Kennan

Mr. Gaddis captures the full range of Kennan's life and career and reveals the complicated inner personality behind the public mask.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

Recalled to Washington, Kennan was put in charge of a new Policy Planning Office in the state department.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

No summary can do justice to this hilarious book—Kennan's wit never fails him, just as a companion from California never fails, no matter how catastrophic the Siberian winter turns, to claim that he has seen "worse storms in the Sierra Nevadas."

Five Best: Larry McMurtry Larry McMurtry 2011

Mr. Gaddis's admiration for Kennan is obvious, but it does not stop him from portraying his subject's flaws— an immense ego, a deep insecurity, a volatile temperament.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

By this point, Kennan had embarked on a second career as America's foremost public intellectual.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

Stymied at both ends, Kennan resigned after two frustrating years.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

Kennan, as one of major diplomats of the Cold War era and the architect of America's containment policy toward the Soviet Union, was clearly an intellectual of historic stature whose views about America's role in the world had helped to shape his country's destiny.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

They're doing honor to the great home state of Liberace and George Kennan and, more to the point, Fighting Bob La Follette.

Ethan Casey: On Wisconsin: The View from Pakistan Ethan Casey 2011

The boy and the old man met only once, but the elder Kennan established a career template for the younger.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011

Kennan barely managed acceptance to Princeton University but proved to be a good student, though a social misfit disconnected from the culture of the elite eating clubs.

Uncontainable Alonzo L. Hamby 2011