George Kennan for Our Time

This book examines the work and thought of the most distinguished American diplomat of the twentieth century and extracts lessons for today. In his writings and lectures, George Kennan outlined the proper conduct of foreign policy and issued warnings to an American society on the edge of the abyss. The book identifies the principles Kennan applied to US relations with Russia and Eastern Europe, and to the Far and Near East. The book takes particular note of Kennan's role in formulating postwar policy in Japan, the measured response to North Korea's invasion of South Korea, and opposition to the war in Vietnam. The book also considers Kennan's strong criticisms of his own country, its egalitarianism, unrestricted immigration, and multiple addictions. It cites Kennan's call for a greater closeness to nature, a revival of religious faith, and a return to the representative government established by the Founding Fathers. The book describes the often-disastrous results of rejecting Kennan's counsel, and the dangers, international and national, posed by an ongoing failure to draw upon his wisdom. In view of America's foreign policy disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world, Kennan's realist approach provides important lessons for our current age.