Kissinger: 1973, the Crucial Year

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Simon and Schuster, Jun 16, 2009 - Biography & Autobiography - 457 pages
Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year is the gripping history of one of America's most enigmatic and influential foreign policy advisers during a pivotal year in the country's postwar history.

By any measure, 1973 was not an ordinary year. It should have been Kissinger's year of triumph -- a time to bask in his hard-won achievements and build on his successes. Kissinger's strategy of opening the door to China and détente with the Soviet Union had been judged an overwhelming success. After furthering his policy of realpolitik through backchannel diplomacy during Nixon's first term, Kissinger was finally awarded the plum position of secretary of state. But then major events shattered whatever peace and calm America had attained in the early part of the decade: first came defeat in Vietnam; then Watergate, culminating in the president's resignation; war in the Middle East; and finally an economic collapse caused by the Arab oil embargo. All of these momentous blows to the country's security occurred on Henry Kissinger's watch. Rather than progressing on all fronts, as he had expected, Kissinger would confront some of the most critical policy challenges of his career.

Based on full access to the subject and his papers, Kissinger is an intimate portrait of a man, a country, and a presidency at a critical point. From the blowup in the Middle East, to détente with Russia, to the opening of the door to China, the United States' response to the pivotal events of 1973 -- and Kissinger's crucial role in the formulation of that response -- continues to shape and influence United States foreign policy today.

 

Contents

A Very Odd Couple
1
Vietnam
35
The Opening to China
64
A FeatherBrained Crime
89
The Year of Europe
106
Storm Clouds over the Middle East
122
Coming to Grips with the Polar Bear
136
A Long Hot Summer
167
A Dagger Pointing at the Heart of Antarctica
197
The War of Atonement
227
DEFCON 3
266
To Sadat
307
On to China
332
To Geneva and Shuttle
342
The Awful Grace of God
365
Copyright

To Secretary of State
186

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About the author (2009)

Alistair Horne, the author of, most recently, Seven Ages of Paris, The Age of Napoleon, and The French Revolution, is a fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He was awarded the French LÉgion d’honneur in 1993 and received a knighthood in 2003 for his work on French history. His books include Back into Power, Small Earthquake in Chile, The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916, To Lose a Battle: France 1940, The French Army and Politics, 1870–1970, A Bundle from Britain, an d A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962. His latest books are. He lives in Oxfordshire.

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