Abstract
Review of Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century.
Henry Kissinger, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford administrations, Nobel Peace Laureate, co-Man of the Year for Time Magazine, and widely regarded "dean of American foreign policy" is an eloquent writer. He is persuasive, avuncular, and sometimes grandiose. His internal logic is mostly consistent and coherent. He is perhaps one of the greatest diplomats of his generation.
Henry Kissinger is also a man of the Cold War generation. This book reflects his latest attempt to bring meaning to the multipolar world that has emerged around him, but it equally reflects his more general inability to do so, as he continues to cling to notions of unipolarity with America at the center. An unfortunate theme is Kissinger's predictable distraction by geopolitical and geostrategic considerations that enjoyed more relevance during his tenure in office than today.