I will not say which highly placed government official called this book a sleeper, and unless you're an international relations freak, this is exactly the book you need guaranteed to do in a few minutes what a nice cup of tea (and a sleeping pill) before bed will. That is, if you like to sleep with this tome on your nightstand.

But since I am an international relations freak, I found this book extremely informative with enough subject matter for one of those um, dinner conversations where you're too polite to throw cutleries at each other when you don't agree on things but deliver your opinions with knife precision anyway. And should there be someone unfortunate enough to enter my bedroom unannounced, this book with its dimension and weight also makes for good self defense material. ´nuff said. ( )

Masterpiece. Truly impressive, though of course biased by Kissingers personal views. Should be on the pillow of every statesman. A huge argument for the compulsory teaching of International Relations History to anyone concerned with the "res publica". ( )

This is a hefty book so it took me a long time to read but Henry Kissinger was extremely thorough in his research and details. There is a large amount of information in this book, and it covers diplomacy worldwide, not just American diplomacy, which I liked. It could get a little dry from time to time but I'm glad I waded through the book.

If you are interested in international relations and diplomacy, then this would be an excellent book for you. Just be prepared for it to take a long time to get through. ( )

An interesting reference. An even better cure for insomnia. ( )

I think the previous reviewer really was off the mark. Examining Diplomacy as a moral treatise in international foreign policy is much like speedreading through Immanuel Kant. You're missing the point.

Diplomacy examines the evolution of international foreign policy, mainly from the balance-of-power perspective, starting with the Vienna Congress and analyzing its "Pax Europa" that it established up until the First World War. Then it examines, critiques, and analyzes 20th century foreign policy in the United States, with discussions of World War II, Potsdam, Korea, and of course Vietnam. Personally I strongly urge people to skip the Vietnam chapters, as they're so glossed over with omissions because of his criminal liability in certain parts of the globe as to make them fairly bland.

If you want a good commentary on power politics and realist foreign policy to either critique or understand realist policy, here it is. If, like Haelius you love Carter-era/U.N. foreign policy methodology and think any other method is morally analogous to fellating Shaitan, you will probably hate this book. ( )