I just finished  Niall Ferguson’s “Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist.”

I bought this 882 page authorised biography for two reasons.

First, I enjoy Professor Niall Ferguson’s writing. He is a rare academic who can write well.

Second, I wanted to gain an insight into how the US government landed up in the Vietnam war.

The book is not for the faint-hearted, but you’ll be rewarded by reading it.

Amongst other things, it was interesting to better understand:

1. How an academic switched from writing about policymaking to become a policymaker. Kissinger realised how very little he actually understood about policy making when he became a policymaker.
2. The influence that his writing, in promoting his ideas, and himself had.
3. President Nixon hired him on the basis of the ideas laid out in his .
4. How Havard’s Study Group on Presidential Transition wrote the handbook for President Nixon. An example can be found here. A transition handbook is now available for Mayors.
5. How fickle the US administration has been in their understanding of Europe.
6. How so many key decisions were taken on so many false assumptions and poor information.

A serious student of government and policy-making will be glad they read it.

I guess I better move onto Robert Caro’s LBJ before Volume II arrives.