Summer Reading: Stepheny Keeping Company With Henry Kissinger

New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award Winner: Henry Kissinger’s memoirs of summit meetings and secret negotiations from 1969–1973.

This book may not be considered ‘summer reading,’ but I can hardly put it down. If you prefer a great mystery series, I suggest author Donna Leon. I have become great friends with Guido Brunetti, a fictional Italian detective, created by Swiss/American writer Donna Leon. He is a commissario (detective superintendent) in the Italian State Police, stationed in Venice and a native of that city. Brunetti is the protagonist of (as of April 2023) 32 novels. I would read them in order to enjoy the changes in the characters as the series continues.

The saying “One Thing Leads To Another” has truly defined my reading journey in recent years. A few weeks ago, I finished David Halberstam’s book, The Best and the Brightest, which delves into the Vietnam War. It begins with President Kennedy’s 1960 election, highlighting how he brought in the “Best and Brightest” with their impressive educations and backgrounds. Despite their intelligence, these men accepted a decade-old Vietnam policy without considering the significant changes that had occurred. Decision after decision, began to feel like a comedy of errors, but the errors changed American foreign policy.

Now, I’m diving into a fitting follow-up: Henry Kissinger’s White House Years. It’s widely regarded as one of the most important books from the Nixon Administration, covering Kissinger’s first four years as the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Although I’m reading it on my new Kindle, Amazon notes that the book is 2,421 pages long. If it continues to be as well written and fascinating, as it has begun, the page count won’t matter. In the first volume of Kissinger’s memoirs, he details several significant events: secret negotiations with North Vietnam in Paris to end the Vietnam War, the 1970 Jordan crisis, the 1971 India-Pakistan war, back-channel and direct talks with Soviet leaders to curb the nuclear arms race, a covert trip to China, and historic summit meetings in Moscow and Beijing in 1972.

Throughout, Kissinger presents candid portraits of world leaders, including Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, Jordan’s King Hussein, Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman Mao and Chou En-lai, Willy Brandt, Charles de Gaulle, and many others. White House Years is Henry Kissinger’s invaluable and lasting contribution to the history of this crucial time. These portraits are the meat on the bone, the passwords to enter the time period in amazing company.

Though I am only on page 117, I have never experienced this author’s brilliant style of writing. “The White House Years,” which is widely regarded as a masterful work, blends meticulous historical detail with incisive political analysis. Critics and scholars laud Kissinger for his remarkable ability to convey the intricacies of international diplomacy and the complex interplay of global politics through his writing. I can’t describe this adequately, but Kissinger uses the English language as if every word belongs next to each other. As The New York Times noted, “Kissinger’s prose is elegant and his insights profound, making ‘The White House Years’ not just a memoir, but a critical piece of historical scholarship.”

Perhaps you will take interest in Kissinger and start with this book.