Customer Reviews

Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century

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This was a brilliant idea for a 20th century history. Absolutely entertaining, it gives you an angle on many major events of the last sorrowful century that is unusual. Reynolds has an ideal diplomat's sensibility: he sees both sides' fears, strengths and vulnerabilities, and he has a good overall perspective, an ability to weigh the true importance of words and events.

The greatest benefit of the book however seems to me to be the character assessments of the personalities involved in the 6 summits he describes. Chamberlain & Hitler; Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill; Kennedy & Khrushchev; Nixon, Kissinger and Brezhnev, (also Mao and Zhou EnLai); Begin, Sadat & Carter; Reagan, George Shultz & Gorbachev, and many other supporting characters make this a fascinating study of powerful, imperfect, quite human personalities.

A wonderful, interesting book.

Quite superb. It doesn't sound like a promising topic, but is a very neat way of summarising some of the most important issues and key players in 20th Century history. Apart from adopting an appealing, fly on the wall, documentary narrative technique that leaves you feeling as though you have a much better grasp of the characters of the key players Reynolds also turns some of the standard canards on their heads.
Reagan comes out better than expected....a dedicated cold warrior yes, but one who really wanted to make progress on abolishing nuclear weapons. Carter - guilty of devoting too much time to the Middle East and not enough to domestic matters, but the only US leader able to grasp all of the details and react swiftly to changing events. Nixon and Kissinger - would have been capable of so much more if they had been to suspend their addiction to secrecy, deceit and double dealing with their own colleagues.
One key lesson is the importance of health. Roosevelt, Churchill, Chamberlain, and for me surprisingly, Kennedy approached major summits in very poor health - but were too proud to admit it. Not suprisingly, they came out second best to healthy opponents. There's a lesson there for all of us with a tendency to overwork...

I first heard of this book while listening to a national radio show where the author was a guest. While I was captured at first on a purely historical basis by their discussion of the Neville Chamberlain-Adolf Hitler summit, continuing to listen I was surprised that my interest veered off in a new direction. I determined that this was not a book so much about straight facts boringly laid out such as "Hitler said this, then Chamberlain rebutted with this..." as it is about the people in that event and how human as they were they did shape the 20th Century for better or for worse. The book appears to be very well researched as the author's knowledge on the topics indicate, but with the human aspect interjected I found this book to be quite interesting. While I knew some of the characters and events prior to reading the book, I was astounded at the gravity of some of these meetings that I was completely unfamiliar with. I was aware of some of the outcomes, but never really understood why. In the end I feel the authors take on history is quite accurate and unbiased. I also feel the author did an excellent job of making the characters of history tangible.

Reynolds offers a unique way to explore 20th Century history. The meetings he describes -- in tremendous detail -- are amazing pivot points in world development. He also includes information on how meetings changed throughout time, from Chamberlain arriving in Munich with only one aid to Reagan meeting with Gorbachev with hundreds. This is an underrated read.

Rich in anecdotes as well as context and the backdrop of forces for the summits covered, the 435 pages are well augmented with extensive reference sections and a very detailed index. It is also a study of changes in the practice of high-level, high-stakes diplomacy, ranging from the force of personalities who have little connection to the societies that they represent, to what the author generally describes as a bureaucratic process that involves more and more individuals as the collective world-view's horizons expand. There is an interesting effect that gradually comes into focus during the narrative of these summits, which the author makes excellent note of: the role of communications technology in breaking down information monopolies, exposing risks and rewards for all to see and appreciate as large-scale accommodations are worked out. The book is an easy read despite it's large size, and the investment in time is amply rewarded by a view into what were formerly mysteries, and an understanding of what drove those decisions.

It is to my entire satisfaction. The book is exactly in the condition it was described. nice to deal with amazon. Thanks