Synopses & Reviews
A brilliant new voiceand#151; lively and contrarianand#151;turns biography on its head in this remarkable story of a diplomat and his disciple.
As a college freshman, Molly Worthen wrote the words and#147;Charles Hill Is Godand#8221; on the inside cover of her history and politics notebook. Hill was her professor, a former diplomat and behind-the-scenes operator who shaped American foreign policy in his forty-year career as an adviser to Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali, among others. Hilland#8217;s Grand Strategy class (taught with John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy) developed a cult following at Yale, and Worthen soon found herself caught in his aura.
Weand#8217;ve all had a teacher, at one time or another, who showed us the world, clarified our fuzzy thinking, and made us grow up. At Yale, Hill was worldly-wise and never afraid to tell students how to think or what to do. For a generation adrift, he proved irresistibleand#151;sometimes dangerously soand#151;and Worthen was determined to get inside his head.
The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost is the story of Worthenand#8217;s quest and the man who fueled it. She began in his classroom, recording his every word in her spiral notebook, allowing him to shape her. Years later, as his biographer, she found that she was shaping him.
Surprisingly, Hill granted Worthen full access to his life, meticulously documented in over 25,000 pages of notes on everything from the Iran-Contra affair to the dissolution of his marriage. In the end, she was forced to reconcile the teacher she admired with the man she learned was brilliant, but fallible.She put Hilland#8217;s classroom lessons to the ultimate test: she applied them to his own life.
The result is a genre-busting bookand#151;one that charts the intricate relationship between biographer and subject, student and teacher, even as it illuminates a momentous period in American history. Psychologically astute and passionately written, it lays bare the joy as well as the heartache of coming to know someone you once revered.
Molly Worthen graduated in 2003 from Yale University, where she wrote a prize-winning newspaper column and conducted an ethnographic study of Russian Orthodox old believers in Alberta. She has also written for the Toledo Blade, the Dallas Morning News, and Time. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in American religious history at Yale. This is her first book.
Advance praise for The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost
and#147;What a fascinating and compelling book! In weaving the personal and professional tale of Charles Hill, a backstage diplomat who became a revered professor, Molly Worthen has pulled together some profound themes: how foreign policy really works, how inner lives play out on public stages, and the concept of and#145;grand strategyand#8217; as a way to understand international relations. But above all this is a very personal and poignant account of what itand#8217;s like to struggle to know someone you admire.and#8221; and#151; Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
and#147;Engrossing...I highly recommend it.and#8221; and#151; Henry Kissinger
and#147;This is one of the most artful biographies Iand#8217;ve read. Worthen takes the life of a relatively obscure but, as we learn, influential figure in American diplomacy, who upon retirement became a professor at Yale, where Worthen herself encountered him as a student. By interspersing her own experience of him as a teacher and mentor with his life story, she makes his and her story equally compelling. The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost is certainly a contribution to the history of foreign policy, but this book is, above all, the story of an American life, told with language and sensitivity of a novelist, that stands on its own regardless of its subjectand#8217;s ultimate importance. I had trouble putting it down.and#8221; and#151; John Judis, author of The Folly of Empire
Review
"[A] portrait of a fascinating, deeply human man and a girl grown up." --Karen R. Long
Review
"Engrossing...I highly recommend it." --Henry Kissinger
Review
"What a fascinating and compelling book!" --Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Review
"The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost...is a laudable and illuminating achievement." --Trey Popp
Review
"Worthen is a beautiful writer, always clear and comprehensive....[her] work is nuanced, reasonable, and thoughtful." --Michael D. Langan
Review
"Fascinating...It is a story that often reads like a combination of Philip Roth's 'Ghost Writer' and A.S. Byatt's 'Possession.'" --Michiko Kakutani
Review
"This is one of the most artful biographies I've read....compelling...told with the language and sensitivity of a novelist." --John B. Judis, Senior Editor of The New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire and The Paradox of American Democracy
"Engrossing...I highly recommend it." --Henry Kissinger
"What a fascinating and compelling book!" --Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
"Worthen deftly describes the impact that [Charles Hill] had on U.S. foreign policy. . .[with] skill, psychological insight and compassion." --Anne Bartlett Bookpage
"Worthen is a beautiful writer, always clear and comprehensive....[her] work is nuanced, reasonable, and thoughtful." --Michael D. Langan Buffalo News
"The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost...is a laudable and illuminating achievement." --Trey Popp The San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] subtle, penetrating, and completely absorbing portrait." --Daniel Akst Boston Globe
"[A] portrait of a fascinating, deeply human man and a girl grown up." --Karen R. Long Cleveland Plain Dealer
"History buffs will delight...Worthen [has] a good sense for metaphor and a tangible zest for her subject." --Sarah Bramwell, National Review
"Fascinating...It is a story that often reads like a combination of Philip Roth's 'Ghost Writer' and A.S. Byatt's 'Possession.'" --Michiko Kakutani The New York Times
"Strangely passionate...an oddly touching and rewarding read." --Christopher Willcox New York Sun
Synopsis
As a college freshman, Molly Worthen wrote the words "Charles
Hill is God" on the inside cover of her History and Politics notebook.
Hill was her professor, a former diplomat and behind-the-scenes
operator who shaped foreign policy in his forty-year career as an adviser
to Kissinger, Shultz, and Boutros-Ghali, among others. Hill's Grand
Strategy class (taught with John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy)
developed a cult following at Yale, and Worthen soon found herself
caught in his aura. Feeling the seductive pull of a guru—someone who
reduces a messy world to its essence, offering a beguiling set of principles
to live by—she was determined to get inside Hill's head.
Surprisingly, Hill granted Worthen full access to his life, meticulously
documented in over 25,000 pages of notes on everything from
Iran-contra to the dissolution of his marriage. And Worthen in turn
applied all the lessons Hill taught her to the study and understanding of
him. In the end, she was forced to reconcile Hill's godlike presence
with the person she came to realize was brilliant but fallible. The result
is a genre-busting book—one that charts the intricate relationship
between biographer and subject, student and teacher, even as it illuminates
a momentous period in American history. Psychologically astute
and masterfully written, it lays bare the joy as well as the heartache of
coming to know someone you once revered. Even more profoundly, it
portrays a young woman's search to find her own voice as she and her
entire generation struggle to figure out how the world really works.
Synopsis
Psychologically astute and passionately written, Molly Worthenand#8217;s remarkable debut charts the intricate relationship between student and teacher, biographer and subject. As a Yale freshman, Worthen found herself deeply fascinated by worldly-wise professor Charles Hill, a former diplomat who had shaped American foreign policy in his forty-year career as an adviser to Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali, among others. Hill was never afraid to tell students how to think or what to do, and the Grand Strategy seminar he co-taught had developed a cult following.
The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost is at once the biography of a political insider and the story of how its author evolved as she wrote it. In a moving, highly original work, Worthen conveys the joy and the heartache of uncovering the human being behind oneand#8217;s idol.
About the Author
MOLLY WORTHEN graduated from Yale University in 2003. She received the Ellsworth Prize for most distinguished senior essay in the humanities, the Schubart Prize for best original published work, the David C. DeForest/ Townsend Premium Prize for oration, and the Kingsley Fellowship for the study of Russian Orthodox Old Believers in Alberta. She has written for the Yale Daily News, the Toledo Blade, the Dallas Morning News, and Time. Her interests include cartoon illustration, fly fishing, and improvisational comedy. She is also a national championship debater. This is her first book.