Kissinger

A Biography

Walter Isaacson

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781439127216
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Biografías políticas

The definitive biography of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and how his ideas still resonate in the world today from the bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs. By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to the 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 takes 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Introduction (to the 2005 Edition): Kissinger’s Realism and Today’s Crusading Idealism
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Fürth: Coming of Age in Nazi Germany, 1923-1938
• Chapter 2: Washington Heights: The Americanization of an Aspiring Accountant, 1938-1943
• Chapter 3: The Army: “Mr. Henry” Comes Marching Home Again, 1943-1947
• Chapter 4: Harvard: The Ambitious Student, 1947-1955
• Chapter 5: New York In the Service of the Establishment, 1954-1957
• Chapter 6: Harvard Again: The Professor, 1957-1968
• Chapter 7: The Fringes of Power: Kennedy, Johnson, and Rockefeller, 1961-1968
• Chapter 8: The Co-conspirators: Kissinger and Nixon, 1968
• Chapter 9: Welcome to Vietnam: Secret Options, Secret Bombings
• Chapter 10: Kissinger’s Empire: The Boss’s Power and How He Operated
• Chapter 11: The Wiretaps: Office Bugs, Dead Keys, and Other Devices
• Chapter 12: No Exit: Vietnam Swallows Another Administration
• Chapter 13: The Invasion of Cambodia: An Expanded War, Resignations, and Rage
• Chapter 14: Two Weeks in September: An Hour-by-Hour Look at the Art of Crisis Juggling
• Chapter 15: SALT: Arms Control in the Back Channel
• Chapter 16: China: Creating a Triangle
• Chapter 17: Celebrity: The Secret Life of the World’s Least Likely Sex Symbol
• Chapter 18: Winter of the Long Knives: After a Mishandled War, Kissinger Hits a Low Point
• Chapter 19: The Triangle: Summit Spring in Moscow and Beijing
• Chapter 20: Peace at Hand: The Paris Talks Produce an Elusive Accord
• Chapter 21: The Christmas Bombing: Hanoi Is Hit in Order to Convince Saigon to Sign
• Chapter 22: Secretary of State: A Rise That Was Helped Because Everyone Else Was Sinking
• Chapter 23: The Yom Kippur War: A Mideast Initiation, a Resupply Dispute, and a Nuclear Alert
• Chapter 24: The Shuttle: Step by Step Through Israel, Egypt, and Syria
• Chapter 25: The Press: How to Be Captivating on a Background Basis
• Chapter 26: Transitions: The Final Days, and a New Beginning
• Chapter 27: The Death of Détente: An Odd Coalition Takes a Hard Line
• Chapter 28: The Magic is Gone: Setbacks in the Sinai and Southeast Asia
• Chapter 29: Morality in Foreign Policy: Kissinger’s Realpolitik and How it was Challenged
• Chapter 30: Africa: Covert Involvement Followed by Shuttle Diplomacy
• Chapter 31: Exit: Not with a Bang but a Whimper
• Chapter 32: Citizen Kissinger: The Jet-Set Life of a Minister Without Portfolio
• Chapter 33: Kissinger Associates: How the World’s Most Famous Consultant Struck it Rich
• Chapter 34: Legacy: Policy and Personality
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright