Written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Center for
International Affairs, Atkinson’s history of the Center’s first
twenty-five years traces the institutional and intellectual development
of a research center that, decades later, continues to facilitate
innovative scholarship. He explores the connection between knowledge
and politics, beginning with the Center’s confident first
decade—distinguished by groundbreaking research and access to
influential policy makers in Washington—and concludes with the second
decade, which found the CFIA embroiled in the turbulence of Vietnam-era
student protests.
Digging deep into unpublished material in the Harvard,
MIT, and Kennedy Library archives, the book is punctuated with personal
interviews with influential CFIA affiliates. Atkinson describes the
relationship between
foreign policy and scholarship during the cold war and documents the
maturation of a remarkable academic institution. Notwithstanding
Harvard’s initial reticence, the CFIA has endured for half a century
and ultimately has grown into the largest international affairs
research center in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
This book was published to coincide with the celebration of the Center for International Affairs 50th anniversary.