Review
"The Thompsons' biography of their father, The Kremlinologist, is extraordinary--it is a solid scholarly analysis that provides cogent insights into Thompson's life and career and intothe Cold War more generally."
(Mark Kramer, Editor in Chief, Harvard Journal of Cold War Studies)
."Neither Jenny nor Sherry Thompson, his daughters, is a professional historian, but they have closely researched official records and secondary sources and interviewed experts and eye witnesses, and they draw on personal anecdotes that illuminate the family life of this formidable diplomat. The result is a readable portrait of a man whose behind the scenes role in major events is easy to overlook."(Bertrand Patenaude, Wall Street Journal)."Combining a charming family memoir with meticulous diplomatic history, Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson's daughters' wonderful account illuminates everything from their adventures gowning up in the Moscow embassy, to Stalin's and Khrushchev's relations with presidents from Roosevelt to Johnson to the Cold War's crises in Berlin, Cuba and Vietnam."(William Taubman, author Khrushchev: The Man and His Era)
"Neither Jenny nor Sherry Thompson, his daughters, is a professional historian, but they have closely researched official records and secondary sources and interviewed experts and eyewitnesses, and they draw on personal anecdotes that illuminate the family life of this formidable diplomat. The result is a readable portrait of a man whose behind-the-scenes role in major events is easy to overlook."
(Bertrand Patenaude, Wall Street Journal)
"Llewellyn Thompson served eight U.S. presidents as a diplomat, including two stints as U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. This rigorously documented book by his two daughters recounts his four decades as a Foreign Service officer... a valuable addition to the history of the first half of the Cold War, as well as a compelling biography of their father."
(Robert Legvold Foreign Affairs)
"By telling the detailed personal story of Ambassador Llewellyn E Thompson, the most brilliant American master of negotiation and compromise, The Kremlinologist will help diplomats deal successfully with future crises. Highly recommended."
(Sergei N. Khrushchev, author of Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower)
"A wonderful achievement; with every page, my appreciation grew. The authors succeed in commemorating the role of their father, Llewellyn Thompson, an unsung hero of the Cold War, while going beyond a simplistic portrayal of American motives and decision making in the longest confrontation of the twentieth century. Meticulously researched and infused with empathy for both sides, The Kremlinologist is a valuable contribution to Cold War scholarship."
(Vladislav M. Zubok, author of A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev)
"A remarkable, insightful picture of Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson as a person and of his role in the conduct of American diplomacy. Well researched and beautifully written, The Kremlinologist will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in foreign policy, the work of diplomats, and the history of the Cold War."
(Jack F. Matlock Jr., former US Ambassador to the USSR, author of Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended)
"Combining a charming family memoir with meticulous diplomatic history, Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson's daughters' wonderful account illuminates everything from their adventures growing up in the Moscow embassy, to Stalin's and Khrushchev's relations with presidents from Roosevelt to Johnson, to the Cold War's main crises in Berlin, Cuba, and Vietnam."
(William Taubman, author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era)
"Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, The Kremlinologist is an analytically piercing biography of America's longest serving and most influential Soviet expert, Ambassador Llewellyn E Thompson. Both an intimate portrait and an insider's account of life in Moscow during the Cold War, it reveals new and fascinating details about the many US-Soviet crises that Thompson helped to resolve during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations."
(Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer)
"In The Kremlinologist, Jenny and Sherry Thompson's masterful biography of the legendary Ambassador Llwellyn Thompson, his daughters resurrect a bygone―and sorely missed―era of American diplomacy. Exercising archival and anthropological diligence, no archive has gone unvisited, no eyewitness has not been interviewed. This book will find its deserved place as an exemplary addition to the history of twentieth-century American diplomacy."
(Alex Beam, author of The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship)
"Ambassador Thompson would have been proud of the skill, thoroughness and evenhandedness with which his daughters compiled this biography."
(Jonathan B. Rickert, Retired Senior Foreign Service Officer The Foreign Service Journal)
"In vigorous prose, Thompson's daughters Jenny and Sherry Thompson document his life as an accomplished career diplomat. They describe how Thompson joined the Foreign Service both to feed his desire for adventure and from a deep sense of duty."
(The Foreign Service Journal, "In Their Own Write" Annual Feature)
"This magnificent book, handsomely produced by the publisher, is a pleasure to read. Jenny Thompson and Sherry Thompson have skillfully interwoven memories from their childhood experiences in Russia, their mother's unpublished memoirs, other family papers, interviews with American diplomats, extensive research in published and unpublished documents, and wide range of scholarly studies to create a thorough and insightful examination of the long diplomatic career of their extraordinarily discreet and self-effacing father."
(David S. Foglesong, Rutgers University H-Net Reviews)
Review
In The Kremlinologist, Jenny and Sherry Thompson's masterful biography of the legendary Ambassador Llwellyn Thompson, his daughters resurrect a bygone―and sorely missed―era of American diplomacy. Exercising archival and anthropological diligence, no archive has gone unvisited, no eyewitness has not been interviewed. This book will find its deserved place as an exemplary addition to the history of twentieth-century American diplomacy.
-- Alex Beam Book Description
An Owl in a Hawk’s World: Top diplomat Llewellyn E Thompson was everywhere the Cold War was.
From the Back Cover
"By telling the detailed personal story of Ambassador Llewellyn E Thompson, the most brilliant American master of negotiation and compromise, The Kremlinologist will help diplomats deal successfully with future crises. Highly Recommended." Sergei N. Khrushchev, Author of Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower"A remarkable, insightful picture of Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson as a person and of his role in the conduct of American Diplomacy. Well researched and beautifully written." Jack F. Matlock, Jr., former US Ambassador to the USSR, author of Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended."Jenny and Sherry Thompson's masterful biography of their father, the legendary Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson, resurrects a bygone -- and sorely missed -- era of American diplomacy." Alex Beam, author of The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship
About the Author
Jenny Thompson
Sherry Thompson
