The trial of Henry Kissinger

What Hacker News says

1. tyreOct 2025
   Wait until you learn about East Timor. “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” by Christopher Hitchens is a short, devastating read on the man, the monster.
   thread
2. glensteinApr 2025
   I think I can't really accept that framing on a number of levels, but first and foremost, because it's a very lazy and easy accusation to make. One famous criticism of George W. Bush, as he was increasingly discredited in his second term was that "some things are true, even if George Bush says them."

   I personally think The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens is a must-read, and I would also say that what Uncle Sam really wants by Noam Chomsky was truly eye-opening to me in recasting the history of American foreign policy, but that co-exists with a reality apparently uncomfortable to critics that having the moral upper hand and aligning ourselves with the project of global democracy post-World War II absolutely was an intentional part of Roosevelt's post-World War II strategy. Sometimes these criticisms of labor issues, of human rights issues, of democracy issues, etc are going to speak for themselves not because they conveniently coincide with a preferred state department narrative, but because they do map onto legitimate moral issues.

   So I don't think it's enough to just say that the State Department would agree with criticisms as though that's sufficient to dismiss them. I understand there are corners in the internet where that passes muster, but to me it feels like it skips too many necessary steps in critical thinking.

   Show morethread
3. LispSporks22Nov 2023
   Also check out The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens. I think it was made into a documentary later. The man was worthy of the title of war criminal, but of course we don't prosecute our own and we certainly don't recommend to the ICC (we're the good guys, you see).

   It will be interested to see what obituaries settle on this week though.

   thread
4. gPphXJan 2016
   by author:

   Beano (comic, ’50s)

   Private Eye (satirical magazine, ’60s – ’80s)

   Raw (comic, ’80s)

   Viz (comic, early ’80s)

   Paris Review, The - Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews edited by Malcolm Cowley

   Ackroyd, Peter - Hawksmoor

   Alighieri, Dante - Inferno

   Amis, Martin - Money

   Baldwin, James - Fire Next Time, The

   Barnes, Julian - Flaubert’s Parrot

   Bellow, Saul - Herzog

   Braine, John - Room At The Top

   Broyard, Anatole - Kafka Was The Rage

   Bulgakov, Mikhail - Master And Margarita, The

   Bulwer-Lytton, Edward - Zanoni

   Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange

   Burgess, Anthony - Earthly Powers

   Cage, John - Silence: Lectures And Writing

   Camus, Albert - Stranger, The

   Capote, Truman - In Cold Blood

   Carter, Angela - Nights At The Circus

   Chabon, Michael - Wonder Boys

   Chatwin, Bruce - Songlines, The

   Cohn, Nik - Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock

   Cork, Richard - David Bomberg

   Crane, Hart - Bridge, The

   Danto, Arthur C. - Beyond The Brillo Box

   DeLillo, Don - White Noise

   Diaz, Junot - Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, The

   Döblin, Alfred - Berlin Alexanderplatz

   Dos Passos, John - 42nd Parallel, The

   Edwards, Frank - Strange People

   Elliot, T.S. - Waste Land, The

   Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying

   Figes, Orlando - A People’s Tragedy

   Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Great Gatsby, The

   Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary

   Friedrich, Otto - Before The Deluge

   Gillete, Charlie - Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll, The

   Ginzburg, Eugenia - Journey Into The Whirlwind

   Guralnick, Peter - Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom

   Hall, James A. - Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art

   Harding, Douglass - On Having No Head

   Hirshey, Gerri - Nowhere To Run The Story Of Soul Music

   Hitchens, Christopher - Trial Of Henry Kissinger, The

   Homer - Iliad

   Isherwood, Christopher - Mr. Norris Changes Trains

   Jacoby, Susan - Age Of American Unreason, The

   Jaynes, Julian - Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind, The

   Kerouac, Jack - On The Road

   Kidd, David - All The Emperor’s Horses

   Koestler, Arthur - Darkness At Noon

   Laing, R. D. - Divided Self, The

   Di Lampedusa, Giusseppe - Leopard, The

   Larson, Nella - Passing

   Lautréamont, Comte de - Maldodor

   Lawrence, D.H. - Lady Chatterly’s Lover

   Lebowitz, Fran - Metropolitan Life

   Lévi, Eliphas - Transcendental Magic, Its Doctine and Ritual

   Lewis, Wyndham - Blast

   Marcus, Greil - Mystery Train

   McEwan, Ian - In Between The Sheets

   Milligan, Spike - Puckoon

   Mishima, Yukio - Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, The

   Mitford, Jessica - American Way Of Death, The

   Nabokov, Vladimir - Lolita

   Norman, Howard - Bird Artist, The

   Norris, Frank - McTeague

   O’Hara, Frank - Selected Poems

   Orwell, George - 1984

   Orwell, George - Inside The Whale And Other Essays

   Packard, Vance - Hidden Persuaders, The

   Pagels, Elaine - Gnostic Gospels, The

   Paglia, Camille - Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson

   Petry, Ann - Street, The

   di Pirajno, Alberto Denti - A Grave For A Dolphin

   Priestley, J.B. - English Journey

   Rechy, John - City Of Night

   Sadecky, Peter - Octobriana And The Russian Underground

   Saunders, Ed - Tales Of Beatnik Glory

   Savage, Jon - Teenage

   Selby, Hubert Jr. - Last Exit To Brooklyn

   Spark, Muriel - Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, The

   Steiner, George - In Bluebeard’s Castle

   Stoppard, Tom - Coast Of Utopia, The

   Sylvester, David - Interviews With Francis Bacon

   Thomson, Rupert - Insult, The

   Thurman, Wallace - Infants Of The Spring

   Toole, John Kennedy - A Confederacy Of Dunces

   Waterhouse, Keith - Billy Liar

   Waters, Sarah - Fingersmith

   Waugh, Evelyn - Vile Bodies

   Weschler, Lawrence - Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders

   West, Nathanael - Day Of The Locust, The

   White, Charles - Life And Times Of Little Richard, The

   Wilson, Colin - Outsider, The

   Wolf, Christa - Quest For Christa T, The

   Wright, Richard - Black Boy

   Yokoo, Tadanori - Tadanori Yokoo

   Zinn, Howard - A People’s History Of The United States

   Show morethread
5. xacaxuluAug 2015
   Christopher Hitchens has an amazing book called "Why Orwell Matters" and I strongly advise reading it. He also does a takedown of Kissinger in "The Trial of Henry Kissinger".
   thread
6. ninjinNov 2023
   To quote Tom Lehrer: "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."

   Kissinger's legacy will be debated for a long time and I have personally only scratched the very surface. I do however intend to read Hitchen's "The Trial of Henry Kissinger" [1] one day, if not just to enjoy the fire with which he could write.

   [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial_of_Henry_Kissinger

   thread