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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
The biography fades out towards the end. First published in 1992 it doesn't cover much of Kissinger's life outside of politics. It was the highest rated biography on Kissinger and it was my fault for not realizing when it was written.
It goes into great detail during the Nixon years and it's great to read before/after a Nixon bio. Nixon and Kissinger had a very odd relationship in that they weren't friends but they almost fed off each other. I don't believe there'd be a Nixon with out a Kissinger and vice versa. Nixon's presidency would probably have passed without much fanfare.
The bio is a good read. I think the only place it's lacking is in talking about the people around Kissinger. People tend to be influenced by friends and family and while we get some glimpses of the people in Kissinger's life we don't get a lot.
His parents loved him, that is obvious. What about his brother? How disappointed was his dad that Kissinger didn't continue practicing Judaism? What did his mom think? Was his family proud of being Jewish? Kissinger seemed to hide it. Where did Kissinger's sense of superiority come from?
I'd have loved some more detail or insight into his personality.
I knew next to nothing about Kissinger before reading this bio and now I find him fascinating. His ideas on diplomacy and the weaknesses of different approaches are exciting to read about. Should we ONLY ally ourselves with countries that agree with our world view? Or should we ally with everyone because their beliefs are none of our business? I'll probably take up a book by Kissinger at some point.
Easy read, good info, but didn't feel complete to me.
It goes into great detail during the Nixon years and it's great to read before/after a Nixon bio. Nixon and Kissinger had a very odd relationship in that they weren't friends but they almost fed off each other. I don't believe there'd be a Nixon with out a Kissinger and vice versa. Nixon's presidency would probably have passed without much fanfare.
The bio is a good read. I think the only place it's lacking is in talking about the people around Kissinger. People tend to be influenced by friends and family and while we get some glimpses of the people in Kissinger's life we don't get a lot.
His parents loved him, that is obvious. What about his brother? How disappointed was his dad that Kissinger didn't continue practicing Judaism? What did his mom think? Was his family proud of being Jewish? Kissinger seemed to hide it. Where did Kissinger's sense of superiority come from?
I'd have loved some more detail or insight into his personality.
I knew next to nothing about Kissinger before reading this bio and now I find him fascinating. His ideas on diplomacy and the weaknesses of different approaches are exciting to read about. Should we ONLY ally ourselves with countries that agree with our world view? Or should we ally with everyone because their beliefs are none of our business? I'll probably take up a book by Kissinger at some point.
Easy read, good info, but didn't feel complete to me.
Good read, picked this immediately after The Wise Men, and together they are a really fascinating overarching view of US geopolitical history as seen from the perspectives of the decision makers that were key in making that history.
Definitely a time commitment (70hrs of audio book between the two of them) but I feel usefully more informed and have a broader understanding of an important era of relatively recent US history that is still impacting us today.
Definitely a time commitment (70hrs of audio book between the two of them) but I feel usefully more informed and have a broader understanding of an important era of relatively recent US history that is still impacting us today.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
a relatively unbiased look at america's favorite war criminal! it's telling that Kissinger apparently did not like how he was portrayed in this book. honestly I think Isaacson is closer to praise than ripping him to shreds (which wouldn't be remotely hard to do).
good riddance! glad that's over! (applies to both the man himself and this behemoth of a book). I certainly learned a lot about an era in US history I've never really cared to understand before (cold war/vietnam/nixon era) and I don't think anyone anywhere close to the Nixon/Ford administrations comes out of the 70s looking remotely good. what is with the mentions of Kissinger being a womanizer??? what was remotely attractive about him??? pandering, deferential lying, encouragement of terrible ideas *cambodia*, a lack of trust, obsequiousness, what is it???
it's a pretty good biography but it did not need to be 900 pages long.
good riddance! glad that's over! (applies to both the man himself and this behemoth of a book). I certainly learned a lot about an era in US history I've never really cared to understand before (cold war/vietnam/nixon era) and I don't think anyone anywhere close to the Nixon/Ford administrations comes out of the 70s looking remotely good. what is with the mentions of Kissinger being a womanizer??? what was remotely attractive about him??? pandering, deferential lying, encouragement of terrible ideas *cambodia*, a lack of trust, obsequiousness, what is it???
it's a pretty good biography but it did not need to be 900 pages long.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This was a really well written biography, but Kissinger sucks. I know he got a lot of stuff done in terms of US foreign relations, but he managed to do that because he lied to everyone involved! Disapprove, Kissinger, disapprove.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
