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Title details for Kissinger by Walter Isaacson - Available

Kissinger

A Biography

by Walter Isaacson
Malcolm Hillgartner
Audiobook
3 of 3 copies available
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3 of 3 copies available

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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 10, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483073552
      • File size: 993679 KB
      • Duration: 34:30:09

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This biography of Henry Kissinger is enhanced by Malcolm Hillgartner's outstanding narration. His delivery is lively, and he's a great storyteller--no half-bored professor intoning a history lecture here. While his pretty well-done imitations of Kissinger and President Nixon are distracting at first, they soon blend into the narration. The lengthy book presents a full portrait of Kissinger in all his egotistical, power-grubbing, brilliant complexity. It covers everything from his German childhood to his family's flight from the Nazis, his college years, and his rise to power as a controversial secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations. G.S.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 31, 1992
      The fullest account of Kissinger's life and career to date, other than for his memoirs, this massive biography provides plenty of ammunition for the former Secretary of State's supporters and detractors. Growing up in Nazi Germany as an Orthodox Jew, Kissinger faced beatings and virulent anti-Semitism, and in Isaacson's view these burdened him with lifelong feelings of insecurity and distrust, as well as a yearning for stability and order. Isaacson, assistant managing editor of Time , sees Kissinger as the foremost American negotiator of this century, but one whose furtive, conspiratorial, at times deceitful personality shaped his conservative realpolitik and diplomatic maneuvering. He maintains that Kissinger's foreign policy, rooted in stealth and surprise, mirrored and reinforced the darker side of his increasingly jealous patron, President Nixon, and goes on to reveal how Chief of Staff Alexander Haig undercut his rival. He also pierces the secretive world of Kissinger's lucrative, globetrotting post-White House career as a business consultant. A spooky, engrossing portrait of the only European-style realist ever to guide U.S. foreign policy. Photos. First serial to Vanity Fair; BOMC main selection; QPB and History Book Club alternates; Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection; author tour.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 4, 1993
      The fullest account of Kissinger's life and career to date, other than his memoirs, this spooky, engrossing portrait--a BOMC main selection in cloth--provides plenty of ammunition for the former Secretary of State's supporters and detractors both. Photos. QPB alternate.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In a gravelly voice, Malcolm Hillgartner narrates this dense biography of one of the nation's most influential strategic thinkers of the twentieth century, Henry Kissinger. Reading effortlessly, Hillgartner engages with the complex history and politics that made up the life and times of Kissinger before his appointment as Richard Nixon's national security adviser. Hillgartner shifts intonation for quotes and clearly identifies footnotes--drawn from primary sources, archives, and a multitude of published sources--without breaking his narration. His stentorian voice is perfect for this biography of an uncommonly strong personality. Using subtle shifts in pacing, Hillgartner draws the listener into the ever-increasing political tensions at home, particularly during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Listeners will be fascinated. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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