Diplomacy
by Henry Kissinger · first published 1994
40% recommend60% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Broad history of statecraft and the balance of power, from the 17th century onward; readers value its strategic thinking and worldview, and it suits anyone interested in international politics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In this controversial and monumental book - arguably his most important - Henry Kissinger illuminates just what diplomacy is. Moving from a sweeping overview of his own interpretation of history to personal accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Kissinger describes the ways in which the art of diplomacy and the balance of power have created the world we live in, and shows how Americans, protected by the size and isolation of their country, as well as by their own idealism and mistrust of the Old World, have sought to conduct a unique kind of foreign policy based on the way they wante
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…Field manuals can be interesting and you can learn a lot from them. Knot books. "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War" by Robert Gates is interesting. "The Art of Intelligence", by Henry Crumpton. "Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger is an interesting read. It starts with the balance of power in Europe, raison d'état, Richelieu, "U.S. exceptionalism". It is well written. - [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17593922
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗…amusing that I'm writing these lines near a street named "Richelieu" in Algiers. We'll have to go back to Cardinal de Richelieu for whom the "raison d'État"[0] was a cornerstone. I'd recommend the book "Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger. - [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_interest
on “Ask HN: Is truth a basic human right?” ↗…probably not remembering all: The signal and the noise - Nate Silver; Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb; Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb; 1984 - Orwell; Man's search for meaning - Viktor Frankl; Diplomacy - Henry Kissinger (not only international politics but also deep-thinking strategy that can be used anywhere); Meditations - Marcus Aurelius; Superforecasting - Philip Tetlock; Propaganda - Edward…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗…(clearly-laid-out) biases just fine, it's rather incomplete as a general history book. If you want to fill in some gaps, and want to ensure you don't end up as some kind of do-gooder, add Kissinger's Diplomacy. It's very interesting, and the ideas in it probably won't leave you wanted for war crimes in several first-world countries.
on “Restore the Fourth” ↗Kissinger's book "Diplomacy”(1994) is incredibly good and well-written Must read for anyone interested in international politics. To understand Kissinger, you must understand his worldview. He had an acute sense of tragedy, and…
on “Henry Kissinger Has Died” ↗Kissinger is not a good guy. He is, however, competent, and Diplomacy is very much worth reading. Although it probably doesn't leave you a nicer person.
on “The myth of Nazi efficiency” ↗Not youtube videos but I would recommend Henry Kissinger's book Diplomacy which talks about this to some extent (although that is not the primary focus of the book).
on “The Vela Incident (1979)” ↗Thanks for pointing this out, his book title Diplomacy was very enlightening. One thing of note in the spew of bile aimed at Kissinger in the HN comment thread is that it appears to emanate from people who were children or not even born during the cold war,…
on “Henry Kissinger Has Died” ↗I'm reminded of a quote from Henry Kissinger's book Diplomacy: "What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify. Popular literature and films often depict the opposite--policymakers as the helpless tools of intelligence experts. In the…
on “CIA bribed its own team to reject lab-leak theory, whistleblower claims” ↗…continent. A Europe with Russia even though it's impossible now wouldn't be this vulnerable. And at some point this has to be resolved because it's untenable long term. Kissinger wrote a book in 1994 Diplomacy where he pointed out that the biggest threat to European independence is over-reliance on the US, not China or Russia simply because of the predominance of the US militarily and economically. And if the…
on “Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries” ↗Cui bono? Kissinger noted in Diplomacy (1994) that Germany's key role in European history has been main defender of Central Europe against Russia. And ofc, Russia was a major foe in the last wars. To me, there's no way Germany missed the…
on “How messed up was Germany's energy policy?” ↗If you're the kind of person who reads Diplomacy by Kissinger for an introduction to geopolitics or the Bible to understand christianity, then I'd highly recommend Human Action by Ludwig von Mises for a very strong understanding of economics. One of…
on “Ask HN: Best book(s) to learn about the basics of economics?” ↗> unlike all other US wars since Korea, the US can't end this war by pulling out From what I read in Kissinger’s Diplomacy, Vietnam was also a war they couldn’t just pull out of if they wanted to. The public wanted deescalation, but the Americans under Nixon had to escalate the war to get enough of an advantage to pull out…
on “They all said Hormuz closure would be brief. What if they were wrong?” ↗> I dont get why people keep thinking the UK has a special relationship with the US anymore Probably because fucking Henry Kissinger insisted it exists (Diplomacy, chapters for post WWII). And he is a guy that knows something about US foreign policy.
on “Julian Assange case: Sweden offers to question him in UK” ↗A Russian author quoted by Kissinger in Diplomacy claims that Russia is the continuation of The Roman Empire, not sure this is just nationalism or a grounded thesis.
on “1491: It’s likely that everything you know about American prehistory is wrong” ↗