Years of Renewal - Softcover

Henry Kissinger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842120425 ISBN 13: 9781842120422

Publisher: Phoenix Press, 2000

Synopsis

Henry Kissinger is perhaps the best-known American diplomatist of this century, a major figure in world history, the first Jewish Secretary of State, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and arguably one of the most brilliant minds ever placed at the service of American foreign policy, as well as one of the shrewdest, best-informed and most articulate figures ever to occupy a position of power in Washington. This third and final volume of memoirs completes a major work of contemporary history and a brilliantly told narrative full of startling insights, candour and a sweeping sense of history. It begins with the resignation of Nixon - including Kissinger's final assessment of Nixon's tortured personality and the self-inflicted tragedy that ended his presidency, making Kissinger, for a time, the most powerful man in American government. This book abounds in crisis - Vietnam, Watergate, the Cold War.Here are brilliant scenes, as only an insider could write them, of the high-level meetings that shaped American foreign policy, the famous 'shuttle' diplomacy by which Kissinger succeeded in bringing a reluctant and wary Rabin and anxious Sadat together to begin to return of the Sinai to Egypt and the SALT talks with the Soviet Union that began the process of nuclear limitation. Here also are intimate and profound portraits of world leaders from Mao, teasing Kissinger while displaying a poetic wisdom, to Brezhnev at the Vladivostock summit, confused, ill-prepared, unwell, desperately to conceal the Soviet Union's difficulties with a screen of blustering bravado.

About this title

Review:

There is an old joke that Henry Kissinger is so full of himself he once wrote a book called Famous People Who Have Met Me. That strong sense of self is on full display in this third volume of memoirs (the other two are White House Years and Years of Upheaval). Kissinger, a national security advisor and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, is a foreign-policy maestro fond of describing the difficult subtleties of his job. He is also, at times, generous with his praise--especially with this whopper: "I am certain the time will come when it is recognized that the Cold War could not have been won had not Gerald Ford, at a tragic point of America's history, been there to keep us from losing it." Years of Renewal begins during Nixon's final days, and provides a few key insights into the man Kissinger calls "perhaps [the] most complex President of the twentieth century." One eye opener is the revelation that Nixon ordered the bombing of the Damascus airport in 1969 during a hijacking incident "to impress his pals." (It was called off the next morning.) The bulk of the book (and bulk is the right word--there are nearly 1,100 pages of text before the footnotes) focuses on Ford, who comes across as much more statesmanlike than the popular image of him as a bungling caretaker. The portraits of contemporary world leaders are also valuable. Kissinger combines detail and clarity to deliver an important chronicle of American diplomacy during the 1970s. --John Miller

About the Author:

Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser, Secretary of State and winner of the Novel Peace Prize, lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Phoenix Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1842120425
• ISBN 13: 9781842120422
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 1152