Worthen, Molly

PERSONAL:

Female. Education: Obtained degree from Yale University, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Houghton Mifflin Company, Trade Division, Adult Editorial, 8th Fl., 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116-3764.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Ellsworth Prize, Yale University; Schubart Prize; David C. DeForest/Townsend Premium Prize; Kingsley Fellowship.

WRITINGS:

The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Yale Daily News, Toledo Blade, Dallas Morning News, and Time.

SIDELIGHTS:

While a student at Yale University, Molly Worthen studied with Charles Hill, diplomat in residence and lecturer in international studies at Yale. Worthen was so impressed by Hill and his accomplishments that she decided to write a biography about him after she graduated. Hill served as executive assistant to George Shultz, secretary of state during the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s; wrote speeches for Henry Kissinger, secretary of state from 1973 to 1977; and was a special consultant on policy to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, secretary-general of theUnited Nations, from 1992 to 1996. Hill served in the U.S. Foreign Service in China during the Cultural Revolution, in Israel after the 1978 Camp David Accords, and in Saigon during the Vietnam War. After a life in politics, Hill began lecturing at Yale, offering seminars, most notably the Grand Strategy seminar, labeled as a training ground for conservative politicians.

Two years after graduating, Worthen published The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill. This biography covers the two lives of her former professor: Hill, the man, and Hill, the politician. Reviews for Worthen's first book were mixed. A critic in Kirkus Reviews called it an "engaging personal and political history, occasionally vitiated by simplistic and sophomoric interjections." A Publishers Weeklyreview commented on a large amount of "artificial melodrama" saying that "a more mature perspective might have done more justice to Hill's brilliance." Sarah Bramwell, writing in the National Review,praised the author, saying: "Worthen is an able writer, with a good sense for metaphor and a tangible zest for her subject. She strives mightily to convey the sense of her professor to the reader, and in many cases she succeeds."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2005, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill, p. 1316.

National Review, March 13, 2006, Sarah Bramwell, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost,p. 43.

New York Times, February 28, 2006, Michiko Kakutani, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost.

New York Times Book Review, April 9, 2006, Ross Douthat, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost, p. L31.

Publishers Weekly, September 12, 2005, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost, p. 52.

Reference and Research Book News, May, 2006, review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost.

ONLINE

Book Page,http://www.bookpage.com/(August 6, 2006), review of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost.