It seems like ages since I have done a book post. Well, truthfully it seems like I haven't really been reading at all, even though, in fact, I have. But my approach has been scattered, as it seems much of life has been the last few weeks. I miss that sense of focus.
To that end, I finally finished reading Kissinger: The Idealist 1923-1968. It is a stunning book, and I read most of it in a concentrated and thoughtful way, at least until I got to 1968, when I put it aside. This was not really intentional. It was more that my life was scattered, and therefore my mind was scattered, and Kissinger simply eluded my ability to concentrate. It was only in the last few days that I was able to return to the book and read the concluding chapters.
I highly recommend this book if one is at all interested in 20th century history or US foreign policy, regardless of what one may think of Kissinger himself. It seems that he is a person about whom many people hold very strong views, opinions that often seem to veer into extremes. It is my experience that such views often say as much, or more, about the opinion holder as about the object of said opinion. But it is also true that we want to simplify, to make things clear and easy on our minds and consciences, and humans are rarely that simple. So I maintain my stance. Regardless of what you think about Kissinger, understanding his role in US foreign policy is critical in understanding who we are, as a country involved in foreign policy, today. Ferguson's aim in writing this, the first volume of Kissinger's biography, is in helping the reader understand how Henry Kissinger developed into the person he became. And, like each of us, that process was not necessarily straightforward and was shaped by the world in which he lived and the people and events he encountered. This book then, is not merely a biography of a man, but of a time, an age, if you will, and the beliefs, biases, and mindset that shaped and defined that age. As such it is a book about history, about what happened, and what didn't happen, and therefore it is a book that can make us uncomfortable because, like all good history, it leads us to question our basic assumptions.
Darn it! Would that we could all be simple. Would that there could be a straightforward narrative, and we could imagine that we are marching on a steady path toward the best possible destiny.
In the same way that our opinions about other people often reflect our own mindset more than anything else, so too for books. I loved this book. But the reasons I loved this book are probably more reflective of my own interests and biases than they are indicative of the subject matter, or the writing (which is good). I loved this book for its sense of historicity, something very dear to my heart. Perhaps this is simply because I am the daughter of a historian, and I did absorb something from my childhood, even though, at the time, I often rebelled at studying history. I loved this book because of its focus on the time, on the milieu, on the idea, seemingly shared by both the author and Kissinger himself, that history is not just about facts and dates, and not just about what happened, although what happened is important. But why something happened is also important. What assumptions were made? Why were certain decisions made? What else could have happened? Why didn't it? History is about what happened, but like humans in general, our history is not simple. Although what happened may be more important than what didn't happen, we need to be aware that what happened was not, usually is not, a given, and that at any given time there is usually more than one potential outcome. Even more, the outcome that occurs may not have been the best outcome in the long-term sense, but it is the outcome that will be remembered. If we don't understand this, we cannot understand history, and if we cannot understand history, and see our own history and accept it for all its goods and all its flaws, we cannot understand ourselves.
And of course, if we do not at least attempt to understand ourselves, what hope is there?
