One of a select group of American foreign service officers to receive specialized training on the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and early 1930s, George Frost Kennan eventually became the American government's chief expert on Soviet affairs during the height of the Cold War.
Drawing upon a wealth of original research, David Mayers' fascinating life of George Kennan examines his high-level participation in foreign policy-making and interprets his political and philosophical development within a historical framework. Mayers presents an engaging and lucid account of Kennan's training; his...

Wars and Peace is a historical look at how Americans have tried to conceptualize peace during five national security crises: The Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Mayers examines the intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy since 1861 and analyzes the way that Americans, across the political spectrum and in times of conflict, have conceptualized the eras that would follow hostilities. Mayers looks at history in terms of a current problem: How should the United States fashion its policy in the post-Cold War world? What is striking about...

A look at the way Americans envision our relationships to other countries from the close of the Civil War until today.