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 This is the best book ever written about a national security advisor. Its also by far the best biography on Brzezinski a towering figure in American foreign policy -- David Rubenstein, author of THE HIGHEST CALLING With Zbig, Edward Luce, one of the sharpest political pens of our day, has shown himself to be, in addition, a biographer of genius -- William Dalrymple, bestselling author of THE GOLDEN ROAD One of the great US strategists of the Cold War and its aftermath. He proved prescient in his fear that the US and Europe would squander the opportunity presented by the fall of communism to build a new world order. In Vladimir Putin, he recognised the Wests Nemesis earlier than almost anyone else. Ed Luces meticulous and engaging biography is beautifully balanced. He leaves you in no doubt how desperately we lack the new generation of geopolitical strategic thinkers who can boast Zbigs acuity and prescience -- Misha Glenny, author of McMAFIA 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 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 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 WHO RAN WASHINGTON and THE DIVIDER Zbig is an astonishing biography that will change the way history looks at Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Cold War. Drawing on Brzezinskis 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 hes 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 A towering achievement. A book which vividly captures the life of one the worlds foreign policy titans of the last 60 years. Founded on deep scholarship, yet so accessible and readable from the very beginning that it feels more like a historical detective story. Luce meticulously records how over decades Brzezinski refused to go along with the conventions of Washingtons political salons and how his granite hard determination forged a strategic vision of Americas challenge to authoritarianism around the world and principally the Soviet Union -- Rageh Omaar Edward Luce has written an impressive account of Brzezinskis life in vivid colours, having had access to the man himself in life and his diaries and papers since his death. No biography of Brzezinski is likely to surpass this one in empathy A long but enthralling biography -- Robert Service * Literary Review * Luces Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski ... is a highly readable reminder of how US and global politics looked and felt before the cold war ended. Brzezinski is portrayed vividly, warts and all. Deeply and meticulously researched, Zbig lays out its subjects ascent, the tumult of the Carter years and what followed -- Lloyd Green * Guardian *
