In this masterly double biography, Nicholas Thompson brings Nitze and Kennan to vivid life. Nitze the hawk was a consummate insider who believed that the best way to avoid a nuclear clash was to prepare to win one. More than any other American, he was responsible for the arms race. Kennan the dove was a diplomat turned academic whose famous “X article” persuasively argued that we should contain the Soviet Union while waiting for it to collapse from within. For forty years, he exercised more influence on foreign affairs than any other private citizen.
As he weaves a fascinating narrative that follows these two rivals and friends from the beginning of the Cold War to its end, Thompson accomplishes something remarkable: he tells the story of our nation during the most dangerous half century in history.
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Background Information
The Cold War was the worldwide conflict between the western democracies and Communist states, particularly the USSR. George Kennan was an American intellectual and diplomat, sometimes called the Father of Containment during the Cold War.