Overview

By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a Gallup poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world's imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued. Drawing on extensive interviews with Kissinger as well as 150 other sources, including US presidents and his business clients, this first full-length biography makes use of many of Kissinger's private papers and classified memos to tell his uniquely American story. The result is an intimate narrative, filled with surprising revelations, that follows this grandly colorful statesman from his childhood as a persecuted Jew in Nazi Germany, through his tortured relationship with Richard Nixon, to his later years as a globe-trotting business consultant.

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9781482911794

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Reviews

[A] wonderful, entertaining, definitive biography. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review A critical but resolutely objective and utterly fascinating biography of the guileful, egocentric geopolitical scientist who became America's most celebrated secretary of state...An authoritative and comprehensive account...An evenhanded, warts-and-all portrait of a larger-than-life individual who has left his mark behind. -- Kirkus Reviews A solidly researched, richly textured, and extremely readable account of a man in dramatic times who seemed bigger than life. -- Boston Sunday Globe As a commanding opus for the present, enlivened by snippets from hundreds of interviews, Isaacson raises a high bar for any historians who challenge him. -- Booklist Confirms Kissinger's place as one of the great international players and takes him down a peg as well...Kissinger will rave about the parts he likes and rage about the rest...This makes for compulsive reading. -- Peter Jennings In its range and research, it is the book to end all books on Mr. Kissinger. For his aficionados, it makes compulsive reading; for students of his years of influence on United States foreign policy, it is compulsory. -- New York Times Isaacson...has produced much more than another unauthorized biography...While there are other excellent Kissinger biographies, this work is the best to date on Henry K. Superstar. -- Library Journal Kissinger is a triumph. Isaacon writes...with sympathy, verve, imagination, insight, and a keen eye. A stunning achievement. -- Stephen E. Ambrose, #1 New York Times bestselling author Meticulously researched, intelligent, and fair...A book full of insights. -- Washington Post Mr. Isaacson's work is a model of insight, delicacy, and fairness that moves at a lively pace through recent American history and re-creates, inconsiderable depth, the intellectuals and politicians who formed its foreign policy. -- New Yorker The fullest account of Kissinger's life and career to date, other than for his memoirs...A spooky, engrossing portrait of the only European-style realist ever to guide US foreign policy. -- Publishers Weekly This biography of Henry Kissinger is enhanced by Malcolm Hillgartner's outstanding narration. His delivery is lively, and he's a great storyteller-no half-bored professor intoning a history lecture here...The lengthy book presents a full portrait of Kissinger in all his egotistical, power-grubbing, brilliant complexity. It covers everything from his German childhood to his family's flight from the Nazis, his college years, and his rise to power as a controversial secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations. -- AudioFile

A critical but resolutely objective and utterly fascinating biography of the guileful, egocentric geopolitical scientist who became America's most celebrated secretary of state...An authoritative and comprehensive account...An evenhanded, warts-and-all portrait of a larger-than-life individual who has left his mark behind. -- Kirkus Reviews Isaacson...has produced much more than another unauthorized biography...While there are other excellent Kissinger biographies, this work is the best to date on Henry K. Superstar. -- Library Journal As a commanding opus for the present, enlivened by snippets from hundreds of interviews, Isaacson raises a high bar for any historians who challenge him. -- Booklist This biography of Henry Kissinger is enhanced by Malcolm Hillgartner's outstanding narration. His delivery is lively, and he's a great storyteller-no half-bored professor intoning a history lecture here...The lengthy book presents a full portrait of Kissinger in all his egotistical, power-grubbing, brilliant complexity. It covers everything from his German childhood to his family's flight from the Nazis, his college years, and his rise to power as a controversial secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations. -- AudioFile The fullest account of Kissinger's life and career to date, other than for his memoirs...A spooky, engrossing portrait of the only European-style realist ever to guide US foreign policy. -- Publishers Weekly A solidly researched, richly textured, and extremely readable account of a man in dramatic times who seemed bigger than life. -- Boston Sunday Globe Meticulously researched, intelligent, and fair...A book full of insights. -- Washington Post [A] wonderful, entertaining, definitive biography. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review Mr. Isaacson's work is a model of insight, delicacy, and fairness that moves at a lively pace through recent American history and re-creates, inconsiderable depth, the intellectuals and politicians who formed its foreign policy. -- New Yorker In its range and research, it is the book to end all books on Mr. Kissinger. For his aficionados, it makes compulsive reading; for students of his years of influence on United States foreign policy, it is compulsory. -- New York Times Confirms Kissinger's place as one of the great international players and takes him down a peg as well...Kissinger will rave about the parts he likes and rage about the rest...This makes for compulsive reading. -- Peter Jennings Kissinger is a triumph. Isaacon writes...with sympathy, verve, imagination, insight, and a keen eye. A stunning achievement. -- Stephen E. Ambrose, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the editor of Time magazine. He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America, an organization that recruits recent college graduates to teach in underprivileged communities; he was also appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States. He is the author of Steve Jobs, Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and Kissinger: A Biography. Isaacson currently lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC. Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 175 audiobooks.

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