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Memoirs 19251950 George F Kennan Books

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Memoirs 19251950 George F Kennan Books

George F. Kennan has had more influence over American foreign policy than anyone else I know of. I found this set of his memoirs even more interesting than the second book of memoirs he wrote later. Kennan was a remarkable man who was once the American Ambassador to both Russia and Germany before, after, and during the two world wars. His influence on our foreign policy towards Russia was immense, and in this book he speaks of his meetings with Joseph Stalin and many other national leaders. Kennan is probably best know as the designer of the containment doctrine, an plan for halting the advances of the Soviet union after World War II that worked. Go through history with him by reading this amazing book.


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Memoirs 19251950 George F Kennan Books Reviews

George Kennan was an American diplomat stationed in the Soviet Union before and after World War II. He was also in Germany when the United States entered the war in December, 1941. He, along with other American diplomats, was incarcerated in Germany, only to be released in mid-1942. Mr. Kennan does not dwell on this; I only mention it because I was unaware of this detainment of the diplomats of the United States.

Mr. Kennan spoke fluent Russian and German. Unlike many diplomats George Kennan was not afraid to voice his opinion. This often put him at odds with Washington. He understood very clearly the nature of Stalin and the Soviet dictatorship in the 1930’s – when there were others who idealized Marxist-Soviet communism. Later, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, he correctly stated the true nature of the new found Soviet allies who wanted as much aid as possible to combat the German invasion. He saw clearly that Stalin would want to occupy permanently any territories acquired during the war. In fact this had already happened with the occupation of the Baltic States and Eastern Poland and the attack on Finland after the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939.

But also Kennan did not want a war with the Soviets – he saw that Soviet intentions were not oriented in that direction. They understood the language of power – and George Kennan was a most pragmatic person.

He also ignores Churchill who also, after the Warsaw uprising in 1944 came to have a different view of the Soviet Union and the nature of Stalin’s acquisitions in Eastern Europe.

This book is chiefly about the methodology of diplomacy and the history of it during Kennan’s tenure. Kennan was a passionate person and would not withhold his judgements. He was very unique in this way. Perhaps the tone is rather detailed at times – and the reading varies from page-turning to somewhat arduous (in my opinion) – maybe too much on the nuances of diplomacy. Don’t look for anything personal about George Kennan’s life in this book. In passing, he mentions that after spending so much time in the Soviet Union and Germany that upon his return to his native state of Wisconsin he felt alienated and unable to fit in. Too much had happened to both him and his native state in the interim. This distancing of himself from his homeland allowed him to view the United States as merely one of the countries on the world stage, albeit a significant one.

A favourite quote respecting the U.S. (from page 496 of my edition)

“... we Americans may be profoundly convinced that we are “right”. In our participation on the international scene we are only one of a number of contenders for the privilege of leading a national existence on a portion of the territory of the world ...let us recognize the legitimacy of differences of interest and philosophy between groups of men and not pretend that they can be made to disappear behind some common philosophical concept.”
Certainly a book that must be read by those wishing to know of American foreign policy in the 20th century - a book both deeply thoughtful and beautifully written. He is best remembered as the American diplomat stationed in Moscow before and during the War who wrote "The Long Telegram", counseling the United States to confront the Soviet Union, which he advised was completely determined to advance interests and an ideology that were inimical to free societies. This was written not long after the War concluded - a war in which the U.S. was allied to the USSR. It gave authority to the growing doubts about the USSR's cooperation in the post-war world - and furnished the basis of a policy to resist those Soviet efforts.

From a farm family in Wisconsin, educated at Princeton, Kennan was an intellectual - deeply interested and fascinated by Russia, whose history and culture he hugely admired. Kennan was also - and became more so as he came into middle and old age - rather thin skinned, highly strung, and quite capable of vilifying what he believed to be wrong-headed policies that men of good will often thought in fact conformed to what he had prescribed. As was true of most involved in crafting foreign policy at the time, Kennan's elitist by nature - as one sees in his much later diary - populism affecting foreign policy is one of his many betes noires.

The book is fascinating - both his account of his life (in 1920s Berlin, in the Baltic Republics, in Moscow from the time FDR recognized the Soviet Union and later in the United States), and his views and analyses of developments in Europe at the most crucial time of the last few hundred years.

I strongly recommend the book - where else can you read of the witness to so much - by someone who writes so well - and ponder his analyses and formulation of recommendations that would be taken up and form the basis for America's Cold War policy?
The first half was just amazingly well written, and surprisingly interesting--because the title and photo, the subject and the themes (politics and history in Eastern Europe and Russia, bio of a career foreign service man) didn't sound that exciting. But it won a Pulitzer and got high marks. I found the second half much less enthralling, got into politics and less about his adventures.
love it !
A beautifully written and fascinating self-depiction of one the most consequential thinker and diplomat of the 20th Century. I loved swimming through the prose.
well written with style for philosophy as much as foreign affairs
The condition of this out-of-print book was just fine...as stated by the seller. The book itself is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the history of US-Russian relations in the time period. As a memoir, it certainly isn't impartial history, nor does it tell the complete tale. However, the reader can see the events through the eyes of a very intelligent, thoughtful and often outspoken participant. A fine work.
George F. Kennan has had more influence over American foreign policy than anyone else I know of. I found this set of his memoirs even more interesting than the second book of memoirs he wrote later. Kennan was a remarkable man who was once the American Ambassador to both Russia and Germany before, after, and during the two world wars. His influence on our foreign policy towards Russia was immense, and in this book he speaks of his meetings with Joseph Stalin and many other national leaders. Kennan is probably best know as the designer of the containment doctrine, an plan for halting the advances of the Soviet union after World War II that worked. Go through history with him by reading this amazing book.