Kissinger as philosophical idealist? Perhaps not

Any biography of Kissinger ought to be compelling. That it’s not is rather disappointing

The first instalment of Niall Ferguson’s biography of Henry Kissinger works hard to humanise its subject, but with limited successGetty

For the past five decades, Henry Kissinger has been a larger-than-life figure. Now in his 90s, he’s arguably a larger-than-Kissinger figure, with millions of words having been written about him, and his myth having long outpaced reality. With his later life looming so large in the history books, it’s easy to forget the impact of Kissinger’s formative years on the man who so famously served as the US’s national security adviser and as ...