Years of Upheaval

1782 Years of Upheaval, by Henry Kissinger (read 31 May 1983) This is the author's account of 1973 and 1974 up to the time of Nixon's resignation. It is like his White House Years (read 29 Aug 1982) and I found it compelling. He tells of his visit to Hanoi, his China trips, the frustration of working with European allies, especially France, and the Middle East--all the shuttle diplomacy, which one must feel Henry did well. He insists we did not cause the fall of Allende in Chile. He tells of becoming Secretary of State in September 1973, his trips to Russia, and the extreme excitement of October 1973, when the Arab-Israeli war occurred. The chapter (XI) on "The Middle East War" I thought ranking in high drama--somehow that never came show more through to me as I lived the month. (Those months were dominated by Watergate for many, including me.) The Egyptian negotiations, and the even more exhausting negotiations over the Golan heights, are all told of in turgid but enlightening prose. I cannot deny the 1255 pages at times seemed unending, but am glad I persevered. It was a well worthwhile book, and I believe Kissinger did valuable work. The book also covers the oil embargo, and gives perspective to the energy crisis--"Never before in history has a group of relatively weak nations been able to impose with so little protest such a dramatic change in the way of life of the overwhelming majority of the rest of mankind." show less

Years of Upheaval, the second volume of memoirs by Henry Kissinger, continues his personal account of public service, spanning the time of Nixon’s re-election to Nixon’s resignation following the Watergate scandal. The memoirs record a short span of time although it encompasses a plethora of geopolitical, domestic, and personal events. In the words of Homer Simpson, this volume has it all, “the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles.”

Riding on the triumph of the Paris Agreement, the document that began the peace process in Vietnam, Kissinger returned home to the United States. In a few short months, he witnessed President Nixon win the 1972 Presidential Election in a record landslide victory. The afterglow of show more re-election victory began to fade when papers began reporting about a burglary in the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. The office was in the Watergate building. The imperious tough guy edifice of Richard Nixon, personifying the dam that held back the onslaught of international Communism, had a hairline crack in it. If Nixon could re-imagine Cold War foreign policy, with the help of Kissinger, his National Security advisor, surely this third-rate burglary needn’t worry a President who opened China, ended the Vietnam War securing “peace with honor,” and defused the menace of nuclear annihilation with détente.

For the complete review, click on the link below:

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“A critic who can suck like that, as was once dryly said by one of my moral mentors, need never dine alone. Nor need his subject. Except that, every now and then, the recipient (and donor) of so much sycophancy feels a tremor of anxiety. He leaves the well-furnished table and scurries to the bathroom.”

Christopher Hitchens referring to a review by Norman Podhoretz of Henry Kissinger’s second volume of memoirs. Harper’s, February 2000.

“A critic who can suck like that, as was once dryly said by one of my moral mentors, need never dine alone. Nor need his subject. Except
that, every now and then, the recipient (and donor) of so much sycophancy feels a tremor of anxiety. He leaves the well-furnished table and scurries to the bathroom.”
Christopher Hitchens referring to a review by Norman Podhoretz of Henry Kissinger’s second volume of memoirs. Harper’s, February 2000.

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