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Robert L. Beisner
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Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War Hardcover – October 1, 2006

by Robert L. Beisner (Author)
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Dean Acheson was one of the most influential Secretaries of State in U.S. history, presiding over American foreign policy during a pivotal era--the decade after World War II when the American Century slipped into high gear. During his vastly influential career, Acheson spearheaded the greatest foreign policy achievements in modern times, ranging from the Marshall Plan to the establishment of NATO.

In this acclaimed biography, Robert L. Beisner paints an indelible portrait of one of the key figures of the last half-century. In a book filled with insight based on research in government archives, memoirs, letters, and diaries, Beisner illuminates Acheson's major triumphs, including the highly underrated achievement of converting West Germany and Japan from mortal enemies to prized allies, and does not shy away from examining his missteps. But underlying all his actions, Beisner shows, was a tough-minded determination to outmatch the strength of the Soviet bloc--indeed, to defeat the Soviet Union at every turn. The book also sheds light on Acheson's friendship with Truman--one, a bourbon-drinking mid-Westerner with a homespun disposition, the other, a mustachioed Connecticut dandy who preferred perfect martinis.

Over six foot tall, with steel blue, "merry, searching eyes" and a "wolfish" grin, Dean Acheson was an unforgettable character--intellectually brilliant, always debonair, and tough as tempered steel. This lustrous portrait of an immensely accomplished and colorful life is the epitome of the biographer's art.
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  1. Print length
    800 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2006
  5. Dimensions
    9.3 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780195045789
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0195045789
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Acheson (1893–1971) was a life-long Democrat who served four presidents, Harry Truman's flamboyant and sharp-tongued secretary of state is admired on the right as an architect of American Cold War foreign policy, most famously for the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Historian Beisner's exhaustive treatment of Acheson's long, influential career reveals the tangled roots of contemporary policy and political discourse—especially the purported links between the unilateral projection of American might and our national security—during and after WWII. A crucial and complex figure, Acheson was not the earliest "cold warrior," though later among the staunchest, and not easily reduced to left or right in the conflict's dissonant strategic and moral calculus. A deep wariness with regard to the atomic bomb, for instance, did not necessarily temper his involvement in developing U.S. nuclear arms policy, including deployment of the more powerful H-bomb. His early urging of engagement in Vietnam later gave way to counseling Johnson to end it. Chronicling rather than criticizing the assumptions undergirding the postwar period's rapidly evolving bipolar order, this thorough biography offers insight into perhaps one of the least understood fields of government action at the outset of a momentous era that's still, in many respects, very much underway. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Beisner's diplomatic history of Dean Acheson, President Harry Truman's secretary of state, is comprehensive yet not solely of scholarly interest. It sifts Acheson's record at the State Department and yields a positive assessment with a few caveats. Beisner questions Acheson's decisions during the Korean War, particularly in encouraging Truman to approve the military advance to the China-Korea border that ended in disaster. Explaining that Acheson was an Atlanticist who knew little about Asia, Beisner writes more approvingly about his role in establishing institutions such as NATO. His diplomatic strategies in reviving a prostrate Western Europe against an obstreperous Soviet Union form the bulk of the narrative. Aristocratic in appearance and accent, Acheson did not suffer fools gladly, whether Communists or congressmen. In addition to detailing his pungency, Beisner also discusses Acheson's attitude toward power and his loyalty to Truman. Significant cold-war historiography that merits the consideration of larger libraries. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0195045785
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 800 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780195045789
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195045789
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.3 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches

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Robert L. Beisner

Robert L. Beisner

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Robert L. Beisner is a former president of the Society for American Historians and emeritus professor of American history at American University in Washington, DC. A native of Nebraska, he took his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at the University of Chicago. His dissertation on the American anti-imperialist movement of 1898-1900 won the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians. As a book--Twelve Against Empire: The American Anti-Imperialists, 1898-1900--it won the John Dunning Prize from the American Historical Association. His book, From the Old Diplomacy to the New, 1865-1900, has been widely used in undergraduate and graduate courses in American diplomatic history since the first edition was published in 1975. His 2006 biography, Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War, won the Robert H. Ferrell Award from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the Douglas Dillon Award from the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Arthur Ross Silver Medal Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations. It was also the First Runner-Up for the Harry S. Truman Book Award from the Truman Presidential Library.

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Customers find the book provides a valuable history lesson with well-documented and thorough coverage of Dean Acheson. They describe it as an engaging read that offers valuable lessons worth remembering.

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Customers find the book's history lesson rewarding and worth remembering. They appreciate the well-written, well-documented, and thorough look at Dean Acheson.

"...To my surprise, this is an exceptionally well written book and offers many lessons to us today in terms of meshing diplomacy with military..." Read more

"Well written, well documented. Interesting historical narrative fuels an understanding of the policies, politics, and socio-economic old world order...." Read more

"A well formed telling of a complex figure." Read more

"I loved this book for its thorough look at the man Dean Acheson, & even more thorough discussion of the times he lived in, & his effect on the great..." Read more

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"...To my surprise, this is an exceptionally well written book and offers many lessons to us today in terms of meshing diplomacy with military..." Read more

"Well written, well documented. Interesting historical narrative fuels an understanding of the policies, politics, and socio-economic old world order...." Read more

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  • Russell Otter
    4.0 out of 5 stars Cold War background
    Reviewed in Canada on October 6, 2021
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    Well researched
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  • Peter van Nuijsenburg
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in Germany on July 11, 2021
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    Great book, in prime condition. Seller did a great job.
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  • john murphy
    5.0 out of 5 stars good stuff!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    for the student of the Cold War on a master strategist, good stuff!!
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