Kissinger cover art

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 Biography Business Military Soviet Union War Socialism Liberalism Richard Nixon Franklin D Roosevelt Imperialism Vietnam War

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All stars
Most relevant
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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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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Really well narrated, the reader put accents on when quoting different people which is helpful for audiobooks

Really interesting life, a lot to learn

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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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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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