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Kissinger

A Biography

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Kissinger

By: Walter Isaacson
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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About this listen

By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a 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 follows 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.

©1992 Walter Isaacson (P)2013 Blackstone Audio 20th Century Americas Elections & Political Process Historical Modern Politics & Government United States World Business Military War Richard Nixon Franklin D Roosevelt Imperialism Vietnam War

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This complex individuals rise from obscurity to becoming a household name in world politics fuelled by ambition and the study of history and eventually getting involved in politics is a story in its self. The twists and turns and his involvement with Watergate ( still not proved) helps to make this an interesting if believable story that leaves the reader(listener) bemused and seeking another view, the politics without an ideology leaves one feeling let down , reality and it’s meaning tells us the truth. God bless America.

Ambition,intellect and recognition of opportunities...

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Whilst no doubt a partial take on Kissinger, this strikes me as a detailed, fair and fascinating biography of a figure who I knew little about beyond a hazy caricature.

Excellent, very much enjoyed

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A bit stretched out and Nixon years could be more detailed. Overall great listen for the history buffs

Great listen

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After hearing about Kissinger’s death, and mixed reactions to this news, I decided to look into his life, and when I saw Walter Isaacson’s name on the cover, whose Steve Job’s biography I’d listened to many times, I bought it immediately. The book cover’s Kissinger’s life until the early 1990s, when he has reached his 70s. This covers his family background, childhood in Germany and witnessing the rise of Hitler from a Jewish perspective. His mother wisely emigrates the family to New York where Kissinger falls in love with the basic freedom American’s take for granted and it’s here where he seems to devote his life to repaying the country that saved him.
The book is chronicles his WW2 service, his academic achievements, his early romances and lifestyle, and rise through the world of politics. As one might expect, the meat of the book are his White House years, his relationship with Nixon, his Vietnam policies, and opening a door to the US with both China and the USSR. It is a rollercoaster of triumphs and failures. Whatever your political views are, the book is an evenhanded assessment of a man who for both better and worse, changed the face of the 20th century. One can only imagine what the world would be like had he not been born and who could have seen the story going on for another 30 years?

Fascinating insight, well told, with great impersonations.

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A difficult person to write about. This tells Kissinger's story without being simply a report of one event after another.

To me, it came across as balanced and very well researched. The only things missing are it reflected very little on the price his fa.ily and close friends paid, to be close to him, and since the book was written, I believe, in the 1990's it does not cover his later years.

That said, a great book.

interesting, balanced and well researched.

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This is a long but worthwhile read that places the reader right into the hallways of US government during the second half of the last century and it does so through the action and words of a brilliant yet controversial figure.

A brilliant project and very well read.

A comprehensive and insightful account

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What a wonderful narrator. I have heard him before in "To Jersalem and back". This is what I feel to be a very insightful account, as good as any portrait of Kissinger could possibly be and so what if he is sometimes inferred to be "almost arrogant". He is a genius. Geniuses do not suffer fools gladly (Especially THOSE fools).. A politician that went for what was right. Not what was right for his PARTY!

Wonferfully wriiten.

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It took me a while to get in to the book, this is most likely because I was more interested in the Nixon years than his college years etc.

The book gave a very detailed account of Kissinger from youth to his later years, it seemed complete and I didn't feel like it was being biased toward him or otherwise.

It managed to keep my attention throughout which for such a detailed book is quite an achievement.

I wouldn't say it was as accessible as Isaacson's account of Steve Jobs.

A full account of Kissinger

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This book does not lack in detail that's for sure. Walter Isaacson presented a thorough account of a very peculiar yet interesting life. Mr Kissinger is indeed a very smart man and i am glad i listened to a book about him.
Very well read too, narrator was very consistent throughout the book.

A detailed account of a very interesting man

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Politics is about possible
Real politics, is about founding optimal balance of power any ideology or moral twinkling can only do big mess

Amazing book about politics

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