This is a diplomatic history of France's role under the leadership of Francois Mitterand in the events at the end of the Cold War. Bozo (contemporary history and international relations, U. of Paris III, France) focuses on those areas that remain a subject of much controversy and negative assessment of France's diplomacy: the emancipation of Eastern Europe, German unification, the disintegration of the USSR, the post-Cold war redefinition of the European order, and the relative marginality of the French in post-Cold War transformations. He argues that the common view of French diplomacy as essentially conservative and complacent in its Cold War niche and therefore as opposed to the major transformations of the time is largely wrong and that Mitterand's diplomacy was instead directed towards setting the post-Cold War processes, particularly German unification, within a strong European and international framework. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)