Paul Nitze, his biographer James Graham Wilson observes, “crafted a new type of career: national security professional.” For half a century, Nitze served in high roles in American government. His career spanned nearly every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, encompassing the entirety of the Cold War. Highly respected, indeed sometimes feared, by his peers, Nitze never quite achieved the fame of many of his contemporaries. Wilson’s new biography of Nitze, America’s Cold Warrior, helps explain why.