Henry Kissinger - security advisor to two American presidents, Secretary of State, Elder Statesman, bestselling author, political advisor, oracle. As an adolescent fleeing from the Nazis, he became a popstar in politics in his new home country. Bernd Greiner gets to the bottom of this life of a century. Drawing on a variety of unknown sources, he paints the portrait of a man whose self-dramatization reveals much about his wishes but nothing about his politics.

Hardly anyone enjoys such a reputation. There are few people about whom opinions differ so widely. He was friends with Helmut Schmidt, but he did not get along with Willy Brandt. And even as an elder person, his speeches polarize. Kissinger belonged to the Guard of Guardians when unpleasant problems were pressing onto the agenda of the American empire: how should the USA deal with the loss of importance? Where is America's place in a multipolar world? What role to assign to diplomacy, what role to the military? Is it about common security or security at the expense of others? This is why Kissinger is still relevant today - in an often disturbing way and in any case differently than he would like to be. For he overestimated the possibilities of the empire. The closer you get to him, the less of the smooth facade remains.