The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World

Barry Gewen is book review editor for the NYT; I share the passion, although I might not fit in there.
Henry Kissinger-does he need an introduction? They say his memoirs should have been named “Famous
People That Met Me”. In the immortal tune of Monty Python, “You’re the Doktor of my dreams, with
your crinkly hair, and your glassy stare, and your Machia-vell-ian schemes, you know some people say
that you don’t care…”

As usual, Eric Idle’s lyrics succinctly capture a number of the paradoxes of this mysterious man. While
there are others such as George Kennan and Zbig Brzezinski, Kissinger is undoubtedly the central
figure in FP in the postwar era. In the pre-Watergate 70s, he was a figure of almost universal celebration
and fascination. Watergate actually prolonged his public service, but he fell out of favor as, well,
Machiavellian, cynical, amoral if not immoral, and of course a war criminal. Christopher Hitchens
was among his fiercest opponents, but so was Phyllis Schlafly on the populist right. Every President
to the present day has relied upon him-Obama mostly through Hillary and Trump through Jared.
Bernie Sanders attacked Hillary on Kissinger, speaking for a large wing of the Democratic party.

Gewen begins with a lengthy discussion of Chile and Allende, before Pinochet. Other reviewers
have pointed out that it’s disproportionately long. That’s the point, because geopolitics is just
so many times and places and Kissinger has just been everywhere. He’s our foremost expert
on China, although apparently he didn’t know much about Vietnam and Southeast Asia, alas!
Then there’s a discussion of Hitler and the Nazis. I have to give Gewen credit, because this is
an exhausted topic, but he makes the Fuhrer’s momentum in those days come to life. Part of
what makes Kissinger such a world-historical figure is going from the Nazis to the postwar
US and influencing the course of the next century.

Gewen has discussions of three other Jewish thinkers of the Nazi era, Hans Morgenthau,
who was Kissinger’s mentor in realpolitik, Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss. These are too complex
to discuss here, and they in turn bring into the discussion the philosopher Martin Heidegger, who
has remained the most influential philosopher of the century, despite supporting the Third Reich.
Kissinger is the link between our everyday US politics and the great German philosophers like Kant,
Hegel and Nietzsche.

There were many paradoxes in Kissinger’s relationship with America. He idealized the rural heartland,
but his world was the witty cosmopolitan sphere of Harvard and the press corps.
Among the key concepts in realism is the balance of power, which Kissinger explained in his book
“A World Restored”, as well as the later “World Order”. He looked at figures like Metternich after
Napoleon in 1815, as well as Bismarck, and the Treaty of Westphalia after the Thirty Years War
in 1648. Gewen shows how Kissinger’s European historical sensibility interacts with the more
optimistic American spirit. And yet there is a genuine gratitude in the move from the Nazis to
America. Kissinger’s realism is contrasted with the Wilsonian passion for spreading democracy.
This is both a left-wing and right-wing movement, with JFK, Carter, Reagan and George W. all
sharing aspects of it. Gewen contrasts realism with Condi Rice’s recent Democracy. While
Cheney and Rumsfeld were usually bad cop, Rice was the one that really absorbed the
neoconservative Wilsonianism. Reagan contrasted with Nixon and Kissinger in viewing the
Cold War in moral terms, but his aggressive rhetoric allowed him to pursue diplomacy with
Gorbachev. He was also just plain lucky, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Gewen strongly suggests that there was a crisis of faith in the post-Auschwitz Jewish faith, and
that Kissinger is an atheist, which I have heard elsewhere. Paradoxically, the America that he
adopted had a postwar boost in faith, because our experience of WWII was so different. The
realist balance of power is not amoral, much less immoral, but it is non-absolute, non-black
and white, and requires a constant adjusting to circumstances with little hope of permanent
achievements. For instance, Nixon’s peace with honor in the withdrawal from Vietnam had to
take into account a number of factors such as the potential South Vietnamese attack, and the
balance between China and the Soviet Union. Villains like Mao and Stalin are seen differently
from the balance of power perspective, although Hitler is still hated passionately because
Kissinger was there.

Just two years ago at age 95, Kissinger published an article in the Atlantic on the limits of
technology, echoing themes going back to Kant and Heidegger. It is ironic that he was needed
to remind us of the importance of the humanistic perspective, but it reflects his continental
background from the land that gave us Bach and Beethoven.

I’d say that I am a Kissingerian student; I own several books on Kissinger, from the Kelb’s biography, to the Sebenius’ analysis of HAK’s negotiation style, from Ferguson’ bio, to HAK’s authored books.
Gewen’s book has done a remarkable favor to Kissingerian studies: he analyzed the formative milieu while avoiding the repetitive – and often unbalanced – biographical discussion of such a complex man. This book is not about the man himself; you will learn very little about his life. However, you will learn how the environment and the continuous state of crisis conditioned him.
Another reviewer (“Missing the point”) complains that this book is not biographical; well, that’s the point of Gewen’s book: it’s not a biography. If you want a good bio, read Ferguson’s book; even Isaacson’s book will be good enough.

A tremendous effort. The eight pages alone condensing HK’s majesterial ON CHINA are worth the acquisition. Read slowly, carefully, thoughtfully. A quiet, deep spectacular work.

Whatever you think of Kissinger as a statesman (and, arguably, amoral operator), if you have read his books it’s hard to deny his brilliance and virtuosity as a writer. Thus it’s appropriate that Gewen has written this set of meditations inspired by Kissinger. That’s what it is–meditations, often proceeding for many pages without mention of Kissinger at all, Gewen’s own deeply informed and original consideration of events that shaped Kissinger, or that Kissinger shaped. It is a delight to read his beautiful and insightful prose.

This is a terrible book. Im 7% into it (according to Kindle) and Kissinger is hardly mentioned. Instead, it start with a very detailed review of the political landscape in Chile in the 50s and 60s . This is fine but not why I bought the book. I appreciate context, but not to this detail

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