“Zbig,” a book review

I just finished reading “Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet” by Edward Luce. Brzezinski was born in Poland between WWI and WWII, but he spent most of his life in North America, first in Canada and then in the US, where he eventually became a citizen. He was very successful as a scholar and academic, but the lure of practicing international politics drew him into government. Much of this book is taken up with the Carter years. Brzezinski was Carter’s national security advisor, and the two men held a life-long admiration for one another. With the Cold War, the decline of the Soviet Union, the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the Iranian revolution, there was no shortage of challenges. 

The first presidential election I voted in was in 1976 when I was in college. While Watergate and the Vietnam war drove my personal interest in American politics, my formal training in world history and government was weak. So, while I was aware Brzenzinski, I mostly saw him as a hawk. Indeed, he supported the Vietnam war (repenting years later) and was highly critical of the Soviet Union, as many or most Poles were. He was also critical and demeaning towards college war protesters, who he saw as naïve and privileged. To the extent I thought of him at all, it was as a somewhat scornful conservative. This biography gave me a much better insight into the man and his beliefs. He opposed the US invasion and military occupation in Iraq and advised that the US should only be in Afghanistan long enough to evict bin Laden and al Qaeda. Sadly, his advice on both adventures was ignored.

Brzezinski always believed the Bolshevik project was doomed, not because of Marxist economics but because it was a polyglot empire ruled by Russia in which Russians were only about half the population. His attitude was that the US should do everything to hasten the collapse of the USSR. In the middle east, Brzezinski worked assiduously with Carter to bring Menachem Begin, a fellow Pole, to the negotiating table with Anwar Sedat. Carter pointed out that Brzezinski was “just like Begin,” which Brzezinski took as a complement.

Brzezinski was famously abrasive. He eschewed the oleaginous congeniality of his contemporary Henry Kissinger; if Zbig disagreed with you, you knew it. And he avoided gladhanding social functions and ostentation in general. He was a devoted if critical parent to his three accomplished children. As a professor, he was a harsh grader but inspired loyalty in his students (among them, Madeleine Albright).

In retirement, Brzezinski became darkly concerned about revanchism in Russia. Putin’s efforts to reassemble the Russian Empire show Brzezinski’s gift of prophecy undimmed in his twilight years.

This is a sympathetic but not uncritical biography. There are plenty of anecdotes that give insight into both Brzezinski’s prescience and foibles. The writing is deft and engaging.

 

I read this book on the recommendation of my friend Dr. Bruce Cochrane, who shares my interests in history and politics. I’m glad I did.