Reviews
Praise for The Blood Telegram : "This is a dark and amazing tale, an essential reminder . . . Devastating . . . Shocking . . . Nixon and Kissinger spent the decades after leaving office burnishing their images as great statesmen. This book goes a long way in showing just how undeserved those reputations are." --Dexter Filkins, The New York Times Book Review "Absorbing . . . Bass draws up a severe indictment of Nixon and Kissinger." --Pankaj Mishra, The New Yorker "[A] gripping and well-researched book . . . Sheds fresh light on a shameful moment in American foreign policy . . . Admirable clarity." -- The Economist "[T]remendously lucid . . . Bass holds these leaders to a much-needed reckoning. A deeply incisive lesson for today's leaders and electorate." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) "With urgent, cinematic immediacy, Gary Bass reconstructs a critical--and, to this day, profoundly consequential--chapter of Cold War history defined by appalling American complicity in genocidal atrocity, and terrifyingly high-stakes superpower brinksmanship. It is a story of immense scope, vividly populated by figures of enduring fascination, and ripe with implications for the ongoing struggle to strike a more honorable balance between wartime realpolitik and our ideals of common humanity." --Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families "Gary Bass has excavated a great tragedy, one that's been forgotten by Americans but is seared into the memory of South Asians. His talents as a scholar, writer, and foreign-policy analyst are on full display in this brilliant work of narrative history. Nixon and Kissinger come damningly alive on the pages of a book that shows, like nothing else I've read, the folly that goes by the name of 'realism.'" --George Packer, author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America "Gary Bass has done it again, uncovering a dark chapter in the historical record and bringing it vividly to light, forcing us to confront who we were then and who we are now. The Blood Telegram is a richly textured story with many fascinating layers, from the moral bankruptcy of U.S. leaders in the face of genocide to the multi-faceted politics of South Asia and the lasting geopolitical legacy of these events. It's also simply hard to put down!" --Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of A New World Order "Gary Bass is unique: an investigative historian who explores the past in a masterly way that combines the best of journalism and scholarship. His latest book reads like an urgent dispatch from the frontline of genocide, a lucid and poignant description of a moral collapse in American foreign policy. Bass has painstakingly written a vital history--and a story, in the best sense of the word--that we must come to grips with." --Peter Maass, author of Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War, Advance Praise for The Blood Telegram : "With urgent, cinematic immediacy, Gary Bass reconstructs a critical--and, to this day, profoundly consequential--chapter of Cold War history defined by appalling American complicity in genocidal atrocity, and terrifyingly high-stakes superpower brinksmanship. It is a story of immense scope, vividly populated by figures of enduring fascination, and ripe with implications for the ongoing struggle to strike a more honorable balance between wartime realpolitik and our ideals of common humanity." --Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families "Gary Bass has excavated a great tragedy, one that's been forgotten by Americans but is seared into the memory of South Asians. His talents as a scholar, writer, and foreign-policy analyst are on full display in this brilliant work of narrative history. Nixon and Kissinger come damningly alive on the pages of a book that shows, like nothing else I've read, the folly that goes by the name of 'realism.'" --George Packer, author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America "Gary Bass has done it again, uncovering a dark chapter in the historical record and bringing it vividly to light, forcing us to confront who we were then and who we are now. The Blood Telegram is a richly textured story with many fascinating layers, from the moral bankruptcy of U.S. leaders in the face of genocide to the multi-faceted politics of South Asia and the lasting geopolitical legacy of these events. It's also simply hard to put down!" --Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of A New World Order "Gary Bass is unique: an investigative historian who explores the past in a masterly way that combines the best of journalism and scholarship. His latest book reads like an urgent dispatch from the frontline of genocide, a lucid and poignant description of a moral collapse in American foreign policy. Bass has painstakingly written a vital history--and a story, in the best sense of the word--that we must come to grips with." --Peter Maass, author of Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War, Advance Praise for The Blood Telegram : "[T]remendously lucid . . . Bass holds these leaders to a much-needed reckoning. A deeply incisive lesson for today's leaders and electorate." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) "With urgent, cinematic immediacy, Gary Bass reconstructs a critical--and, to this day, profoundly consequential--chapter of Cold War history defined by appalling American complicity in genocidal atrocity, and terrifyingly high-stakes superpower brinksmanship. It is a story of immense scope, vividly populated by figures of enduring fascination, and ripe with implications for the ongoing struggle to strike a more honorable balance between wartime realpolitik and our ideals of common humanity." --Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families "Gary Bass has excavated a great tragedy, one that's been forgotten by Americans but is seared into the memory of South Asians. His talents as a scholar, writer, and foreign-policy analyst are on full display in this brilliant work of narrative history. Nixon and Kissinger come damningly alive on the pages of a book that shows, like nothing else I've read, the folly that goes by the name of 'realism.'" --George Packer, author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America "Gary Bass has done it again, uncovering a dark chapter in the historical record and bringing it vividly to light, forcing us to confront who we were then and who we are now. The Blood Telegram is a richly textured story with many fascinating layers, from the moral bankruptcy of U.S. leaders in the face of genocide to the multi-faceted politics of South Asia and the lasting geopolitical legacy of these events. It's also simply hard to put down!" --Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of A New World Order "Gary Bass is unique: an investigative historian who explores the past in a masterly way that combines the best of journalism and scholarship. His latest book reads like an urgent dispatch from the frontline of genocide, a lucid and poignant description of a moral collapse in American foreign policy. Bass has painstakingly written a vital history--and a story, in the best sense of the word--that we must come to grips with." --Peter Maass, author of Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War
