Sketches from a Life

New York: Pantheon Books, 1989. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. Trygve Skramstad (Jacket photo). Sewn binding. Paper over boards. xiv, 365, [3] pages. Occasional footnotes. Some edge soiling. DJ has some wear and soiling. Rare with inscription dated by Kennan on fep. Inscription reads For Schuyler Chapin in appreciation for valued friendship and generous support George Kennan Princeton May, 1989. Taped inside the front cover is a postcard from Norway with a handwritten and signed note from George K. Laid in is a second postcard from Norway with a handwritten and signed note from George K. Also laid in is a Pantheon press release on the book. George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904- March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He was also a core member of the group known as "The Wise Men". His writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of "containing" the Soviet Union. His "Long Telegram" from Moscow in 1946 argued that the Soviet regime was inherently expansionist and that its influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States. Kennan played a leading role in the development of definitive Cold War programs, notably the Marshall Plan. Some of Kennan's proposals were discounted by the Truman administration and Kennan's influence was marginalized, particularly after Dean Acheson was appointed secretary of state in 1949. In 1950, Kennan left the Department of State except for two brief ambassadorial stints in Moscow and Yugoslavia and became a leading realist critic of U.S. foreign policy. Schuyler Garrison Chapin (February 13, 1923 - March 7, 2009) was a General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, and later Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City during the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He famously noted of his work, that: "There is nothing simple in the world of the arts" (New York Times, 1995). Chapin was a ninth generation descendant of Captain Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628-1683), who settled in New Netherland around 1650. He became a pilot during World War II. By 1953, he had become Jascha Heifetz's tour manager. Around this time, he also befriended Leonard Bernstein, several of whose live recordings, including the Grammy award-winning Beethoven's Birthday (1970), Chapin produced. He became vice president of Steinway & Sons before becoming the cultural affairs commissioner of New York City from 1994 to 2001. The content of this book was written originally as a series of entries in a travel diary and now considered one of the most important memoirs of our time, Sketches from a Life is George F. Kennan's peerless, impressionistic record of his experiences with twentieth-century history. Beginning with his first foreign service post in 1927 and ending seven decades later, Kennan's account is rich with the insight of a major historical participant. Whether relating the perils of Hitler's Germany or revisiting Kennan's days as ambassador to the Soviet Union, Sketches from a Life is as riveting as great literature, and one of the most invaluable documents of our time. Beginning with his first foreign service post in 1927 and ending seven decades later, Kennan's account is rich with the insight of a major historical participant. Whether relating the perils of Hitler's Germany or revisiting Kennan's days as ambassador to the Soviet Union, Sketches from a Life is as riveting as great literature, and one of the most invaluable documents of our time.