Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist

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Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist

The definitive biography of Henry Kissinger, based on unprecedented access to his private papers

No American statesman has been as revered or as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as â€œSuper Kâ€â€”the â€œindispensable manâ€ whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obamaâ€”he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every â€œtelconâ€ for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial two-volume biography, drawing not only on Kissingerâ€™s hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.

The first half of Kissingerâ€™s life is usually skimmed over as a quintessential tale of American ascent: the Jewish refugee from Hitlerâ€™s Germany who made it to the White House. But in this first of two volumes, Ferguson shows that what Kissinger achieved before his appointment as Richard Nixonâ€™s national security adviser was astonishing in its own right. Toiling as a teenager in a New York factory, he studied indefatigably at night. He was drafted into the U.S. infantry and saw action at the Battle of the Bulgeâ€”as well as the liberation of a concentration campâ€”but ended his army career interrogating Nazis. It was at Harvard that Kissinger found his vocation. Having immersed himself in the philosophy of Kant and the diplomacy of Metternich, he shot to celebrity by arguing for â€œlimited nuclear war.â€ Nelson Rockefeller hired him. Kennedy called him to Camelot. Yet Kissingerâ€™s rise was anything but irresistible. Dogged by press gaffes and disappointed by â€œRocky,â€ Kissinger seemed stuckâ€”until a trip to Vietnam changed everything.
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The Idealist is the story of one of the most important strategic thinkers America has ever produced. It is also a political Bildungsroman, explaining how â€œDr. Strangeloveâ€ ended up as consigliere to a politician he had always abhorred. Like Fergusonâ€™s classic two-volume history of the House of Rothschild, Kissinger sheds dazzling new light on an entire era. The essential account of an extraordinary life, it recasts the Cold War world.

Country	USA
Author	Niall Ferguson
Binding	Kindle Edition
EISBN	9780698195691
Format	Kindle eBook
Label	Penguin Books
Manufacturer	Penguin Books
NumberOfPages	1005
PublicationDate	2015-09-29
Publisher	Penguin Books
ReleaseDate	2015-09-29
Studio	Penguin Books

Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist

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