Crisis of power: an Interpretation of United States foreign policy during the Kissinger years.

An Interpretation of United States Foreign Policy During the Kissinger Years Seyom Brown

Was Henry Kissinger the master of his times, or merely a creature of them? Seyom Brown's The Crises of Power is the first book to give a balanced assess ment of Kissinger's performance in of fice, from the grand strategy of nor malizing relations with the Soviet Union and China to the improvised dramatics of the "Mayaguez incident." Tracing the conflict between Kissinger's dreams of creating a stable world order and the real need for tactical flexibility in the face of international crises, Brown commanding ly recounts the often erratic course of U.S. foreign policy during the Nixon and Ford administrations.

When Henry Kissinger assumed office as President Nixon's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs in January 1969, he inherited a world more complex and less responsive to simple exertions of American power than the one his predecessors had found after World War II. Demonstrating how the new realities of contemporary world politics repeated ly compelled Kissinger to abandon his philosophy of conservative realpolitik, Brown exposes the diplomatic substra tum of Kissinger's most significant poli cies:

the termination of American in volvement in the Vietnam war; the opening of relations with China;

• detente and strategic arms agree ments with the Soviet Union;