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Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman by Greg Grandin
zainsdad's review against another edition
4.0
Man…where to start?
There’s a version of this book where you walk away with a very Kissinger-focused understanding; almost like a straight biography. The author does an incredible job of sourcing Kissinger’s own work while contextualizing it within the philosophers, leaders, and politicians that he looked up to and modeled his worldview after. A gap absolutely exists between Kissinger’s stated values and actual decisions, and I appreciate the delicate line the author walked of highlighting those discrepancies without casting a straight value judgement or reading too far between the lines and projecting perceived motivations.
There’s also a version of this book where you walk way feeling very apprehensive about the structure of geopolitical power, especially within the US - and i think that’s not only a much more interesting lens to view the book through, but probably what the author was intending and why the book is pretty light on personal details. It’s objectively insane that one smart, dedicated person can leverage the right relationships at the right time to not just catapult themselves into incredible positions of power, but leverage *those* positions to single-handedly change the course of history.
If you grow up in the U.S., you typically learn about the balance of power built into the structure of our government; and everything you learn after that as an adult is a slow, methodical dismantling of that notion. To be clear: Henry Kissinger is a war criminal who set precedent for future western politicians to commit even bigger war crimes. The fact that he gets to consult and retire in peace is a terrible reality to come to terms with for anyone with a shred of human dignity and empathy.
There’s enough work out there that clearly and explicitly highlights his crimes. The strength of this book is platforming every one of Kissinger’s justifications for his actions, and giving them enough context (with the benefit of hindsight!) to explain *why* he used those reasons, and what we now know to be true.
Great book, great author. My only regret is this knowledge is going to make the inevitable hillary clinton tweet about how sad she is that he’s dead so much worse.
There’s a version of this book where you walk away with a very Kissinger-focused understanding; almost like a straight biography. The author does an incredible job of sourcing Kissinger’s own work while contextualizing it within the philosophers, leaders, and politicians that he looked up to and modeled his worldview after. A gap absolutely exists between Kissinger’s stated values and actual decisions, and I appreciate the delicate line the author walked of highlighting those discrepancies without casting a straight value judgement or reading too far between the lines and projecting perceived motivations.
There’s also a version of this book where you walk way feeling very apprehensive about the structure of geopolitical power, especially within the US - and i think that’s not only a much more interesting lens to view the book through, but probably what the author was intending and why the book is pretty light on personal details. It’s objectively insane that one smart, dedicated person can leverage the right relationships at the right time to not just catapult themselves into incredible positions of power, but leverage *those* positions to single-handedly change the course of history.
If you grow up in the U.S., you typically learn about the balance of power built into the structure of our government; and everything you learn after that as an adult is a slow, methodical dismantling of that notion. To be clear: Henry Kissinger is a war criminal who set precedent for future western politicians to commit even bigger war crimes. The fact that he gets to consult and retire in peace is a terrible reality to come to terms with for anyone with a shred of human dignity and empathy.
There’s enough work out there that clearly and explicitly highlights his crimes. The strength of this book is platforming every one of Kissinger’s justifications for his actions, and giving them enough context (with the benefit of hindsight!) to explain *why* he used those reasons, and what we now know to be true.
Great book, great author. My only regret is this knowledge is going to make the inevitable hillary clinton tweet about how sad she is that he’s dead so much worse.
cleot's review
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, War, Xenophobia, and Racism
sterlinglacroix's review against another edition
5.0
Grandin offers a searing and unapologetic look at the life and times of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in US foreign policy, history, and biographies.