George F. Kennan: An American Life
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)
Drawing on extensive interviews with George Kennan and exclusive access to his archives, an eminent scholar of the Cold War delivers a revelatory biography of its troubled mastermind.
In the late 1940s, George Kennan wrote two documents, the "Long Telegram" and the "X Article," which set forward the strategy of containment that would define US policy toward the Soviet Union for the next four decades. This achievement alone would qualify him as the most influential American diplomat of the Cold War era. But he was also an architect of the Marshall Plan, a prizewinning historian, and would become one of the most outspoken critics of American diplomacy, politics, and culture during the last half of the twentieth century. Now the full scope of Kennan's long life and vast influence is revealed by one of today's most important Cold War scholars.
Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis began this magisterial history almost thirty years ago, interviewing Kennan frequently and gaining complete access to his voluminous diaries and other personal papers. So frank and detailed were these materials that Kennan and Gaddis agreed that the book would not appear until after Kennan's death. It was well worth the wait: the journals give this book a breathtaking candor and intimacy that match its century-long sweep.
We see Kennan's insecurity as a Midwesterner among elites at Princeton, his budding dissatisfaction with authority and the status quo, his struggles with depression, his gift for satire, and his sharp insights on the policies and people he encountered. Kennan turned these sharp analytical gifts upon himself, even to the point of regularly recording dreams. The result is a remarkably revealing view of how this greatest of Cold War strategists came to doubt his strategy and always doubted himself.
This is a landmark work of history and biography that reveals the vast influence and rich inner landscape of a life that both mirrored and shaped the century it spanned.
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John Lewis Gaddis. (2012). George F. Kennan: An American Life. Unabridged Blackstone Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)John Lewis Gaddis. 2012. George F. Kennan: An American Life. Blackstone Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)John Lewis Gaddis, George F. Kennan: An American Life. Blackstone Publishing, 2012.
MLA Citation (style guide)John Lewis Gaddis. George F. Kennan: An American Life. Unabridged Blackstone Publishing, 2012.
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John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University. His previous books include The United States and the Origins of the Cold War; Strategies of Containment; The Long Peace; We Now Know; The Landscape of History; Surprise, Security, and the American Experience; and The Cold War: A New History. He teaches courses on Cold War history, grand strategy, international studies, and biography and has won two Yale undergraduate teaching awards. He was also a 2005 recipient of the National Humanities Medal.
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Drawing on extensive interviews with George Kennan and exclusive access to his archives, an eminent scholar of the Cold War delivers a revelatory biography of its troubled mastermind.
In the late 1940s, George Kennan wrote two documents, the "Long Telegram" and the "X Article," which set forward the strategy of containment that would define US policy toward the Soviet Union for the next four decades. This achievement alone would qualify him as the most influential American diplomat of the Cold War era. But he was also an architect of the Marshall Plan, a prizewinning historian, and would become one of the most outspoken critics of American diplomacy, politics, and culture during the last half of the twentieth century. Now the full scope of Kennan's long life and vast influence is revealed by one of today's most important Cold War scholars.
Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis began this magisterial history almost thirty years ago, interviewing Kennan frequently and gaining complete access to his voluminous diaries and other personal papers. So frank and detailed were these materials that Kennan and Gaddis agreed that the book would not appear until after Kennan's death. It was well worth the wait: the journals give this book a breathtaking candor and intimacy that match its century-long sweep.
We see Kennan's insecurity as a Midwesterner among elites at Princeton, his budding dissatisfaction with authority and the status quo, his struggles with depression, his gift for satire, and his sharp insights on the policies and people he encountered. Kennan turned these sharp analytical gifts upon himself, even to the point of regularly recording dreams. The result is a remarkably revealing view of how this greatest of Cold War strategists came to doubt his strategy and always doubted himself.
This is a landmark work of history and biography that reveals the vast influence and rich inner landscape of a life that both mirrored and shaped the century it spanned.
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- content: "Masterfully researched...Gaddis' moving work gives us a figure with whom, however one might differ on details, it was a privilege to be a contemporary."
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- content: Gaddis's thoughtful and often absorbing account of the life and career of the Cold War diplomat and historian, winner of this year's Pulitzer for biography, is well served by this audio production. Malcolm Hilgartner narrates with sensitivity to the text, easy precision, and perfect pacing. He shades his voice slightly to indicate quotations from Kennan, an interesting and successful tactic, and to give the flavor of various accents or historic personages, a less successful tactic--his JFK is unconvincing, and his British accent weak. But his intelligence, undemonstrative energy, and amiable tone, as well as his ability to keep the listener involved with no perceptible effort over such a long haul, make this performance a real achievement. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
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August 15, 2011
No one is better suited than Gaddis to write this authorized biography of George F. Kennan: the noted Yale cold war historian had total access to Kennan’s papers as well as to his family members and associates—Kennan so trusted his biographer that he remarked, “write , if you will, on the confident assumption that no account need be taken of my own reaction... either in this world or the next.” Through his privileged relationship with Kennan, Gaddis reveals the man behind the public persona as an agonized and fragile individual who often felt alienated from the U.S. and his fellow citizens, despite his tireless service to his country. In addition to the intimacies of the work, Gaddis offers critical analyses of Kennan’s key roles as diplomat, policy maker, and scholar of Russian history. Unsurpassed in his strategic vision during the cold war, Kennan is credited with being responsible for much of America’s eventual victory, and therein lies the impetus behind this remarkable biography. Adroitly managed (if occasionally barnacled with extraneous facts), Gaddis’s work is a major contribution to Kennan’s legacy and the history of American foreign policy.
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Starred review from August 1, 2012
Prolific author and New York Times-heralded "Dean of Cold War Historians," Gaddis presents a massive and magnificent biography of George Frost Kennan (1904-2005). A Times obit described Kennan as "the American diplomat who did more than any other envoy of his generation to shape U.S. policy during the cold war." Drawing on unprecedented access to Kennan's personal papers and diaries as well as numerous interviews with the subject, his family members, and many influential diplomats and government officials, Gaddis reveals how Kennan's work continues to influence American foreign policy. This exhaustive analysis weaves details of the subject's life with his numerous high-level relationships with world leaders and reminds listeners of the dilemmas and aspirations our nation faced during this period. VERDICT Professional narrator Malcolm Hillgartner's lively, personable reading of this huge work is impressive as he maintains listener interest in this important addition to our understanding of American foreign policy during the Cold War. Highly recommended for all university libraries and government wonks. ["Highly recommended for Cold War scholars and for all library collections, alongside Nicholas Thompson's more personal The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War," read the review of the Penguin Group (USA) hc, LJ 9/15/11.--Ed.]--Dale Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Drawing on extensive interviews with George Kennan and exclusive access to his archives, an eminent scholar of the Cold War delivers a revelatory biography of its troubled mastermind.
In the late 1940s, George Kennan wrote two documents, the "Long Telegram" and the "X Article," which set forward the strategy of containment that would define US policy toward the Soviet Union for the next four decades. This achievement alone would qualify him as the most influential American diplomat of the Cold War era. But he was also an architect of the Marshall Plan, a prizewinning historian, and would become one of the most outspoken critics of American diplomacy, politics, and culture during the last half of the twentieth century. Now the full scope of Kennan's long life and vast influence is revealed by one of today's most important Cold War scholars.
Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis began this magisterial history almost thirty years ago, interviewing Kennan frequently and...
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