His book BERLIN 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth (Putnam) was released May 10, 2011, and was a New York Times bestseller.

[1] Kempe spent nearly thirty years with the Wall Street Journal, where he covered the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the ascent and fall of Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia, the wars in Afghanistan and Lebanon, the American invasion of Panama, the reunification of Germany and the collapse of Soviet Communism.

[2][3] He won national and international prizes while serving in numerous management and reportorial capacities—editor, associate publisher, columnist and correspondent.

[3] As managing editor from 1992–1997, he created the Central European Economic Review and co-founded Convergence, a magazine on Europe's digital economy.

[4] For his work to strengthen the transatlantic partnership, he has been decorated by the presidents of Poland, Germany, and by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.