Luke A. Nichter is professor of history at Texas A&M University-Central Texas. He coedited (with Douglas Brinkley) the New York Times bestselling book The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972.
Equal parts statesman and public servant, Lodge sacrificed personal ambition for the good of his country. The Last Brahmin is a worthy endeavor to honor a distinguished figure. -Henry A. Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State Combining vast research with a stylish narrative, Luke Nichter reminds us why Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., his life synonymous with the American Century, remains the best in the best and the brightest. -Richard Norton Smith, author of On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller 'A nineteenth-century figure dropped into the high-level politics of the more visceral twentieth century.' Luke Nichter in his meticulously researched biography not only gets Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. right. He also brilliantly captures the mismatch between Lodge's patrician persona and the low morass-namely America's Vietnam War-into which he sank. A scholarly yet highly readable tour de force. -Niall Ferguson, author of Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist. Luke Nichter, one of America's leading young historians, restores Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. to his central place in mid-20th-century U.S. history, in shaping both America's constructive internationalism and its tragic intervention in Vietnam. The Last Brahmin is an impressive achievement. -Thomas A. Schwartz, author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography