END OF AN ILLUSION

NATO became ""a painted corpse"" long before French withdrawal, says the author, and traditional military alliances have been rendered nonsensical by nuclear weapons. Basing his arguments on the cold-war revisionist historians, he argues further that the Soviets never threatened to take over Western Europe; but NATO turned out to be a ""superb investment,"" a ""national honey-pot"" for the U.S. military-industrial complex. Joyce documents the power of the ""master-builders"" and the extent of their vested interest in a weapons culture. He goes on to indict them for jeopardizing peace and stifling nationalist aspirations in the name of ""deterrence,"" anti-Communism, and ""saving freedom."" His analysis ranges from the sinister absurdity of SEATO, to Eastern Europe, where he seems to conclude that Western opposition has reinforced the specious Russian claim that ""the yoke"" is a defensive necessity. Not only NATO but U.S. military hegemony must be dissolved--Joyce sees the initiative coming from Europe, especially Britain, and predicts a struggle in the 1970's between the U.S. and the U.N. The latter is upheld as the only means toward a ""rule of law"" and a global war on poverty. Joyce admits that the U.N.'s peacekeeping looks ""shaky at best,"" but finds hope for ""planned peacekeeping"" in the Mideast. The book is strongest in its indignant, commonsensical attacks, which put the issues in a properly broad context. And, although the flow of excerpts and summaries becomes a bit overwhelming, it is most valuable for its presentation of a rich variety of theory and data. It can serve as a sort of polemical bibliographic essay for both students and savants.