If you don't recognise the name, you will know the outcomes of the events that he was instrumental in shaping. I first became aware of Zbigniew when US foreign policy became aligned with the Vatacan during the 1980 Gdansk shipyard strike - the story goes that with Russian armour outside the gates the strikers were done, until the Polish Pope JP II in a Friday address tells them that cause is just and in a few sentences reinvigorated the strikers and focused the world's media on mlyniska a small island on the Motlawa river in Gdansk where organised resistance to commist rule began and ultimately led to the collapse of communism in Poland and across Eastern Europe. The man responsible was also of Polish decent: Zbigniew Brzezinski- then President Carter's National Security Advisor a progressive free thinker; (the opposite of the deeply cynical Kissinger) he shaped the US strategy for foreign policy that is under reported, until now. Edward Luce's biography is an account of Brzezinski's life and a re-examination of the end of the cold war. If this era of postmodern history is of interest, this is a must read.