Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Political Philosophy.

• Position: Brief Article

George Kennan went to Moscow in 1933 as a member of the first official U.S. diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union, and subsequently served as U.S. ambassador there. In 1946, writing as "Mr. X," he set out the doctrine of "containment" that became the guiding principle of the Cold War. He headed the State Department's first Policy Planning Staff and advised Secretaries of State George Marshall and Dean Acheson. He has, in other words, a great deal to answer for. The dozen or so books he has written in the last four decades constitute a perpetually interesting history of and commentary on U.S. diplomacy from the viewpoint of a deeply conservative but also thoughtful and incorruptible observer. In Around the Cragged Hill, Kennan...