The inevitability of tragedy : Henry Kissinger and his world

Format:

Book

Title:

The inevitability of tragedy : Henry Kissinger and his world

Other title(s):

Henry Kissinger and his world

Author:

Gewen, Barry author

ISBN:

9781324004059

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2020]

Physical Description:

xviii, 452 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Chile -- Hitler -- Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt -- Hans Morgenthau -- Vietnam -- Kissinger in power -- Kissinger out of power.

Summary:

"A fresh portrait of Henry Kissinger focusing on the fundamental ideas underlying his policies: realism, balance of power, and national interest. The Inevitability of Tragedy is a fascinating intellectual biography of Henry Kissinger that examines his unique role in government through his ideas. It analyzes the continuing controversies surrounding Kissinger's policies in such places as Vietnam and Chile by offering an understanding of his definition of realism; his seemingly amoral belief that foreign affairs must be conducted through a balance of power; and his "un-American" view that promoting democracy is most likely to result in repeated defeats for the United States. Barry Gewen places Kissinger's ideas in a European context by tracing them through his experience as a refugee from Nazi Germany and exploring the links between his notions of power and those of his mentor, Hans Morgenthau, the father of realism, as well as those of two other German-Jewish émigrés who shared his concerns about the weaknesses of democracy: Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt"-- Provided by publisher.

Personal Subject:

Kissinger, Henry, 1923-2023.

Kissinger, Henry, 1923-2023-Political and social views.

Kissinger, Henry, 1923- (OCoLC)fst00031425

Subject(s):

Statesmen -- United States -- Biography.

United States -- Foreign relations -- Philosophy.

United States -- Foreign relations -- 1969-1974.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Foreign relations -- Philosophy.

United States -- Foreign relations -- 1969-1974.

United States.

Genre:

Biography.

collective biographies.

Biographies.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	327.73 Gewen	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	327.73 Gewen 2020	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Few public officials have provoked such intense controversy as Henry Kissinger. During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations, he came to be admired and hated in equal measure. Notoriously, he believed that foreign affairs ought to be based primarily on the power relationships of a situation, not simply on ethics. He went so far as to argue that under certain circumstances America had to protect its national interests even if that meant repressing other countries' attempts at democracy. For this reason, many today on both the right and left dismiss him as a latter-day Machiavelli, ignoring the breadth and complexity of his thought.

With The Inevitability of Tragedy, Barry Gewen corrects this shallow view, presenting the fascinating story of Kissinger's development as both a strategist and an intellectual and examining his unique role in government through his ideas. This book analyzes his contentious policies in Vietnam and Chile, guided by a fresh understanding of his definition of Realism, the belief that world politics is based on an inevitable, tragic competition for power.

Crucially, Gewen places Kissinger's pessimistic thought in a European context. He considers how Kissinger was deeply impacted by his experience as a refugee from Nazi Germany, and explores the links between his notions of power and those of his mentor, Hans Morgenthau--the father of Realism--as well as those of two other German-Jewish émigrés who shared his concerns about the weaknesses of democracy: Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt.

The Inevitability of Tragedy offers a thoughtful perspective on the origins of Kissinger's sober worldview and argues that a reconsideration of his career is essential at a time when American foreign policy lacks direction.

Author Notes

Barry Gewen , an editor at the New York Times Book Review for thirty years, has written on politics, international affairs, and culture for several publications, including the Times, the New Republic, Dissent, and the National Interest. He lives in New York City.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

America's most celebrated and vilified diplomat was a philosopher-statesman shadowed by his experience as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, according to this trenchant debut. New York Times Book Review editor Gewen assesses Kissinger, national security adviser and secretary of state to Presidents Nixon and Ford, as an intellectual whose foreign-policy "Realism" cold-bloodedly pursued national interests and an international balance of power while eschewing "idealistic" goals of anti-communist crusading, promoting human rights, or spreading democracy abroad. Gewen first offers a fascinating interpretation of Hitler as a popular democratic politician, then delves into the ideas of philosophers Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt and "Realist" political scientist (and Kissinger friend) Hans Morgenthau, all of them German-Jewish refugees fearful, like Kissinger, that democratic idealism can lose to totalitarianism. Gewen also explores Kissinger's opposition to Chile's socialist president Salvador Allende (in an eye-opening chapter, Gewen paints Allende as a potential dictator and mostly absolves Kissinger and the U.S. of blame for orchestrating the coup that overthrew him) and his détente with Russia and China. Gewen's defense of some of Kissinger's policies, however, including prolonging the Vietnam War for the sake of American "credibility" and "prestige," isn't always convincing. Still, this is a rich, nuanced, thought-provoking reconsideration of Kissinger's worldview and its impact on history. (Apr.)

Kirkus Review

Masterly work on the making of Henry Kissingerand what American foreign policy can learn from his dark experience and pessimistic outlook.In this deeply thoughtful, meticulously researched work, longtime New York Times Book Review editor Gewen looks at both Kissinger's life experiencese.g., his teen years as a Jew in Bavaria living under Nazi persecutionand his assimilation of the academic work of fellow German Jewish intellectuals Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, and Hans Morgenthau as he steered American statecraft in the 1970s. While Kissinger is considered by some as criminal, even evil, for his advocating for the overthrow of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected leader of Chile, and other dispassionate realpolitik decisions as secretary of state under Richard Nixon, Gewen takes a more philosophical approach to his subject, delving into the reasons behind Kissinger's coolheaded "assessment of power" and refusal to be swayed by "high moral principles like self-determination or national sovereignty." Because he was hounded by the Nazis during his youth, Kissinger recognized the "realities of power" and, through his own father's "powerlessness," began to believe that "weaknesswas synonymous with death" (as he wrote near the end of World War II). Kissinger was deeply influenced by the work of Strauss and Arendt, who "opposed tyranny but nursed a deep suspicion of democracy and majoritarian processes," and became a colleague to Morgenthau, who eschewed traditional moralistic certainties for an approach based more on "incrementalism and perfectionism," "stability rather than justice," and "the less bad rather than the unqualified good." In this well-measured, beautifully written book, Gewen thoroughly considers each facet of Kissinger's evolution and how his choice of "less bad" became his modus operandie.g., the "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam at the end of 1972, forcing Hanoi to the negotiating tableultimately tarnishing his elusive, urbane legacy.Gewen has used the distance from events to refine his research into an elegant, elucidating study of comparative statecraft. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

The most admired and reviled Secretary of State in recent U.S. history, Henry Kissinger set a standard for his successors. His conduct of the nation's diplomacy during the Vietnam War has led to cries for him to be considered a war criminal. Yet others see him as no less than a visionary for his reinstitution of relations between the U.S. and China, and still others hold him as a virtual savior of the Republic for his steady hand during the collapse of the Nixon Presidency. New York Times Book Review editor Gewen offers a biography focused on the major historical and philosophical influences on Kissinger's approach to diplomacy. In long chapters on Adolf Hitler, Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, and Hans Morgenthau, Gewen analyzes their roles in history and impacts on Kissinger's work. Gewen's analysis of Hitler's rise to power in Weimar Germany insightfully reveals how he skillfully used democratic means to achieve a tyrannical goal. The narrative picks up speed as Kissinger manages the extrication of the U.S. from Vietnam. Gewen sorts out history's ambiguities; yet, in the multitude of details he never loses direction or purpose, and his achievement stands as both diplomatic and intellectual history at its best.

Library Journal Review

Gewen, longtime editor of the New York Times Book Review, presents a balanced, erudite biography of former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger (b. 1923), asserting that he is the most important diplomat of the nuclear age. Kissinger, as the author lucidly shows, is an advocate of realism, the political school that promotes balance of power and national interest. More than a third of the book is devoted to realism's founders: Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, and Kissinger's mentor, Hans Morgenthau. All four shared a mistrust of democracy in international relations because of their Holocaust experiences; additionally, all barely escaped Nazi Germany, where Kissinger lost 13 relatives. Kissinger, a master of realpolitik, promoted praiseworthy policies that opened China and established détente with the USSR, but supported less-than-honorable strategies in Southeast Asia that sacrificed Vietnamese and American lives for a face-saving U.S. retreat. Gewen skillfully shows that Kissinger's realism diplomacy accepted evil as something that could not be destroyed, making tragedy inevitable. VERDICT This authoritative and exhaustive biography will challenge general readers, but will find an appreciative audience among political scholars and modern philosophy academics. A solid companion to Thomas Schwartz's Henry Kissinger and American Power (2020).--Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Prologue in the First Person	p. xi
Chapter 1 Chile	p. 1
Chapter 2 Hitler	p. 51
Chapter 3 Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt	p. 97
Chapter 4 Hans Morgenthau	p. 166
Chapter 5 Vietnam	p. 229
Chapter 6 Kissinger in Power	p. 291
Chapter 7 Kissinger Out of Power	p. 343
Acknowledgments	p. 395
Notes	p. 397
Selected Bibliography	p. 429
Credits	p. 433
Index	p. 435

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents