Jussi Hanhimaki is Professor of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. An editor of the journal Cold War History, he is the author or co-author of five books, and won the 2002 Bernath Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.
"A striking indictment. Hanhimäki is one of the most persuasive of
the many detractors of Henry Kissinger."--Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
"Absorbing and rich.... Hanhimäki provides breaking news by
revealing Kissinger's efforts throughout the early 1970s to
engineer a way of extracting US forces from Vietnam 'without
immediate embarrassment,' meaning he was willing to betray South
Vietnam."--Kirkus Reviews
"The tone is critical, it is not at all polemical. Hanhimaki gives
Kissinger due credit for his very real accomplishments while not
concealing unpleasant facts, placing this work midway between
Seymour Hersh's Price of Power and Marvin and Bernard Kalb's more
admiring Kissinger."--Library Journal
"No one can read The Flawed Architect without being impressed by
the scope and complexity of the issues that ended up on Kissinger's
desk. He was--as every secretary of state should be--a superb
juggler. However, he displayed disdain for democracy and impatience
with a free press and an active Congress. He sought refuge in
secrecy, back channels and outright lies. He approved the
wiretapping of his own staff. Many have considered these
failings
peccadilloes compared to his brilliance as a diplomat. By showing
us precisely how Kissinger's globalist vision blinkered him to
regional realities and how this undermined the effectiveness of his
diplomacy, Hanhimaki
makes us think again."--Raleigh News & Observer
"Was Kissinger a war criminal or a calculating realist? Was he the
creative architect of a new world order or a traditional cold
warrior? Was he an imaginative diplomat or a secretive opportunist
bent on maximizing his personal power? Using a broad array of new
archival materials and brilliantly assessing Kissinger's policies
in the Third World, Hanhimaki persuasively argues that 'Super-K'
was a superb tactician and flawed strategist. This book is
essential
reading for an understanding of the evolution of the Cold War."
--Melvyn P. Leffler, Stettinius Professor of American History,
University of Virginia
"Hanhimaki's study of Kissinger in power is first-rate scholarship.
The author has mined rich veins of previously unavailable
government documents to explain in detail a controversial set of
foreign policies. Crisp prose and a sure command of materials make
this important book a pleasure to read. In short: a splendid
contribution to the literature of post-1945 U.S. diplomatic
history." --David Mayers, Boston University
"A fine and illuminating reappraisal of one of the most lastingly
controversial figures in the history of U.S. foreign policymaking.
Rooted in a slew of recently declassified documentation on
Kissingers tenure, The Flawed Architect gives us the good (détente,
the opening to China, the Arab-Israeli shuttles), the bad (the
secret bombing of Cambodia, the protracted agony of Vietnam, the
coup in Chile), and the ugly (a tangled web of secrecy and
deception all too redolent of Nixon's White House). As the United
States struggles anew to find the right balance between American
interests and American values, this book is as timely as it is
engrossing." --Warren
Bass, author of Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the
Making of the U.S.-Israel Alliance
"Hanhimaki offers the most detailed, considered, and persuasive
account of Henry Kissinger's diplomacy in print. Most impressive,
Hanhimaki offers a fair and balanced judgment of a man who more
frequently inspires polemics. Those who wish to understand Henry
Kissinger, the Cold War, and its legacies must read this book."
--Jeremi Suri, author of Power and Protest: Global Revolution and
the Rise of Détente
"It is good to have a full, reliable account of Henry Kissinger's
diplomacy by a well respected historian who has written extensively
on post-1945 international affairs. Hanhimaki carefully examines
Kissinger's accomplishments, frustrations, and failures in the
context of his ideology and personality, as well as of his
relationship with Richard Nixon and other world leaders." --Akira
Iriye, Professor of History, Harvard University
"A striking indictment. Hanhimäki is one of the most persuasive of
the many detractors of Henry Kissinger."--Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
"Absorbing and rich.... Hanhimäki provides breaking news by
revealing Kissinger's efforts throughout the early 1970s to
engineer a way of extracting US forces from Vietnam 'without
immediate embarrassment,' meaning he was willing to betray South
Vietnam."--Kirkus Reviews
"The tone is critical, it is not at all polemical. Hanhimaki gives
Kissinger due credit for his very real accomplishments while not
concealing unpleasant facts, placing this work midway between
Seymour Hersh's Price of Power and Marvin and Bernard Kalb's more
admiring Kissinger."--Library Journal
"No one can read The Flawed Architect without being impressed by
the scope and complexity of the issues that ended up on Kissinger's
desk. He was--as every secretary of state should be--a superb
juggler. However, he displayed disdain for democracy and impatience
with a free press and an active Congress. He sought refuge in
secrecy, back channels and outright lies. He approved the
wiretapping of his own staff. Many have considered these
failings
peccadilloes compared to his brilliance as a diplomat. By showing
us precisely how Kissinger's globalist vision blinkered him to
regional realities and how this undermined the effectiveness of his
diplomacy, Hanhimaki
makes us think again."--Raleigh News & Observer
"Was Kissinger a war criminal or a calculating realist? Was he the
creative architect of a new world order or a traditional cold
warrior? Was he an imaginative diplomat or a secretive opportunist
bent on maximizing his personal power? Using a broad array of new
archival materials and brilliantly assessing Kissinger's policies
in the Third World, Hanhimaki persuasively argues that 'Super-K'
was a superb tactician and flawed strategist. This book is
essential
reading for an understanding of the evolution of the Cold War."
--Melvyn P. Leffler, Stettinius Professor of American History,
University of Virginia
"Hanhimaki's study of Kissinger in power is first-rate scholarship.
The author has mined rich veins of previously unavailable
government documents to explain in detail a controversial set of
foreign policies. Crisp prose and a sure command of materials make
this important book a pleasure to read. In short: a splendid
contribution to the literature of post-1945 U.S. diplomatic
history." --David Mayers, Boston University
"A fine and illuminating reappraisal of one of the most lastingly
controversial figures in the history of U.S. foreign policymaking.
Rooted in a slew of recently declassified documentation on
Kissingers tenure, The Flawed Architect gives us the good (détente,
the opening to China, the Arab-Israeli shuttles), the bad (the
secret bombing of Cambodia, the protracted agony of Vietnam, the
coup in Chile), and the ugly (a tangled web of secrecy and
deception all too redolent of Nixon's White House). As the United
States struggles anew to find the right balance between American
interests and American values, this book is as timely as it is
engrossing." --Warren
Bass, author of Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the
Making of the U.S.-Israel Alliance
"Hanhimaki offers the most detailed, considered, and persuasive
account of Henry Kissinger's diplomacy in print. Most impressive,
Hanhimaki offers a fair and balanced judgment of a man who more
frequently inspires polemics. Those who wish to understand Henry
Kissinger, the Cold War, and its legacies must read this book."
--Jeremi Suri, author of Power and Protest: Global Revolution and
the Rise of Détente
"It is good to have a full, reliable account of Henry Kissinger's
diplomacy by a well respected historian who has written extensively
on post-1945 international affairs. Hanhimaki carefully examines
Kissinger's accomplishments, frustrations, and failures in the
context of his ideology and personality, as well as of his
relationship with Richard Nixon and other world leaders." --Akira
Iriye, Professor of History, Harvard University
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