The history of Austria since 1918 has attracted a surprisingly small amount of scholarly interest. Yet, as the country transformed over the course of the twentieth century—from serving as the seat of a vast empire into becoming a smaller state interested in economic and social progress, as well as in the pursuit of international peace and stability—Austria epitomized broader trends in European history. Few scholars have done more than Günter Bischof to examine Austria's past during this period, and this volume offers an important selection of his articles that are not easily available elsewhere. They vary in length and approach, from works of synthesis to more focused studies, as well as in the types of source they use—charting, as the title suggests, the range of relationships between the United States and Austria over the last century.
These diverse chapters capture not only the fascinating and multifarious connections between the two countries, but also Bischof's range and energy as a scholar. His primary interest is in international history, which, for him, encompasses diplomatic and political relations, public diplomacy, mutual perceptions, cultural ties, and migration. The ten articles span the period from the Anschluss of 1938 to developments in the early twenty-first century, but concentrate in particular on the Cold War era. Their central theme is how each country viewed and treated the other.
The first chapter charts the manifold facets of US influence on Austria and the strand of Austrian anti-Americanism that can be traced back to the nineteenth century. Bischof explains that the Austrian elite was initially anti-American because its members saw the United States as emblematic of democratic and modern trends they viewed as threatening. By contrast, the nineteenth-century Austrian Left welcomed the way in which America offered opportunities to escape the restrictions of a class-ridden society. In the twentieth century, however, the Left began to lose its sympathy for America, and, beginning in the 1960s, younger socialists voiced discontent with the so-called American empire; the political right also adopted anti-American views at this time as well.
The next chapter is partly a study of U.S. diplomats in Austria, their warnings about Nazism and the danger of Anschluss, as well as the limited response of the American government to those warnings. It also offers an account of the Austrian Jewish diaspora in the United States following the Anschluss. The third chapter, an outline of the little-known story of Austrian POWs in American captivity, reveals the harshness of their treatment by the Americans, as well as the more humane aspects. Bischof deftly weaves into his analysis the story of his own father's experiences in American captivity. This is followed by a useful account of Austria's involvement in the Marshall Plan aid program, as well as of the additional funds it received through a follow-up scheme in the 1960s. Bischof's concise chapter on Austrian diplomatic attempts to cultivate a more favorable image of their country in the United States is a compelling account that suggests fruitful ways in which historians can use a range of different sources to discern public opinion.
Two chapters analyze Austria in the post-Cold War years. The first, which surveys the years 1990 to 2013, beginning with the negotiation of Austrian membership in NATO and the European Community (EC). explains how many Austrians came to embrace the EC's approach to social values and foreign policy. In doing so, the country revealed the growing divide—the “values gap” (194)—between Europe and the United States. The second chapter on the post-Cold War period considers the response to the prospect of an extreme right-wing party joining the Austrian governing coalition in 2000, and suggests that concerns about this in the United States were short-lived: after Jörg Haider, the head of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), failed to become a cabinet member, and as the popularity of his party waned, so, too, did American anxieties about a resurgence of purported Nazi tendencies. As a result, U.S. opinion of Austria did not experience any long-term adverse effect. The book's final chapter moves away from the larger framework of international relations to the life of the most famous Austrian in the United States: Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is an engaging account that quietly debunks the more creative version of the Hollywood star's biography.
Unlike most academics, Günter Bischof brings a personal perspective to many of the topics broached in this collection. He was born in Austria, became an exchange student at a high school in California, studied as an undergraduate at the University of Innsbruck before receiving a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and then became a history professor and director of the Austria Center at the University of New Orleans. This biography has no doubt helped Bischof become the principal authority on Austria in the United States, as well as a major expert on America for many Austrians.
