/lit/ - Literature

Are Metternich's memoirs worth reading to understand conservatism? Burke and de Maistre weren't as influential historically speaking as Metternich was afaik, so I thought it might be an interesting perspective to read from.

What kind of person becomes a diplomat? What do diplomats read? What does their education entail?

wanna get into the roots of modern conservationism and this guy was a big proponent of it and the architect of the congress of vienna

Read A World Restored, it's an incredible book, gives a glimpse of Kissinger's mind while being immensely readable, captivating, and philosophical. At times even veering into the poetic, which is unusual for statesmen. Example, p. 66:
>A crumbling world order, even one built on force, finds it as difficult to believe its disintegration as a a man to envision his own death. The illusion of permanence is perhaps our most important myth, the one, in any case, which makes life supportable.
Kissinger is one of those rare geniuses on the level of Thucydides, which comes along every generation and changes the world from the shadows.
I'd also highly recommend reading Roberto Calasso's The Ruin's of Kasch afterwards (or concurrently). Although Calasso never directly states it, Kissenger's influence on that book can't be understated, and there's a clear fraternity in themes and discussions between the two which will vastly enrich your understanding of life and politics. Both books concern the efforts to legitimize the post-Napoleonic world order, and by focusing on two subtle and enigmatic politicians, Metternich and Talleyrand respectively, and how their subtle and almost religious attention to the ritual details of statesmanship shaped the modern world.