Grace Kennan Warnecke’s memoir, Daughter of the Cold War, is about a life lived on the edge of history. Daughter of George F. Kennan, one of the most influential diplomats of the 20th Century, as well as wife of the scion of a newspaper dynasty and mother of the youngest owner of a major league baseball team, she eventually found her way out from under the shadows of others to forge a dynamic career of her own. Born in Latvia, Warnecke lived in seven countries and spoke five languages before the age of twelve. As a child, she witnessed Hitler’s march into Prague, attended a Soviet school during World War II, and sailed the seas with her father. In a multi-faceted career, she worked as a professional photographer, television producer, and book editor and critic. Eventually, like her father, she became a Russian specialist, but of a very different kind. She accompanied Ted Kennedy and his family to Russia, escorted Joan Baez to Moscow to meet with dissident Andrei Sakharov, and hosted Josef Stalin’s daughter on the family farm after Svetlana defected to the United States. While running her own consulting company in Russia, she witnessed the breakup of the Soviet Union, and later became director of a women’s economic empowerment project in a newly independent Ukraine. Daughter of the Cold War is a tale of these adventures and much more. It is a compelling memoir of Warnecke’s path through life – a whirlwind journey of survival, risk, and self-discovery through a kaleidoscope of countries, historic events, and fascinating people.
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