It's been a long time since I've read a biography. George F. Kennan, by Gaddis, is the story of the man who was instrumental in formulating America's containment policy towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Kennan's famous "long telegram" profoundly impacted the way Americans viewed Soviet Russia, and his work in the years to come, which took on a variety of forms (ambassador, professor, historian, lecturer, and more), influenced hundreds of high-ranking officials, to include several Presidents.
Kennan was a brilliant individual, but also extremely self-centered (aren't we all). His insights were not always correct, or even consistent with himself- he appeared to oscillate quite a bit, almost acting as a balancing force when policy appeared to drift too far one way or another. He saw the ineptitude of many people and policies in the government and was tremendously pessimistic, even as the Cold War came to a close. He was extremely eloquent in his arguments, but didn't always have a good grasp of political realities. In short, he was human, with tremendous strengths and noticeable weaknesses.
The book was informative, certainly. It won a Pulitzer prize, so there is certainly an element of quality to it. That said, I was very happy to finish it. Part (or most?) of the reason was personal preference- I prefer overviews of history rather than in-depth examinations of one individual- and part of it was relative lack of interest in the subject matter (there's a reason I chose to major in engineering, and not political science). Parts were very dry, and I felt the 700 pages contained, perhaps, 200-300 pages worth of valuable content. But, that's the nature of a biography- you get a lot of good insight, and a lot you could do without (unless you're extremely interested in the individual).
Rating: B
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