The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top-Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow @ richardeward.com

The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top-Secret Talks With Beijing and Moscow
from New Press

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Very useful for digging into certain Cold War negotiations
  When this book came out it caused a bit of a stir. However, as the editors note, a careful review of the material actual tends toward moderation. Supporters can see a bit to criticize and the critics can see things aren't quite as black as they had supposed. I found the transcripts to be fascinating because we get to read conversations that were the subject of much debate and speculation for the past several decades.
  However, transcripts are subject to several issues. First, they are all in English. We... more info

• Fascinating
  Although much of Burr's analysis leaves a lot to be desired, this book is a must have for a first hand look at Kissinger's diplomatic legacy. There is still much information that has not been declassified and therefore _The Kissinger Transcripts_ presents only a partial picture at best, but Burr's compilation is well worth the effort to see Kissinger's many different diplomatic faces show themselves as he deals with different characters such as Mao, Brezhnev, Zhou Enlai, Gromyko, Deng Xiaoping and others.... more info

• Essential reading on Foreign Policy
  The lengths to which Kissinger went to recruit the Chinese on the American side in the Cold War are instructive to those who believe that America played its cards well on the international arena in the Cold War. Much of the story that William Burr has pieced together--quite admirably in my opinion--is sad reading from the American point of view. Less so, of course, from the Chinese perspective. At points, it is easy to forget which of the parties was the superpower, and which the third world nation rising... more info

• Necessary material for students of international relations
  Individuals indeed can change the world, as evidenced by some of the transcripts in this excellent collection of original documents. William Burr has delivered an important record of the actions of the principle actors during the United States' shift from Kennan-inspired containment policy to balance-of-power politics.

  Reaping the benefits of the Freedom of Information Act and declassification projects at the federal agencies responsible for U.S. foreign policy, Burr and his colleagues at the National... more info

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