Author(s): Bhaskar Sunkara (Editor); René Rojas (Editor); Jonah Walter (Editor); Greg Grandin (Introduction by)

Politics & Economics

 If the American foreign policy establishment is a grand citadel, then Henry Kissinger is the ghoul haunting its hallways. For half a century, he was an omnipresent figure in war rooms and at press briefings, dutifully shepherding the American empire through successive rounds of growing pains. For multiple generations of anti-war activists, Kissinger personified the depravity of the American war machine. The world Kissinger wrought is the world we live in, where ideal investment conditions are generated from the barrel of a gun. Today, global capitalism and United States hegemony are underwritten by the most powerful military ever devised. Any political vision worth fighting for must promise an end to the cycle of never-ending wars afflicting the world in the twenty-first century. And breaking that cycle means placing the twin evils of capitalism and imperialism in our crosshairs. In this book, Jacobin follows Kissinger's fiery trajectory around the world - not because he was evil incarnate, but because he, more than any other public figure, illustrates the links between capitalism, empire, and the feedback loop of endless war-making that plagues us today.

Review: The appearance of Jacobin magazine has been a bright light in dark times. Each issue brings penetrating, lively discussions and analyses of matters of real significance, from a thoughtful left perspective that is refreshing and all too rare. A really impressive contribution to sanity, and hope. -- Noam Chomsky
Jacobin has certainly been an improbable hit, buoyed by the radical stirrings of the Occupy movement and a bitingly satirical but serious-minded style. -- Jennifer Schuessler * New York Times *
I really like Jacobin - it's very explicitly on the radical left, and sort of hostile to liberal accommodationism. There's a lot in there that I don't necessarily agree with, but it's bracingly rigorous and polemical in a really thought-provoking way. It's a really well-done publication, almost preternaturally good. -- Chris Hayes

Author Biography: Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine is released quarterly and reaches over 30,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of 1,000,000 a month.