Super K

A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, an American Machiavelli, a diplomatic superstar – how Henry Kissinger built his legacy

Henry Kissinger spent just eight years in office, as US National Security Advisor, Secretary of State, and briefly both at once. Yet somehow he became the most garlanded – and most notorious – diplomat of the twentieth century, dominating the public stage long after leaving government. How did this happen? For nearly half a century, Kissinger relentlessly burnished his reputation, determined to secure his place in the pantheon of great statesmen.

Barbara J. Keys unveils Kissinger as a master of reputation management: lavishing access and charm on sympathetic journalists, publishers, and broadcasters, while deploying legal threats and backroom pressure against critics. He hosted biographers in his sprawling estate in Connecticut, leveraged his secretive consulting business into continuing influence, and carefully cultivated allies across the American establishment. Along the way, he seduced the institutions meant to hold power to account – and succeeded in building a legacy no one can ignore.

Barbara J. Keys is a professor of US history at Durham University. Her previous books include Reclaiming American Virtue: The Human Rights Revolution of the 1970s.