Paperback Version: https://link.amazon/B0g10pw8n
A couple of weeks ago I was working outside and had run out of audiobooks to listen to. I checked the Cloud Library app and found an audiobook on Henry Kissinger. I was familiar with his name, but really knew nothing about him. I selected it and discovered it was 35 hours long and figured it was worth a shot. I’ve been listening and reading a lot about the founding fathers and the first presidents and so this was a big change.
The author is Walter Isaacson and it was narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner.
Isaacson is an excellent author. His writing is comprehensively researched, engaging, and fair. He did not shy away from the negatives in Kissinger’s character and career, but neither did he write him off for what, in hindsight, were some terrible decisions.
Hillgartner is one of the best narrators I have heard. He varied voices without seeming to try to hard, and was easy to listen to.
The audiobook version was 35 hours long, but I listened at 1.4x speed, so it only took 25 hours. However, the quality of the reading and narration were such that it went by quickly.
I was impressed with Kissinger’s early years, overcoming the tragedy of fleeing Nazi Germany and growing up in the USA. His academic achievements were impressive and continued to impress throughout his lifetime.
Without a doubt, he had some serious character flaws which seem to have been amplified and enabled by his time with Nixon. It’s interesting to consider if it would have been better if they had never met. Would Watergate still have happened?
It is also without doubt that some of his advice and decisions led to tragedies. Whether or not his intentions were good, which I believe they often were, the outcomes were sometimes terrible.
He championed realpolitik, a pragmatic realism prioritizing national interest over moral principles.
However, it is also without doubt that he did much good in bringing about peace between nations and helped establish a world order that encouraged peace.
It is interesting to look back on the world I knew pre-9/11 and see a world very much shaped by Kissinger. With the presidencies of Bush and Reagan things began to change, but his impact was still there. Post-9/11 I think the world moved rapidly away from his kind of policies. But, I am interested in whether or not the world is shifting back in that direction to some degree.
The USA, Russia, Iran, and China are all vying to be the world power once again and proxy wars have been the norm for 20+ years.
I would not want the Kissinger that coldly advocated for actions that led to tragedies. But the Kissinger whose shuttle diplomacy that focused on balance-of-power politics, national interests, and sphere-of-influence negotiations rather than ideological democracy-building could be beneficial.
Lastly, having spent months studying men of high ideals and morality, though still flawed, it was sad to spend so much time delving into the politics of Kissinger and Nixon. One repeated criticism of Kissinger was that he never really understood the American ideal. Though it often falls short of the standard set by some of the best presidents, the American governmental system was designed to be open and democratic. Kissinger never seemed to fully grasp or appreciate or value that.
This was an excellent book that I highly recommend.
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