Pg. 99: "Henry Kissinger and the American Century"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Jeremi Suri's Henry Kissinger and the American Century.

About the book, from the publisher:

What made Henry Kissinger the kind of diplomat he was? What experiences and influences shaped his worldview and provided the framework for his approach to international relations? Jeremi Suri offers a thought-provoking, interpretive study of one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the twentieth century.

Drawing on research in more than six countries in addition to extensive interviews with Kissinger and others, Suri analyzes the sources of Kissinger's ideas and power and explains why he pursued the policies he did. Kissinger's German-Jewish background, fears of democratic weakness, belief in the primacy of the relationship between the United States and Europe, and faith in the indispensable role America plays in the world shaped his career and his foreign policy. Suri shows how Kissinger's early years in Weimar and Nazi Germany, his experiences in the U.S. Army and at Harvard University, and his relationships with powerful patrons -- including Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon -- shed new light on the policymaker.

Kissinger's career was a product of the global changes that made the American Century. He remains influential because his ideas are rooted so deeply in dominant assumptions about the world. In treating Kissinger fairly and critically as a historical figure, without polemical judgments, Suri provides critical context for this important figure. He illuminates the legacies of Kissinger's policies for the United States in the twenty-first century.

Among the early praise for the book:

"Probing thoughtfully into Kissinger's background and character, Suri sees the secretary as the Cold War's ultimate statesman. Eschewing polemics ... this work explores what shaped and nurtured the phenomenon that was Henry Kissinger."
--Atlantic Monthly

"The archival research is extensive and the analysis thought-provoking. Although there are numerous studies of Kissinger, as well as his own memoirs, Suri's is the best at studying the man in terms of the social surroundings that influenced him."
--Marcia L. Sprules, Library Journal

"This book is different from every other book about Henry Kissinger. In tracing the influences on Kissinger, from his life as a boy in Germany to his rise as one of the most powerful diplomats in the world, Suri's book is critical to our understanding of how and why Kissinger acquired his positions."
--Melvin R. Laird, former Secretary of Defense

"Suri has provided a brilliant and balanced portrait of Henry Kissinger. Shaped by his childhood in Germany, his adolescence in New York, and his wartime experiences in the army, Kissinger was forever the outsider, indelibly influenced by his Jewishness, even as he became the consummate insider. Suri incisively analyzes the qualities that made Kissinger so attractive to patrons like Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon, but also skillfully examines the flaws that will forever tarnish Kissinger's legacy."
--Melvyn P. Leffler, author of A Preponderance of Power

"This remarkable book is far more than a biography of Henry Kissinger. By probing Kissinger's personal background and intellectual formation as well as his often cunning and frequently controversial statecraft, Jeremi Suri brilliantly illuminates both the character of Kissinger the man and the nature of the turbulent and tension-racked age in which he lived and did so much� - for better or worse� - to shape."
--David M. Kennedy, author of Freedom from Fear

Learn more about Henry Kissinger and the American Century, and read an excerpt, at the Harvard University Press website.

Jeremi Suri is a history professor at the University of Wisconsin. His other publications include The Global Revolutions of 1968 (W.W. Norton, 2006) and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente (Harvard University Press, 2003).

The Page 99 Test: Henry Kissinger and the American Century.

--Marshal Zeringue