Was there more to Cabot Lodge, Jr. than his ambassadorship to South Vietnam? There was a lot more, including his ambassadorship to the United Nations. Squarely rooted in archival research, Sean Brennan's study of Lodge and his predecessor, Warren Austin, is well written while the chapters move smoothly. The book fleshes out significant challenges that they faced during a pivotal period of the Cold War. During the fifteen years that Austin and Lodge spent in the UN, they helped the U.S. navigate a series of international crises while educating the American public on the UN. Notably, they helped to ensure that the U.S. would not fall back to isolationism, which was still advocated by some members of their own political party. Brennan also draws comparisons between Austin's and Lodge's service under different White House administrations, the different stages of their careers, and the trajectories of their political careers. I warmly recommend this book to scholars and readers interested in U.S. diplomacy, Cold War history, and the history of the UN.
