Reddit reviews Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist

"Historical Memories" is an interesting phrase. On this very topic, Henry Kissinger wrote his lengthy doctoral dissertation in which he argued in part that a people are defined by "the consciousness of a common history" and that "history is the memory of states".

From Niall Ferguson's recent biography Henry Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist, this excerpt below is a mix of Ferguson's writing with quotations from Henry Kissinger's doctoral dissertation on 19th century diplomacy and the philosophy of history:

>No significant conclusions are possible in the study of foreign affairs—the study of states acting as units—without an awareness of the historical context. Thus history is doubly important: as a source of analogies for the statesman, but also as the defining factor in national identity. True, "positivist scholars" might insist that "at any given moment a state is but a collection of individuals." But in reality a people defines its identity "through the consciousness of a common history. . . . History is the memory of states."