Tisch professor of history at harvard university, a senior fellow at the hoover institution, and the author of the forthcoming book kissinger, 19231968. Back in 2012, niall ferguson wrote an admiring article about henry kissingers belated return to harvard, where he had taught in the 1950s. As brzezinski argued in his book between two ages, the new global city being created by the technetronic age was a nervous, agitated, tense, and fragmented web of interdependent relations. Niall ferguson wants us to reject the stereotyped image of henry kissinger as a cynical, amoral realist. Niall ferguson has written what i feel must become a classic for all those in search of the essence of a great statesman whose works, policies and actions have affected all our lives. The secret to henry kissingers success niall ferguson. From the bestselling author of the ascent of money and the square. In this remarkable book, the first of two volumes, niall ferguson has created an extraordinary panorama of kissingers world, and a paradigmshifting reappraisal of the man. Kissinger niall ferguson hardcover books online raru. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read kissinger. But if the second volume of kissinger is anywhere near as. President barack obama has thrown away decades of foreign policy wins in the mideast, says niall ferguson, a harvard historian and biographer of henry kissinger. He is senior fellow at the hoover institution, stanford.
Niall ferguson has again written a brilliant book, wrote deirdre mccloskey in the wall street journal, this time in defence of traditional topdown principles of governing the wild market and the wilder international order. The first is that the author, niall ferguson, has a felicity with words that is rare among academics. The book plants a flag for a project in applied history, which he and i. He is also a visiting professor at tsinghua university, beijing, and the dillervon furstenberg family foundation. The secret to henry kissingers success politico magazine. In his new biography of henry kissinger, the historian niall ferguson recalls that halfway through what became. Ferguson tries to defend his subject but is deaf to his darker notes, and manages to trivialise his own book. In his most recent book, world order, henry kissinger outlined four scenarios that he regards. In his new biography of henry kissinger, the historian niall ferguson. There are three things going for kissinger, 1923 1968. The all souls historian rohan butler concluded the first volume of. Henry kissinger, with president richard nixon and advisor richard v.
Calling the book a bildungsroman, ferguson gamely tries to make. He is also a senior fellow at the hoover institution, stanford university, and a. Niall ferguson on henry kissinger coming home to harvard. For big, bold and compelling, it is impossible to ignore kissinger 1923 1968. Niall fergusons dishonest biography of henry kissinger. Previously, he was a professor at harvard university and new york university, visiting professor at new college of the humanities and senior research fellow at jesus college, oxford. The idealist excerpted here in politico magazine came out last month, it sparked a new. Niall ferguson on henry kissinger ottawa international. Drawing not only on kissingers hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, this biography is niall fergusons masterpiece. No american statesman has been as revered or as reviled as henry kissinge. He is also a senior fellow at the hoover institution, stanford university, and a senior research fellow at jesus college, oxford. The idealist shifts the trajectory of kissinger studies fundamentally.
In his pronouncements on the war in vietnam, ferguson insists kissinger was an idealist first and foremost. He is the author of paper and iron, the house of rothschild, the pity of war, the cash nexus, empire, colossus, the war of the world, the ascent of money, high financier, civilization, the great degeneration, kissinger, 1923 1968. Niall ferguson already has many important, scholarly and controversial books to his credit. Nixon, kissinger, and leading from behind the atlantic. Henry kissinger is one of the most controversial statesmen in american history. He is the author of paper and iron, the house of rothschild, the pity of war, the cash nexus, empire, colossus, the war of the world, the ascent of money, high financier, civilization, the great degeneration, kissinger, 19231968. To hear the likes of niall ferguson, he is part of an endangered species. Professor niall ferguson talked about his book, kissinger. I grew rather fond of him by reading his correspondence with kissinger and his diaries, so. Bit by bit, kissinger was becoming a foreign policy expert with few rivals. The idealist, 19231968, is the first volume of henry kissingers biography, written by niall ferguson.
The book illustrates just what an extraordinary human being kissinger is. The square and the tower raises the question of just how much the unruly world should be governedand by whom. Some regard him as the countrys greatest strategic foreign relations thinker, while others describe him as conspiratorial or as a. The all souls historian rohan butler concluded the first volume of his biography of the french statesman choiseul with this sentence on page. When niall fergusons henry kissinger, 1923 to 1968. In his book, professor ferguson argues that henry kissingers approach to foreign policy was grounded in. The new series flows out of his most recent book, civilisation, published last year, which described how the west rose over 500 years. Producing work as both a historian and a biographer, he has also published a number of biographies on figures such as henry kissinger and siegmund warburg. Working as a weekly columnist in sunday times in london, niall ferguson has become a highly prolific author and voice among his many peers and contemporaries.
The idealist by niall ferguson available from rakuten kobo. Niall ferguson is one of the worlds most renowned historians. The biography begins in furth, germany, kissingers place of birth, and describes the vibrant jewish community that existed there during the 19th and early 20th century. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel. But the book does provide clues, namely the convincing assertion that kissinger was for much of his career not a machiavellian realist but an. Many think the retired diplomats closeness to one manrichard nixonwas the source of his power. Kissingers bestselling 1957 book on the subject, nuclear weapons and foreign policy, was not without its flaws. Kissinger by niall ferguson penguin books australia. Always thorough, often surprising, at times deeply moving, this is an extraordinary biography of the most significant scholarstatesmanstrategist of our time, by one of our most. A strange new phenomenon seems to have struck him and his media chums. Indeed it could be said that kissinger comes alive through this epic biography.
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