, much of the analysis necessarily deals with bureaucratic language, or the language of politicians with a long tradition of evasive wording, or conventionalised phrasing designed to disguise or soften actualities. Booker & North's writing is always better than the material they have to deal with - their presentation is probably about as good as it could be. Considering the bulk of this book, it's cheap, too. I foresee and hope that as the EU starts to crack, there will be updated version(s) of this book.

Throughout this book there's a great sense that the authors set upon a task to hack through the myriad of spin and complexities of the European Union to set the record straight. And whilst that does lead to a partisan reading regarding some of the characters involved, it should not distract from what is a meticulous and forensic insight into the dynamic of this organization.

Drawing upon de-classified government papers, memoirs and other sources, the history of the organization is crafted in splendid detail, weaving the many architects and actors of this story into a compelling read. In particular, it challenges some of the conventional norms that have rendered the debate in Britain chronically mis-informed and dormant. As such, it might be considered a polemic, but I find some of the dismissals of the text as "conspiracy theories" unfair given the plentiful and rigorous supporting evidence.

Overall a well-written, enjoyable book that brings a very dry subject to life.

This is the most important book that I have read. It provides an exhaustive history of the EU combined with a coherent and cogent series of arguments that persuasively describe how and why it was established and continues to operate against our national interest.

This book has been described as polemical by some of the other reviewers; perhaps so, but that does not make the content incorrect or the analysis wrong. The text is, in places, rather hard going owing to the level of detail but this does serve to underline its intellectual rigor. The final chapter provides a wonderful summary of a book that someone needed to write and everyone in the UK should read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A must read - it identifies how the public has been lied to from the beginning
I bought this book for my husband and he just cannot put it down. He is very interested in politics and the EU in particular. Read more

Published 20 days ago by J. Cornish

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading
This book is clearly not a unbiased account of the EU - the authors are arch-eurosceptics - and personally I sympathise with many of their arguments, however as a history of how... Read more

Published 4 months ago by P. Williams

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Fantastic read and very well researched. It should be mandatory reading for every single man and woman in the UK.

Published 8 months ago by Jerry Mayer

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable reference book
Not opinion, but facts, and quoting references.

It's important to get to the facts - newspapers only ever express a view, often just personal, often faulty... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Dr. Michael J. Cross

1.0 out of 5 stars don't get this. buy a different book instead
i think this book might be a better read:

Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century

Published 13 months ago by Steven Dobbs

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
In spite of some slight mistakes concerning out-of-England topics (e.g. the names of the French Premiers during the sixties), the book is globally very illustrative about the... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Socrates of France

1.0 out of 5 stars Fodder for conspiracy theorists
If you are a conspiracy theorist, a Little Englander, or someone who has mentally not quite moved past 1939, you will love this book, and will find much in it to support your... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Devon

4.0 out of 5 stars One of best eurosceptic books I have come across
If a eurosceptic could choose only a single book as ammunition to make the case against Britain's membership in the EU, he should buy The Great Deception. Read more

Published on 31 Dec 2009 by C. Koernig

5.0 out of 5 stars An authoritative manual of EU History
This ought to be compulsory reading for all who study the European Union. Sadly, for the reasons explained inside, it is unlikely to be on the reading lists of those euro-fanatics... Read more

Published on 31 Dec 2009 by Henleyman

5.0 out of 5 stars Complusory reading for the next Government!
Anyone who cares about our system of democracy must read this book. I hope that if David Cameron wins the next election he sends a copy of this book to every MP. Read more

Published on 23 Dec 2009 by M. T. Mcaleer

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