Download PDF Kissinger on Kissinger Reflections on Diplomacy Grand Strategy and Leadership Audible Audio Edition Winston Lord Henry Kissinger introduction Nicholas Hormann Macmillan Audio Books
Download As PDF : Kissinger on Kissinger Reflections on Diplomacy Grand Strategy and Leadership Audible Audio Edition Winston Lord Henry Kissinger introduction Nicholas Hormann Macmillan Audio Books
In a series of riveting interviews, America's senior statesman discusses the challenges of directing foreign policy during times of great global tension. Â
As national security advisor to Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger transformed America's approach to diplomacy with China, the USSR, Vietnam, and the Middle East, laying the foundations for geopolitics as we know them today. Â
Nearly 50 years later, escalating tensions between the US, China, and Russia are threatening a swift return to the same diplomatic game of tug-of-war that Kissinger played so masterfully. Kissinger on Kissinger is a series of faithfully transcribed interviews conducted by the elder statesman's longtime associate Winston Lord that captures Kissinger's thoughts on the specific challenges that he faced during his tenure as NSA, his general advice on leadership and international relations, and stunning portraits of the larger-than-life world leaders of the era. The result is a frank and well-informed overview of US foreign policy in the first half of the '70s - essential listening for anyone hoping to understand tomorrow's global challenges.
Download PDF Kissinger on Kissinger Reflections on Diplomacy Grand Strategy and Leadership Audible Audio Edition Winston Lord Henry Kissinger introduction Nicholas Hormann Macmillan Audio Books
"This is Henry Kissinger's only oral history, and as he is now in his 90s, this may be his final word on a number of topics. This short book is a transcript of sorts, interview format by Kissinger's longtime assistant Winston Lord and foreign policy expert K. T. McFarland. It's somewhat selective in that it only touches on some major events in his career in the Nixon/Ford administration. Nonetheless, the reader doesn't have to be a fan of Kissinger -- I'm not -- to find it of interest as a perspective on a stormy period in U.S. history. It's also valuable as a first-person, if subjective, account by a key figure of that period.
After a review of his perspectives on statesmanship and his arrival in the Nixon White House, Kissinger focuses on several major events: the opening of relations with China and the 1972 summit with Mao Zedong; the subsequent detente with Russia and the summit with Brezhnev; the 1972-73 armistice with Vietnam; the efforts to mediate the 1973 Middle East conflict. We get some insights into the effects that the Vietnam War -- coming to a climax with the 1972 offensive -- would have on the delicate negotiations with China and the USSR, and China's and Russia's effect on North Vietnam. We get some insights on Nixon's methods and objectives on national strategy, fairly useful given that Nixon, even by Kissinger's account, was a reclusive man.
Kissinger does claim that Nixon didn't interfere with the Vietnam peace effort -- that controversy to the contrary -- but that the other side had been insisting all along, as a precondition for peace talks, that the U.S. withdraw and that it remove the Saigon government. In his telling, the breakthrough in the 1972 talks came with the other side relented on the second point and discuss withdrawal as part of the peace accord. For whatever it's worth, it's the version he wanted to put in the historical record.
We get some personal testimony, notably his evaluations of Nixon and Zhou Enlai, and a few anecdotes, such as Brezhnev's taking Nixon off alone to Brezhnev's dacha during the Moscow talks, to the chagrin of Nixon's security and entourage. We get a point-by-point account of the trips and sub rosa talks toward the China summit. He also talks about the worry, at the time, that Nixon and Kissinger had from 1969-1972 about a possible Soviet attack on China, apparently enough to motivate them to prepare the two summits.
In all, an interesting if subjective contribution to history, by a major player in those times."
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Kissinger on Kissinger Reflections on Diplomacy Grand Strategy and Leadership Audible Audio Edition Winston Lord Henry Kissinger introduction Nicholas Hormann Macmillan Audio Books Reviews :
Kissinger on Kissinger Reflections on Diplomacy Grand Strategy and Leadership Audible Audio Edition Winston Lord Henry Kissinger introduction Nicholas Hormann Macmillan Audio Books Reviews
- Henry Kissinger is one of the most interesting, most consequential, and most contentious figures in post-World War Two world history. He has been lauded by many for his negotiating skills, and condemned by foes for his role in Nixon administration. Most know him through the simple caricatures portrayed in the press- something he shares responsibility for, given his penchant for publicity. But the real Kissinger is a complex man, most of whose work has taken place far from the public eye.
Kissinger came to America as a teenaged refugee from Hitler’s Germany, returning just five years after as a draftee in the US Army. His skill and intelligence were recognized when he, as a private, organized the administration of a captured German town in just five days, and he was transferred to an intelligence unit where he was part of a team tracking down war criminals. After the war he entered university, with the encouragement and assistance of his commanding officer, and he quickly made a name for himself in the area of international affairs. In 1968 Richard Nixon appointed Kissinger to be his National Security advisor.
Most of the dialogues in this slim (136 pages) book are concerned with Kissinger’s and Nixon’s deliberations and decisions during that time. While both Nixon and Kissinger have written extensively about the events of that era, here Kissinger dives into greater deal about individual decision, and how they played a part in the overall strategy and world view of that administration. There’s less of the self-aggrandizement seen in previous Kissinger books, and a good deal more introspection, as in his description of the visit he and Nixon paid to Eisenhower after the 1968 election. Kissinger at the time shared, he says, the public perception of Eisenhower as a shallow man, yet he was struck by the ex-president’s sharp political judgements and his advice on the administration and organization of the executive branch.
There are details here and deep discussions of all the major geopolitical events of the Nixon years- Vietnam, China, Mideast conflicts, and OPEC. In each, Kissinger discusses in depth how decisions were made and why, as well as how they fit into the global strategy of the Nixon administration and Kissinger and Nixon’s own conceptions of displomacy and leadership. This is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the events of that era. - For the many fans of Kissinger (and of course his legions of detractors) this book will be welcomed into the cannon (or bonfire). It is essentially the transcript of a wide-ranging interview, with commentary. I found it fascinating.
Here's but one of the many examples of Kissinger's explanation of his approach to geopolitics, specifically on the art of negotiation "We always began every diplomatic effort with a question, 'What are we trying to do here? What is the purpose of this exercise?' So we tried never to be obsessed with all the technical details of a negotiation we always sought to focus on where we were trying to come out."
Love him or hate him, Kissinger was one of the most important figures in 20th century politics. This is a highly interesting read, and a quick one. - This is Henry Kissinger's only oral history, and as he is now in his 90s, this may be his final word on a number of topics. This short book is a transcript of sorts, interview format by Kissinger's longtime assistant Winston Lord and foreign policy expert K. T. McFarland. It's somewhat selective in that it only touches on some major events in his career in the Nixon/Ford administration. Nonetheless, the reader doesn't have to be a fan of Kissinger -- I'm not -- to find it of interest as a perspective on a stormy period in U.S. history. It's also valuable as a first-person, if subjective, account by a key figure of that period.
After a review of his perspectives on statesmanship and his arrival in the Nixon White House, Kissinger focuses on several major events the opening of relations with China and the 1972 summit with Mao Zedong; the subsequent detente with Russia and the summit with Brezhnev; the 1972-73 armistice with Vietnam; the efforts to mediate the 1973 Middle East conflict. We get some insights into the effects that the Vietnam War -- coming to a climax with the 1972 offensive -- would have on the delicate negotiations with China and the USSR, and China's and Russia's effect on North Vietnam. We get some insights on Nixon's methods and objectives on national strategy, fairly useful given that Nixon, even by Kissinger's account, was a reclusive man.
Kissinger does claim that Nixon didn't interfere with the Vietnam peace effort -- that controversy to the contrary -- but that the other side had been insisting all along, as a precondition for peace talks, that the U.S. withdraw and that it remove the Saigon government. In his telling, the breakthrough in the 1972 talks came with the other side relented on the second point and discuss withdrawal as part of the peace accord. For whatever it's worth, it's the version he wanted to put in the historical record.
We get some personal testimony, notably his evaluations of Nixon and Zhou Enlai, and a few anecdotes, such as Brezhnev's taking Nixon off alone to Brezhnev's dacha during the Moscow talks, to the chagrin of Nixon's security and entourage. We get a point-by-point account of the trips and sub rosa talks toward the China summit. He also talks about the worry, at the time, that Nixon and Kissinger had from 1969-1972 about a possible Soviet attack on China, apparently enough to motivate them to prepare the two summits.
In all, an interesting if subjective contribution to history, by a major player in those times.
