BROADCASTS.com

b'Join us as we talk with Prof. Thomas Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Vanderbilt University\\n\\nABOUT THE BOOK\\n\\nThe definitive biography of Henry Kissinger\\u2015at least for those who neither revere nor revile him\\n\\nOver the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America\\u2019s most consistently praised\\u2015and reviled\\u2015public figure. He was hailed as a \\u201cmiracle worker\\u201d for his peacemaking in the Middle East, pursuit of d\\xe9tente with the Soviet Union, negotiation of an end to the Vietnam War, and secret plan to open the United States to China. He was assailed from the left and from the right for his indifference to human rights, complicity in the pointless sacrifice of American and Vietnamese lives, and reliance on deception and intrigue. Was he a brilliant master strategist\\u2015\\u201cthe 20th century\\u2019s greatest 19th century statesman\\u201d\\u2015or a cold-blooded monster who eroded America\\u2019s moral standing for the sake of self-promotion?\\n\\nIn this masterfully researched biography, the renowned diplomatic historian Thomas Schwartz offers an authoritative, and fair-minded, answer to this question. While other biographers have engaged in hagiography or demonology, Schwartz takes a measured view of his subject. He recognizes Kissinger\\u2019s successes and acknowledges that Kissinger thought seriously and with great insight about the foreign policy issues of his time, while also recognizing his failures, his penchant for backbiting, and his reliance on ingratiating and fawning praise of the president as a source of power. Throughout, Schwartz stresses Kissinger\\u2019s artful invention of himself as a celebrity diplomat and his domination of the medium of television news. He also notes Kissinger\\u2019s sensitivity to domestic and partisan politics, complicating\\u2015and undermining\\u2015the image of the far-seeing statesman who stands above the squabbles of popular strife.\\n\\nRounded and textured, and rich with new insights into key dilemmas of American power, Henry Kissinger and American Power stands as an essential guide to a man whose legacy is as complex as the last sixty years of US history itself.\\n\\nABOUT PROFESSOR THOMAS SCHWARTZ, PHD\\n\\nSee his bio on TNWAC.org\\n\\nTNWAC needs your support now more than ever. With a suggested donation of $100, you can help the Council continue to offer free and public programming to discuss global issues of critical importance to Americans\\u2019 security and prosperity.'