This is a truly great biography. Steel writes with Lippmannesque lucidity. He puts the details of Lippmann's personal life, personality, and intellectual development into the broad context of national and international events. Every page is compelling, but especially the material on the pre-1914 world which evokes bittersweet nostalgia, and the chapters on the Vietnam era, which cannot be read without anguish over Lippmann's and the nation's turmoil. (An extended review article by Harry C. McPherson, Jr. appeared in the Fall 1980 issue of Foreign Affairs).