The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross Book Award Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize for Best Foreign Affairs Book Winner of the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz Book Award Winner of the Cundill Prize for Historical Literature Winner of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations' Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize Winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award One of the Best Books of the Year at •  The Economist  •  Financial Times  •  The New Republic  •  The Washington Post  •  Kirkus Reviews  • A  New York Times  Notable Book  This magnificent history provides the first full account of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s secret support for Pakistan in 1971 as it committed shocking atrocities in Bangladesh—which led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left major strategic consequences for the world today. Drawing on previously unheard White House tapes, recently declassified documents, and his own extensive investigative reporting, Gary Bass uncovers an astonishing unknown story of superpower brinkmanship, war, scandal, and conscience. Revelatory, authoritative, and compulsively readable, The Blood Telegram is a thrilling chronicle of a pivotal chapter in American foreign policy. "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    "[A] gripping and well-researched book . . . Sheds fresh light on a shameful moment in American foreign policy . . . Admirable clarity." — The Economist "A profoundly disturbing account of the hitherto hidden role of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands . . . Bass has defeated the attempted coverup through laborious culling of relevant sections of the Nixon White House tapes, declassified State Department documents and interviews with former officials, American and Indian, who were involved . . . After reading Bass's account of this shameful episode, one has to . . . conclude that where the Bengalis were concerned, Kissinger and Nixon simply did not give a damn." —Neil Sheehan, The Washington Post "Bass takes us inside the Oval Office to reveal the scandalous role America played in the 1971 slaughter in what is now Bangladesh. Largely unknown here, the story combines the human tragedy of Darfur, the superpower geopolitics of the Cuban missile crisis and the illegal shenanigans of Iran-contra . . . [A] harrowing tale."  — Peter Baker , The New York Times , Favorite Book of the Year "Devastating . . . Excellent . . . Bass, a historian at Princeton, has written an account—learned, riveting, and eviscerating—of the delusions and the deceptions of Nixon and Kissinger. Steeped in the forensic skills of a professional academic historian, he also possesses the imaginative energies of a classical moralist, and he tells the story of the choices and the decisions that led to the slaughter in Bengal . . . appropriately as a moral saga . . . Indispensable."  —Sunil Khilnani, The New Republic "A riveting read with direct relevance to many of the most acute foreign-policy debates of today." —Gideon Rachman, Financial Times "Absorbing . . . Bass draws up a severe indictment of Nixon and Kissinger." —Pankaj Mishra, The New Yorker "The best book I read this year was Gary Bass's The Blood Telegram , which showed through superb reporting and excellent analysis that Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger gleefully abetted the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent Bengalis . . . Excellent." —Isaac Chotiner, The New Republic , Best Books of the Year "Thankfully, Princeton University professor Gary Bass has provided us with a helpful reminder of Nixon's true character. In The Blood Telegram , Bass expertly recounts the stunning indifference of Nixon and . . . Henry Kissinger  to the reports from US diplomats of Pakistani genocide . . . Vivid, often disquieting detail from Oval Office tapes unearthed by Bass . . . Bass has performed an essential function." —Michael Cohen, The Guardian "[A] superb book . . . Bass deploys White House recordings, including several new transcripts, to excellent effect, and . . . the book contains enough material to make the reader sick . . . Astonishing . . . A morally serious book that nevertheless reads like a first-rate novel." — The Times Literary Supplement "It was a non-subject for scholars, a no man's land for knowledge . . . [u]ntil the arrival of a memorable book by Princeton professor Gary Bass . . . While doing justice to the victims, also, for the first time, draws out for us its lessons  . . . The book is also a tribute to politics in its true sense . . . I do want readers to be aware of the appearance of