George Kennan and the dilemmas of US foreign policy /

George Kennan has been a pivotal figure in US foreign policy since 1946 when he sent Washington his famous "Long Telegram" explaining the fundamental historic forces driving Soviet foreign policy. Kennan's telegram raised him from the ranks of obscure foreign service officers to the status of the government's leading Soviet expert, although his influence on policy was brief. Mayers (Boston University) has written the first intellectual biography of Kennan, combining his personal and intellectual development with the evolution of his career and long post-Washington role as critic of the containment policy he helped author. Throughout all these years, Mayers shows that Kennan remained a "realist" in his thinking guided by the concepts of national interest and balance of power. The author also portrays Kennan as an elitist--believing that the expert should be left to steer the American ship of state, unburdened by ignorant congressmen and an emotional public opinion. Thus Kennan emerges from this book as a stout defender of US interests who was simultaneously contemptuous of and impatient with its democratic policy-making institutions and processes. Recommended for undergraduates, graduate students and general readers.-J. Spanier, University of Florida