Does America Need a Foreign Policy?
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Most of Kissinger's advice is very general (we should work to maintain a balance of power in Asia), and he simply assumes things that are really worth discussing (e.g., Europe is key to America's security). Kissinger has a 19th century view of the world, where the global is chessboard and the great powers move the pieces. learned very little from this book -- most of what was said you could get from the talking heads on CNN and Fox.
This book had some very thought provoking statements and ideals, and that was enough to keep me listening through some of the drier/longer parts. Towards the end, it seems to drift a little from the intended purpose and left me questioning, “Where is he going?” Unfortunately, the book starts strong and seems to go slowly downhill from there.
Kissinger's name brings back memories of the heyday of foreign policy so I was interested in hearing what time has taught him. Apparently nothing. His views are still local, shortsighted and defensive. The pain I endured listening to Kissinger 's voice in the beginning and end of this audiobook did, however, make me marvel at it's use as an effective torture device . . .
An excellent book by an brilliant, erudite author -- the vocabulary/word choice amazes, and the views (while I might not agree with them) are well-supported and shaped by his lifelong involvement in foreign policy. I often replayed segments (the audio book layout enables easy replays) because of the complexity of the content -- you do have to concentrate on the theses!
The author has written a well thought out book. His vocabulary is astounding. I learned quite a bit about foreign policy and jotted down a few words to look up in the dictionary. I had to replay parts of the book because the reader's voice seems to drone on at times, making it hard to focus on the subject matter.
I couldn't listen to this narrator for more than five minutes, and the content seemed much too boring for the car.
I found it quite interesting. Considering the world economy and America's involvement in wars, I would recommend the cd to all listeners.
First, let me say that I believe Henry Kissinger is a brilliant man. Unfortunately, perhaps because of that brillance it is somewhat hard to fully comprehend what he proposes. If I was reading this book, I'd probably be re-reading sections. There is a lot of, to paraphrase, 3 rules of this, 4 lessons of that, 6 approaches to this, etc. He does have an interesting perspective, even if I didn't agree with all of his proposals.
I learned nothing from this book. Henry speaks in academic generalities that do very little for me.