Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Spectator Book of the Year"
"As diplomat, historian and public intellectual, George Kennan was arguably the most interesting American of his time. In this magnificent biography, Professor Costigliola presents the man in full: gifted, prophetic, prickly, prejudiced, patriotic, alienated from modernity and steadfast in his devotion to principle. A remarkable biography of a remarkable individual."
---Andrew Bacevich, Spectator"Compelling. . . .Emphatic and sympathetic."
---Geoffrey Roberts, Irish Times"Informative, clear-eyed, and compelling."
---Glenn C. Altschuler, Star Tribune"The fullest portrait of Kennan yet available."
---Patrick Iber, New Republic"[A] lively, thoughtful and provocative biography. . . .Costigliola’s book shows convincingly the interconnections between all of Kennan’s thinking, through different phases of his life and through changing international circumstances."
---Harold James, Times Literary Supplement"Like other Kennan biographies, Costigliola focuses on his professional life and legacy. But the author is also adept at showing how Kennan’s personality shaped his professional life. Costigliola has given us a rich, insightful, and powerful portrait of this legendary American."
---Terry W. Hartle, Christian Science Monitor"Absorbing, skillfully wrought. . . . consistently fascinating."
---Fredrik Logevall, Foreign Affairs"A valuable contribution to understanding Kennan for who he really was."
---Damir Marusic, Washington Examiner"Costigliola's rich account . . . offers a fascinating study of Kennan the character, in particular Kennan as a man of multiple existences. . . . Costigliola’s achievement is undeniable. His biography is one that could only emerge from decades of immersion in the sources, and from a sophisticated dialogue between the questions thrown up by the present and the author’s careful excavation of the past. The work has great salience for our time. The predicaments faced by Washington, and Kennan, are still with us. For contending with Kennan and the worlds he moved between, this biography will likely endure as a landmark work."
---Patrick Porter, First Things"
A valuable resource for students of 20th-century geopolitics.
" * Kirkus Reviews *
"Costigliola’s . . . biography of George Kennan . . . could not be more timely." * Library Journal *
"[A] magisterial new biography."
---Anatol Lieven, Financial Times"[A] splendid, revelatory book [which] shines a bright light on Kennan’s moral faults. This lucid, comprehensive, and scrupulously fair biography will endure as one of the finest studies of any Cold War statesman."
---William I. Hitchcock, Society"A compelling synthesis of Kennan as elitist, committed Russophile and Germanophile, ambivalent romantic, tortured soul, and policy sage."
---Ivan Krastev and Leonard Benardo, New Statesman
