9780061449802
Play Sample

Nixon and Kissinger audiobook

(2389 ratings)
33% Cheaper than Audible
Get for $0.00
  • $9.99 per book vs $14.95 at Audible
    Good for any title to download and keep
  • Listen at up to 4.5x speed
    Good for any title to download and keep
  • Fall asleep to your favorite books
    Set a sleep timer while you listen
  • Unlimited listening to our Classics.
    Listen to thousands of classics for no extra cost. Ever
Loading ...
Regular Price: 27.99 USD

Nixon and Kissinger Audiobook Summary

More than thirty years after working side by side in the White House, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger still stand as two of the most compelling, contradictory, and powerful leaders in America in the second half of the twentieth century. Both were largely self-made men, brimming with ambition, driven by their own inner demons, and often ruthless in pursuit of their goals. From January 1969 to August 1974, their collaboration and rivalry resulted in the making of foreign policy that would leave a defining mark on the Nixon presidency.

Tapping into a wealth of recently declassified documents and tapes, Robert Dallek uncovers fascinating details about Nixon and Kissinger’s tumultuous personal relationship and the extent to which they struggled to outdo each other in the reach for foreign policy achievements. With unprecedented detail, Dallek reveals Nixon’s erratic behavior during Watergate and the extent to which Kissinger was complicit in trying to help Nixon use national security to prevent his impeachment or resignation.

Illuminating, authoritative, revelatory, and utterly engrossing, Nixon and Kissinger provides a startling new picture of the immense power and sway these two men held in affecting world history.

Other Top Audiobooks

Nixon and Kissinger Audiobook Narrator

Eric Conger is the narrator of Nixon and Kissinger audiobook that was written by Robert Dallek

Eric Conger’s stage credits include appearances Off-Broadway and at the Long Wharf Theater. He has appeared as a regular on Another World and Loving, and has translated the works of Feydeau.

About the Author(s) of Nixon and Kissinger

Robert Dallek is the author of Nixon and Kissinger

Nixon and Kissinger Full Details

Narrator Eric Conger
Length 11 hours 13 minutes
Author Robert Dallek
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date April 24, 2007
ISBN 9780061449802

Subjects

The publisher of the Nixon and Kissinger is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Biography & Autobiography, General

Additional info

The publisher of the Nixon and Kissinger is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780061449802.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Cora

April 24, 2013

I love Richard Nixon. Actually, let me rephrase that. I love reading about Richard Nixon. The White House taping system ensures that we have as unfiltered a view of the man as one could possibly expect from a historical figure, and it happens to be the one who had a legendarily extreme personality. He was capable of great vision--at one point on the tapes he is rhapsodizing about the historic nature of the China summit--and great pettiness, since five minutes later he's scheming to ensure that Henry Kissinger and Secretary of State William Rogers don't take credit. The mixture of the two opposing elements often expressed itself as self-pity, megalomania, paranoia, and some combination of the three. On a number of occasions, he tells an underling that he intends to smash 'the American establishment' which stands in opposition with average Joes like him. (One wonders what definition of "establishment" wouldn't include a well-educated politician with a thirty year career in the Republican party.)Standing along Nixon, as the Renfield to Nixon's Dracula, was Henry Kissinger. I knew less about him before reading NIXON AND KISSINGER, but I was aware of his cultivated air of cosmopolitanism and realism, and it was revealing to learn that he was capable of being the most unctuous toady. Kissinger seems to have held Nixon in some amount of contempt, but he was always ready to validate Nixon's worst impulses and praise him as a historic figure striding across the world stage, with each insight more brilliant than the one before them. Meanwhile, to anyone else, Kissinger was an insufferable tyrant--Dallek tells a story about Tony Lake, who fainted from nervous exhaustion after working many seven-day work weeks in a row; Kissinger was seen standing over him, screaming at him to get up and get back to work.Dallek argues effectively that this combustible relationship affected even the most successful of Nixon's foreign policies, and at worst caused much unnecessary bloodshed as the result of Cold War biases or straight-up cynicism. Nixon saw himself as a great man of history, and had little patience for dealing with lesser nations. (The sense of personal affront comes out a lot in his descriptions of North Vietnam: "this shit-ass country", "a fourth-rate power," "a fifth-rate agricultural country", etc.) Kissinger was of a similar mindset; he reportedly told the Chilean ambassador in 1969 that "[n]othing important can ever come from the South. History has never been produced in the South. The axis of history starts in Moscow, goes to Bonn, crosses over to Washington, and then goes to Tokyo. What happens in the South is of no importance. You're wasting your time."So as a result, these two cold-hearted realists often operated under the most absurd misconceptions. They often pestered the Soviet Union to bring the Vietnam War to a close, as if the Soviets were able to do so. When Marxist Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile in 1970, Nixon became alarmed that the combination of Chile and Cuba turned Latin America into a "red sandwich" that could bring down capitalist governments as far away as Italy. Most dangerously, Nixon and Kissinger saw the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as a blatant power grab by Soviet-aligned India against China-aligned Pakistan. Fearing Soviet dominance in South Asia, they urged the Chinese government to send troops to the Indo-Chinese border, which may well have expanded the war into a messier regional conflict. (China politely ignored the suggestion.)It's also hard to stomach Nixon's hypocrisy on the Vietnam War. He often played the patriotism card against liberal war critics, while secretly believing the war was basically unwinnable. He attempted to intervene during the 1968 election to prevent the possibility of a peace treaty that would aid Hubert Humphrey. After 1968, his war aims were basically to prevent the fall of South Vietnam until after his re-election. His expansion of the war into Cambodia and Laos seems particularly reckless in this context.I wish Dallek had explored a little more the question of whether Nixon was the indispensable man that he portrayed himself as. There's an old Vulcan proverb that "only Nixon could go to China," on the theory that only Nixon with his rock solid anti-communist credentials could defeat the powerful Taiwan lobby within the United States. If true, one could argue that you have to take the bad parts of Nixon to get the good parts of Nixon. But to my mind, this is worth calling into question: the failure of Vietnam undermined a lot of Cold War thinking in the United States, and the logic of detente dates back to Kennedy's test ban treaty with the Soviets and growing unease about the arms race. (It's not even necessarily a question of finding the right foreign policy team; Hubert Humphrey apparently intended to hire Kissinger for his administration as well.)Not surprisingly, Nixon often trumpeted his foreign policy during Watergate to give the impression that he could not be replaced without undermining the (relatively) good relations with China and the Soviet Union. But, in the most amazing part of the book, Dallek discusses the degree to which Nixon had checked out of foreign policy during Watergate, leaving Kissinger to largely run foreign policy. Kissinger began to ignore intemperate instructions, to work around Nixon's excessive drinking, and give instructions in Nixon's name. During the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger held one meeting in the White House while Nixon was incapacitated by sedatives, in which he ordered the military to be put on higher alert while sending an official message to Brezhnev about preventing a wider war. More than twenty-four hours went by before he told the president what decisions his administration had made.I occasionally had issues with Dallek's style, which struck me as clunky in too many places, but I found the subject matter to be continually fascinating and the book is filled with really astonishing moments. Nixon is probably the most memorable politician of the era, and this is a good account of him doing the thing that he loved doing best, for better and for worse.

Mara

August 03, 2016

Caveats I was in third grade when Richard Nixon died and remember that my class got to go to the school library to watch a video I interpreted as being mainly about his Cocker Spaniel, Checkers.* Other than seeing the movie Dick starring teenage Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst** when I was in high-school, it's safe to say that my knowledge of our 37th president remained pretty limited. As a result, reading Partners in Power, at times, felt like seeing the "behind the music" for a band I never knew. However, with some careful cross-referencing and good ol' Google by my side, I was able to enjoy the incredible, in-depth view Robert Dallek provides of Nixon, Kissenger and their time together in the White House.Not that it was really on the table, but after reading this book I am more sure than ever that I do not want to be President. I also think it's a position that was pretty ill-suited to meet Richard Nixon's need not only to rise to a position of power but to be validated by others once there. I don't have the sort of knee-jerk desire to boo and hiss at the mention of Nixon that I might had I lived through his administration. That's not to say that he comes off as particularly likable. Nixon's "cultural anti-Semitism," and persistent beliefs that he was being persecuted by the liberal, intellectual, Northeastern elite are attributes I find beyond unappealing (I, personally, want people who know more about stuff than I do to make decisions about said "stuff"). He certainly displays little tact in describing his reticence to let Kissinger take part in early decisions regarding the Middle East.His [Kissinger's] people were crucified over there. Jesus Christ! Five- six million of them popped into big ovens!Kissinger is certainly not always a charismatic character, but his more off-putting attributes at least seem to be more justified.Kissinger took refuge in his intellectual superiority... Intellectual arrogance born of Kissinger's uncommon brainpower partly explains his capacity to overcome his own weakness and ward off attacks from hostile critics.Nixon's overwhelming need to receive credit for foreign policy while he was in office is persistent throughout his rise and fall and underlies much of his conflict with Kissinger. Kissinger describes this as "the monomaniacal obsession of the Nixon White House with public relations" (p.329). Indeed, at times the need for positive PR in combination with a free press (which I am totallyfor by the way) could seem almost like unfair disadvantages when dealing with Communist regimes "unencumbered" by consequences of public reaction. (Again, I'm big into free speech, but I see how having a reactive audience could make it hard to play poker...)This book was slow but fascinating reading for me due to my lack of familiarity with the times. I certainly don't fault Dallek for this. This book would have been unwieldy and epic if he had tried to fully delve into the world events addressed by the eponymous dynamic duo. As Kissinger described, there is something timeless and tragic about the arc of Nixon's story knowing from the beginning how he will meet his end:"It was like one of those Greek things where a man is told his fate," Henry told Hugh Sidey, "and fulfills it anyway, knowing exactly what is going to happen to him." Turns out it wasn't all puppies and rainbows in the Nixon White House. However, there was definitely one task that Kissinger and any presidential dog-walker have in common... (I'll leave that one up to you to figure out)* My presidential pet obsession was kind of a thing- I received an 8x10 glossy photo of the Bush's English Springer Spaniel puppies from the Office of the President after I was devastated to learn that "Mrs. Bush was out walking them" when I asked to meet Millie and her brood while touring the White House on a family vacation.** Especially exciting as the two leading ladies became presidential dog-walkers (pretty much my dream job at the time)

Nathan

December 01, 2007

One doesn't know where to start. Nixon and Kissinger is much more than another tome about Tricky Dick and Watergate. (In fact, several hundred pages elapse before Watergate even enters into the picture.) Dallek's research, which draws on a number of recently declassified archives, tape transcripts and interviews, examines how the personalities of two men influenced American foreign policy during the final years of the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon won his first term as president promising to end the conflict in Vietnam. For four years after that, the attempt to end the war turned into a protracted battle to win an election he was already going to win. That debates about ending the war were dominated by political concerns more than strategic or moral concerns is only one of the shocking aspects of the Nixon-Kissinger dynamic. This dynamic starts with Richard Nixon, a power hungry, newly elected president, and an ambitious, brilliant, insecure adviser named Henry Kissinger, a man who understood, as Alexander Haig said, that "access to the monarch is power." The story ends with a president so distracted and so broken that a Secretary of State is literally running the country while presidential aids try to keep track of the president's mental stability. In between these two extremes, Dallek's remarkable history clarifies how a man who started his career chasing communists went on to visit China and make the first steps toward Détente. It's a story that veers through Chile, with the CIA plotting to get rid of Allende, and through Israel, with Nixon and Kissinger jockeying Big Oil concerns with Cold War tensions against arms shipments to Israel and favoritism to Pakistan over India. We see a portrait of a president, paranoid and prejudicial, that makes clear the truth in the old Vulcan proverb, "Only Nixon could go to China." Questions arise... Does the CIA corrupt the president or does the president corrupt the CIA? Is this how talking points and "wag the dog" syndrome got started? Just how long has Bob Novak been leaking things for the White House? Would I get more of these in-jokes if I'd read Dobrynin's book? Why were so many bombing raids named after meals? Is a drunk president better than no president? Attention is also drawn to the Middle East; or rather, it's noted how often our attention wasn't on the Middle East when it should have been. It is also noted that the Vietnam conflict, when it finally ended, ended on the same terms Nixon could have ended it on when he walked into office four years earlier. Dallek's book is somewhat alarming for how often it seems that politics and platitudes outweigh strategy or solid planning, never mind a solid objective. But as Henry said to Dick, "This way, at least we're coming off like men." NC

Robert

September 02, 2022

I have been reading fat books about American politics and policy lately to strengthen my forearms. Seems to have worked. This whopper is another look back at a critical period when I was wondering if I would end up in Canada as opposed to Vietnam. My number was 211, so I was "safe."I already knew about 80% of this study's story, but the remaining 20% made a difference. The first two years of the Nixon presidency were torture for him and his national security advisory, Henry Kissinger. They could not (and did not ever) reach a point where they had positioned the South Vietnamese to be able to defend themselves under a so-called peace treaty without US military presence. Many have lamented that the final deal could have been negotiated at the outset of Nixon's presidency since it overlooked South Vietnam's vulnerability. I wonder about that, but what was done was done. We'll never know. US involvement in Vietnam was so badly conceived and executed that withdrawal never would have been easy or ended up with a South Vietnam as a sovereign state.Nixon and Kissinger were determined to get out of Vietnam, open relations with China, and reboot relations with the USSR. They didn't really want to deal with the Middle East, India and Pakistan, or Chile, but they did. As Nixon fell, Kissinger rose. Nixon managed Kissinger fairly well in opening relations with China. That's his accomplishment. The two of them were a team in detente with the USSR. By Dallek's account, Kissinger presided over the needless destruction of Allende in Chile, and by all accounts, Kissinger pushed the Middle East toward peace after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.Dallek does an excellent and troubling job in exploring Nixon's tortured personality and Kissinger's relentless ambition. Nixon was much less stable before the Watergate fiasco than I had known. He was no good with whiskey but resorted to it often. He abused Kissinger a fair amount out of jealousy. Kissinger put up with it for the sake of the power Nixon gave him. By the final year of the Nixon presidency, Nixon was flailing and not competent to be president. Kissinger, Haig and others kept this as quiet as they could, but "Washington" knew. Dallek details Nixon's demise vividly. There was a heavy toll on Kissinger as well, but again, he rose as Nixon crashed.For me as a former diplomat, I found Dallek's account of diplomacy's grueling costs realistic and persuasive. You spend a lot of time on long flights, eat bad food, can't get your body clock on schedule and know that you are being lied to and resisted up to the last moments of agreement...and sometimes beyond. Washington follows you everywhere. Mischief makers inside and outside any administration abound. Preserving the basic concepts of your positions and conveying those concepts to the media and public is tricky. In some senses Nixon and Kissinger were superhuman with superhuman strengths and flaws. Dallek's book is an excellent exploration of what that meant in terms of U.S. interests around the world.

Martin

February 26, 2015

It was worse than we thought.Dallek's insights into Nixon are scarier than Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Where the movie was a satirical fiction to shine a light on truth, Dallek's recounting of Nixon's "tactic" of presenting himself as an unbalanced man with his finger on the button is downright scary on two accounts: 1) it was nonfictional; 2) people tend to become roles that initially are pretend.That's not the only alarming revelation of this history focusing on Nixon's and Kissinger's execution of foreign policy. Dalleck carefully details how the two were obsessed with secrecy that precluded balancing influences in the conduct of the war in S.E. Asia (such as the decision to expand the war into Cambodia), and in Chile, where the US was up to its elbows in overthrowing the elected administration of Allende.Dallek makes clear that the dynamic of Nixon's paranoia feeding Kissinger's paranoia, feeding Nixon's paranoia feeding Kissinger's paranoia skewed their perceptions to the point where the two thought the history of the free world teetered on events that were just not that pivotal.Dallek does an outstanding job of explaining how international events not only influenced each other, but also swayed domestic policy. Vietnam, which is an historical enemy of China, depended largely on aid from the Soviet, with whom N&K were desperately seeking a nuclear nonproliferation agreement, which the mainland Chinese feared tipped the balance of power against them. Success in negotiating agreements with all these players was pivotal to Nixon's re-election, or so it was thought in the White House, despite a 36 percentage point lead over the Democrat's candidate George McGovern late in the campaign.Petty? Nixon was so obsessed with receiving credit for any and all advancements that his paranoia consumed energies that would have been better expended on substantive issues. At times, this concern bordered on madness, especially as Nixon's emotional and psychological health deteriorated.In at least one instance, a meeting of defense officials had to be terminated early because the president was raving madness, making it impossible to address items on the agenda. As pressure built for Nixon's resignation, Kissinger conducted foreign policy, but rushed back to Washington to prop up the president during public pronouncements.Ironically enough, despite Nixon's obsession with occupying center stage, it was Kissinger who was publicly recognized on magazine covers and in public adulation.

Ron

March 27, 2010

A well-researched (thanks to recently released transcripts of Dr. Kissinger's phone records and notes) study of the complex, conflicting, and often competitive relationship between Kissinger and Nixon as they pursued the boldest foreign policy steps of the Cold War. From the successes of detente with the Soviets and the 'open door' to China, to the failures of Vietnamization and the Chilean coup of Pinochet, to the mixed bag of Middle East peace negotiations, Dallek's book explores how Nixon and Kissinger mixed foreign policy ambition with domestic policy realities, often, as the Watergate scandal grew larger in scope, at cross purposes.

Quinn

October 16, 2015

I thought I knew a lot about Nixon, but this book really shows the relationship between two people who at their time were the most powerful men in the world.

Jo

August 04, 2017

I found Robert Dallek's detailed account of one of the most important foreign policy partnerships in US history utterly compelling. When Nixon's distrust of eastern-seaboard intellectuals collided with Kissinger's conviction that he was always the smartest person in the room, the result could not be anything other than a volatile working relationship between the two men, each determined to make his mark on the world.As well as taking the reader through some of the most momentous events in recent history - negotiations to end the war in Vietnam; SALT talks with the Soviet Union; the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile; the Yom Kippur War; the thawing of relations with China; and the creation of Bangladesh - Dallek analyzes power and manipulation within the White House and provides insight into Nixon's belief that foreign policy successes would save him from impeachment.Nixon was jealous of Kissinger's high public profile. Kissinger considered Nixon his intellectual inferior. They both wanted to receive the lion's share of credit for successful foreign policy outcomes. Despite the contempt each man sometimes displayed for the other, theirs was a mutually dependent relationship. Kissinger needed Nixon in order to pursue his own ambition to be a world statesman and Nixon needed Kissinger's intellect and diplomatic skills. Dallek occasionally editorializes, a habit I found distracting and unnecessary. The wealth of well-researched material underpinning his remarkable study of power and influence during the Nixon-Kissinger years speaks for itself.

Charles

August 30, 2017

I read a library copy of this book. I am glad I didn't buy it. The book is a good read but I didn't enjoy it. It was depressing and disappointing to read about the serious character flaws in our elected officials; so serious that they put their own self interests ahead of the lives of our men in uniform. Their crude and vulgar language is inconsistent with the trust placed in them as representatives of our great country. We deserve better. The greater question is have we learned anything from their examples or is this book just a peak into what goes on in our government today? I raised the question before: is their any place for honesty, integrity and truth in politics and goverment?

Drew

July 22, 2019

This was a deep, deep dive into the Nixon-Kissinger relationship. It is an exhaustive, almost minute-by-minute recounting of their time in the White House. Dallek provides a trove of detail on all of the issues and policies the two worked on. The density of detail caused me to put the book down a couple times to get a breather. That said, this was a very interesting read about co-dependents in power and a must read for anyone who is interested in political biographies, and Nixon in particular. Worth the effort to push through to the end.

Thomas

October 11, 2021

The only grip I have with this book is that Robert Dallek starts right into the Nixon and Kissinger partnership.I was expecting to see a little background of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger and how they came to know each other but that context will have to come from another book.Dallek is a tremendous historian - he has an affection for both of these men and shows their mindsets but also reports on their many personal flaws.

Jeramy

February 13, 2023

If you are a novice or an historian, this book is a great read for those who want to understand the relationship between Kissinger and Nixon. The author explains how that relationship influenced foreign policy. I can see so much likeness in the behavior of Nixon and recent administrations actions. Read it and you will as well.

Mickey

February 16, 2022

Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger we're total opposites, and similar at the same time. This is an excellent look on how both of worked through a complex administration dealing with Vietnam, Chile, the middle east, and domestic issues, and how Watergate brought it to a crashing hault. If you're a history reader, read this.

Mike

December 24, 2021

Having read many Nixon and Nixon related books they very rarely delve into Kissinger. This one makes up for them. It extensively covers all the foreign policy triumphs, disasters and failures. But little space is occupied by Watergate except as Nixon's presidency was unraveling at the end and Henry was pretty much working on his own (he has often been accused of that ).

Vladimiro

August 09, 2021

Like others I read in the past. Was interested specifically in the relation between Nixon and Kissinger, and I feel the book delivered in that regard. Was interesting and factual, corroborates other historian writers, felt it was a good book.

Frequently asked questions

Listening to audiobooks not only easy, it is also very convenient. You can listen to audiobooks on almost every device. From your laptop to your smart phone or even a smart speaker like Apple HomePod or even Alexa. Here’s how you can get started listening to audiobooks.

  • 1. Download your favorite audiobook app such as Speechify.
  • 2. Sign up for an account.
  • 3. Browse the library for the best audiobooks and select the first one for free
  • 4. Download the audiobook file to your device
  • 5. Open the Speechify audiobook app and select the audiobook you want to listen to.
  • 6. Adjust the playback speed and other settings to your preference.
  • 7. Press play and enjoy!

While you can listen to the bestsellers on almost any device, and preferences may vary, generally smart phones are offer the most convenience factor. You could be working out, grocery shopping, or even watching your dog in the dog park on a Saturday morning.
However, most audiobook apps work across multiple devices so you can pick up that riveting new Stephen King book you started at the dog park, back on your laptop when you get back home.

Speechify is one of the best apps for audiobooks. The pricing structure is the most competitive in the market and the app is easy to use. It features the best sellers and award winning authors. Listen to your favorite books or discover new ones and listen to real voice actors read to you. Getting started is easy, the first book is free.

Research showcasing the brain health benefits of reading on a regular basis is wide-ranging and undeniable. However, research comparing the benefits of reading vs listening is much more sparse. According to professor of psychology and author Dr. Kristen Willeumier, though, there is good reason to believe that the reading experience provided by audiobooks offers many of the same brain benefits as reading a physical book.

Audiobooks are recordings of books that are read aloud by a professional voice actor. The recordings are typically available for purchase and download in digital formats such as MP3, WMA, or AAC. They can also be streamed from online services like Speechify, Audible, AppleBooks, or Spotify.
You simply download the app onto your smart phone, create your account, and in Speechify, you can choose your first book, from our vast library of best-sellers and classics, to read for free.

Audiobooks, like real books can add up over time. Here’s where you can listen to audiobooks for free. Speechify let’s you read your first best seller for free. Apart from that, we have a vast selection of free audiobooks that you can enjoy. Get the same rich experience no matter if the book was free or not.

It depends. Yes, there are free audiobooks and paid audiobooks. Speechify offers a blend of both!

It varies. The easiest way depends on a few things. The app and service you use, which device, and platform. Speechify is the easiest way to listen to audiobooks. Downloading the app is quick. It is not a large app and does not eat up space on your iPhone or Android device.
Listening to audiobooks on your smart phone, with Speechify, is the easiest way to listen to audiobooks.

footer-waves