Kyle Harrison
to-read
Our Man
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
- Author
- George Packer
- Published
- 2019
- Pages
- 664
- Recommended
- Once
Why it’s on the list: Packer’s life of Richard Holbrooke — Vietnam, Bosnia, Afghanistan — used as a vehicle for the rise and exhaustion of American liberal interventionism, told by someone with the diaries.
Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @SpencrGreenberg’s question, “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world (or how humanity or society) really works?” (June 5, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet). It was listed there as “Our Man — George Packer”.
Connections
- Foreign Policy — The subject the life is a vehicle for.
- Biography — The form.
- Institutions — The State Department Holbrooke fought his whole career.
- A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.