Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger's Legacy
Nov 2026 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
Ebook
320
Pages
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Eligible
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infoThis book will become available on November 17, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
“Super K is downright hilarious. Who would have thought a biography of Henry Kissinger could be so laugh-out-loud revealing about the great pontificator? But Barbara Keys has written an incisive and entertaining intellectual history of Kissinger’s quest to shape his reputation.” — Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of New York Times bestselling American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump
The untold story of how Henry Kissinger spent five decades building and protecting a legacy that continues to influence modern politics—and the institutions that helped him do it.
In the nearly fifty years after he left public office, Henry Kissinger remained one of the most admired—and controversial—figures in American public life. Super K reveals how he manufactured this extraordinary fame. Drawing on previously unseen private correspondence and interviews with journalists and editors he courted and battled, historian Barbara J. Keys exposes the machinery Kissinger used to build and defend his reputation.
From fierce battles over his record in Cambodia and Chile to high-stakes confrontations with television networks and major publishers, Kissinger spent nearly five decades shaping how the world remembered his eight years in power and leveraging those years into continuing influence. In the process, he helped write the playbook for the modern political celebrity.
Super K is not just a portrait of one man’s quest to shape history; it is a sweeping account of the media and elite institutions that enabled him, revealing vulnerabilities that still shape public and political life today. Insightful and deeply researched, this is a definitive look at how reputations are manufactured and why they matter.
The untold story of how Henry Kissinger spent five decades building and protecting a legacy that continues to influence modern politics—and the institutions that helped him do it.
In the nearly fifty years after he left public office, Henry Kissinger remained one of the most admired—and controversial—figures in American public life. Super K reveals how he manufactured this extraordinary fame. Drawing on previously unseen private correspondence and interviews with journalists and editors he courted and battled, historian Barbara J. Keys exposes the machinery Kissinger used to build and defend his reputation.
From fierce battles over his record in Cambodia and Chile to high-stakes confrontations with television networks and major publishers, Kissinger spent nearly five decades shaping how the world remembered his eight years in power and leveraging those years into continuing influence. In the process, he helped write the playbook for the modern political celebrity.
Super K is not just a portrait of one man’s quest to shape history; it is a sweeping account of the media and elite institutions that enabled him, revealing vulnerabilities that still shape public and political life today. Insightful and deeply researched, this is a definitive look at how reputations are manufactured and why they matter.
“Super K is downright hilarious. Who would have thought a biography of Henry Kissinger could be so laugh-out-loud revealing about the great pontificator? But Barbara Keys has written an incisive and entertaining intellectual history of Kissinger’s quest to shape his reputation.” — Kai Bird, Pulit...
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About the author
Barbara Keys is a historian of US foreign policy, diplomacy, and human rights. She is Professor of History at Durham University and received her PhD from Harvard University. The author or editor of several prize-winning books, including Reclaiming American Virtue: The Human Rights Revolution of the 1970s, she is a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.
Barbara Keys is a historian of US foreign policy, diplomacy, and human rights. She is Professor of History at Durham University and received her PhD from Harvard University. The author or editor of several prize-winning books, including Reclaiming American Virtue: The Human Rights Revolution of t...
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