Zbig

Ed Luce's Zbig is not only the definitive biography of Zbigniew Brzezinski, a crucial figure in the history of the Cold War, but also a book with real insights into the nature of power - especially the ways in which intellectual valour and good faith can come into conflict with the ugly realities of the world. For anyone who wants to understand the history of America and the world, this is a useful and important book -- Anne Applebaum, author of AUTOCRACY, INC Zbig is a magnificent and highly readable chronicle of the life and times of one of the most important American strategists of the 20th century, written with an appreciative eye for both the man and the politics of the time he helped to shape -- Francis Fukuyama, author of LIBERALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS A brilliant architect of the American Century, Zbigniew Brzezinski deserves a brilliant biography, and Ed Luce has given us just that: a sensitive, deeply researched and fair-minded portrait of a man who had a remarkable journey and has left America, and the world, the most significant of legacies -- Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Zbig is a brilliant study of an American statesman, a compelling biography of both a man and a moment, the beginning of the end of the Cold War. What Kissinger, his friend and rival, was to Republicans in the 1970s, Brzezinski was to the Democrats – a formidable intellect and advocate who saw the Soviet threat more clearly than most in the upper echelons of power in Washington. This is history that matters more than ever today, given the resurgent threat from Russia, powerfully rendered by the great Ed Luce -- Susan Glasser, co-author of THE MAN OF RAN WASHINGTON and THE DIVIDER This is the best book ever written about a national security advisor. It’s also by far the best biography on Brzezinski – a towering figure in American foreign policy -- David Rubenstein, author of THE HIGHEST CALLING Zbig is an astonishing biography that will change the way history looks at Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Cold War. Drawing on Brzezinski’s previously secret personal diaries, Luce shows the reader how this brilliant Polish-American foresaw the coming decline of the Soviet Union – and used every tool of American policy to make sure it happened. Luce explains how time after time Brzezinski got the big issues right – from Russia and China and the Middle East. But he’s also searingly honest about Brzezinski's flaws – his intellectual arrogance and sometimes ruthless ambition. Through Brzezinski's life, he was constantly compared to his émigré intellectual twin, Henry Kissinger. Readers of this book will likely conclude that Zbig was the true visionary -- David Ignatius, New York Times bestselling author