Reviews

L'arte della diplomazia by Henry Kissinger

glindah's review against another edition

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3.0

this book held me at knifepoint and robbed me

edit: upping the rating bc of paranoia/bad luck reasons but this book is still just the justification of american imperialism under the name of realism

edit #2: upping again henry you're so sexy haha just please leave me tf alone

mmazelli's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

ercschmidt23's review against another edition

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4.0

This book is THICC. Not for the faint of heart. If I was a diplomat, I’d study it cover to cover (and probably give it five stars). As a layperson, the contents is just a little too deep.

cham721's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.25

endlessmidnight's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

An excellent book detailing Henry Kissinger's insights into diplomacy which are clear, succinct and wholly personal through his time as a diplomat and getting into his mind. 

frenandjen's review against another edition

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challenging informative sad slow-paced

3.75

astrablaze's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

5.0

cleudus's review against another edition

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5.0

Such a great book to understand international relationships in contemporary history. Also, Kissinger writes so well that reading this book is very pleasant.

alex_ellermann's review against another edition

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5.0

Not only is this an important book, it's an exceptionally well-written one.

swagavad_gita's review against another edition

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3.0

There is Kissinger the statesman and Kissinger the intellectual. And while I maintain bottomless contempt for the former, whose policy workings stirred chaos instead of order and killed innocent people, I am surprised by the latter. This book surveys just what exactly diplomacy is. It’s a masterclass genealogy of diplomatic relations beginning with Cardinal Richelieu and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall. He gets a star for the sheer amount of research that went into this thing. His sources comprise 50 pages of single-spaced size 10 font.

On top of that, it’s funny to read his descriptions of various world leaders. He swoons for Nixon the same way he swoons for Bismarck. He describes Stalin’s foreign policy with such reverence that one can only extrapolate admiration from Kissinger. He will call Wilsonian idealism misguided and feckless while spending 100 pages blaming everyone else for our failures in Vietnam. This tome has everything a student of foreign policy, international relations, or history could want. It’s just a shame a war criminal wrote it.