George Kennan: A Writing LifeThere were two George F. Kennans. The first was the well-known diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia--a tough political realist and man of the world who gained fame as the theorist of America's Cold War "containment" strategy. This was a "persona" that Kennan adopted in order to carry out his professional responsibilities. The second, largely unknown, but real George Kennan was a writer and aesthete--a shy, lonely man who felt alienated from both his country and his times, and a man who made major contributions to American literature. Thus argues Lee Congdon in George Kennan: A Writing Life, a groundbreaking study of Kennan's life and thought. Congdon narrates Kennan's legendary work in the foreign service, his later career as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and the schools of thought to which he made significant contributions: political realism, antidemocratic social and political criticism, Spenglerian gloom, and conservative cultural analysis. Congdon concludes that notwithstanding his great accomplishments as a diplomat and geopolitical strategist, Kennan merits consideration above all else as an original and penetrating American writer. |
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Page 131
... Morgenthau . Morgenthau was born in Coburg , Germany , in 1904 ; his parents were assimilated Jews . At his father's insistence , he studied law in Frankfurt , Munich , and Berlin . After taking his degree , he served for a time as a ...
... Morgenthau . Morgenthau was born in Coburg , Germany , in 1904 ; his parents were assimilated Jews . At his father's insistence , he studied law in Frankfurt , Munich , and Berlin . After taking his degree , he served for a time as a ...
Page 132
... Morgenthau quickly secured a reg- ular appointment . Free at last from concerns about his professional and finan- cial future , Morgenthau was able to concentrate on what would become his life's work ; in a series of influential volumes ...
... Morgenthau quickly secured a reg- ular appointment . Free at last from concerns about his professional and finan- cial future , Morgenthau was able to concentrate on what would become his life's work ; in a series of influential volumes ...
Page 194
... Morgenthau , In Defense of the National Interest , 4 . 6. Ibid . , 33 . 7. Edmund Burke , Reflections on the Revolution in France , ed . Conor Cruise O'Brien ( New York : Penguin Books , 1968 [ 1790 ] ) , 125 . 8. Morgenthau , In ...
... Morgenthau , In Defense of the National Interest , 4 . 6. Ibid . , 33 . 7. Edmund Burke , Reflections on the Revolution in France , ed . Conor Cruise O'Brien ( New York : Penguin Books , 1968 [ 1790 ] ) , 125 . 8. Morgenthau , In ...
Contents
The Institute for Advanced Study | 65 |
Traditions of Thought | 127 |
Mistress | 171 |
Copyright | |
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