From Publishers Weekly
An adviser to George Bush on arms control, Nitze has been a Washington policymaker since the Roosevelt administration, holding high positions in the defense, navy and state departments under various presidents. This direct participant in history interrogated captured Nazi war-criminal Albert Speer, witnessed the devastation in Nagasaki shortly after the atom bomb was dropped, helped shape Europe's postwar recovery plan, took part in the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam imbroglio, and was a key negotiator in the SALT and INF arms-control talks. Over a third of this straightforward, somewhat bland memoir, written with freelancers Rearden and Smith, deals with arms negotiations. The sections that spotlight historic dramas are more interesting, sprinkled with frank close-ups of Dean Acheson, Truman, Eisenhower, MacArthur, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Kissinger, Gorbachev, others.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Nitze is one of the last "founding fathers" of U.S. nuclear and Cold War diplomacy. His prolific career spanned events from World War II and the Marshall Plan recovery to President Reagan's Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Star Wars debate. His memoirs are the recollections of a prudent and cautious public servant, who consistently sought to place national strength at the service of peace. This important historic account belongs with other works by foreign policy masters, including Dean Acheson's Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (Norton, 1987) and George F. Kennan's Sketches from a Life ( LJ 6/1/89). After 40 years as an adviser to Presidents and as a top negotiator, Nitze concludes that the prospects for peace and freedom have improved, and he welcomes the changed relation with the Soviets. This book belongs in any collection with holdings in contemporary history and strategic affairs.
- Ray Walser, U.S. Military Acad., West Point,
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Ray Walser, U.S. Military Acad., West Point,
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
