Mr. Hyland, now editor of Foreign Affairs, served under Henry Kissinger, whom he admires, as principal Soviet analyst in the National Security Council and State Department. This lucid memoir of the years 1969-1977, with reflections on the period since, is an important source for recent history. One of his interesting conclusions: "If the Vietnam war was criminal, it was not because of the way it was conducted but because it led to the nearly disastrous neglect of America's power position relative to the Soviet Union."