From Publishers Weekly Most college freshmen have one class that shatters their adolescent worldview forever; for Worthen， it was a history seminar at Yale taught by retired diplomat Charles Hill. By semester's end， her hero worship had become so intense that she spent every available moment until her 2004 graduation pursuing his life story. The biography reveals Hill as a typical Cold War intellectual， serving his government in China and the Middle East as well as in Washington; most notably， in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra affair he was accused of withholding evidence from the independent counsel. Worthen is much less upset by this possible misstep， however， than by her idol's emotional aloofness from his family. Worthen's youth doesn't serve her work， or her subject， well. She imbues Hill's life with artificial melodrama. She also muses constantly on her own shifting feelings toward "Charlie"—a matter of considerably less interest to readers than to herself—and expresses amazement that he isn't what she had thought. Finally， the reader is drowned in youthful banalities and occasionally naïveté (could anyone find it "alarming" that professors buy coffee at Starbucks just like anyone else?). A more mature perspective might have done more justice to Hill's brilliance. Copyright © Reed Business Information， a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Buffalo News : "Worthen is a beautiful writer， always clear and comprehensive....[her] work is nuanced， reasonable， and thoughtful." --Michael D. LanganThe San Francisco Chronicle : "The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost...is a laudable and illuminating achievement." --Trey PoppBoston Globe : "[A] subtle， penetrating， and completely absorbing portrait." --Daniel AkstCleveland Plain Dealer : "[A] portrait of a fascinating， deeply human man and a girl grown up." --Karen R. LongThe New York Times : "Fascinating...It is a story that often reads like a combination of Philip Roth's 'Ghost Writer' and A.S. Byatt's 'Possession.'" --Michiko Kakutani"This is one of the most artful biographies I've read....compelling...told with the language and sensitivity of a novelist." --John B. Judis， Senior Editor of The New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire and The Paradox of American Democracy"Engrossing...I highly recommend it." --Henry Kissinger"What a fascinating and compelling book!" --Walter Isaacson， author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life"History buffs will delight...Worthen [has] a good sense for metaphor and a tangible zest for her subject." --Sarah Bramwell， National Review See all Editorial Reviews