Kennan and the Art of Foreign Policy

I take issue with the above editorial review of Kennan and the Art of Foreign Policy. This is not an anti-Kennan polemic. Rather, two sentences into his Preface, Prof. Stephanson writes "he was a great analyst and policymaker, one of the very few this country has produced in foreign affairs, perhaps the finest since John Quincy Adams." I do agree that the book is theory-laden, but its an academic work, not a popular history. It is thoroughly researched, well-reasoned, and, as my title suggests, is quite good at making one question his or her assumptions. His analysis of Kennan's Long Telegram is quite good, and his criticisms of contradictory strains of Kennan's thinking is quite well-argued. His chapter "The Importance of Being Realistic" is perhaps the best I've read discussing Kennan's rather non-mainstream thoughts on American diplomacy. It is an important part of the literature on Kennan. If you want a more traditioanl take on his career, I would suggest reading, in addition to this book, Miscamble's Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, or Mayer's Kennan and the Dilemmas of U.S. Foreign Policy.