Speaking Truth to Power

My fourth book of 2011, and my first major achievement, is "Recent American Foreign Policy:  Conflicting Interpretations" by Lawrence S. Kaplan of Kent State.  A college-level textbook dating back to 1968, it covers US policy decisions from 1945 to roughly 1965, through the medium of lengthy contemporary documentation:  excerpts from treaties, presidential and other administration figure speeches, Congressional testimony, articles from the more scholarly press.  Most of the great figures of the day are represented:  Beard, Kennan, Lippmann, Taft, and the full gamut of political names.  As a primer on the nuts and bolts of a generation of Cold war decision-making, the book is superb.

Now I'm ready for Kissinger's "Diplomacy".