Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics.

BIDEN, Joe.

Item Number: 116177

New York: Random House, 2007.

First edition of “this compelling personal story” (The New York Times). Octavo, original boards, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to Henry Kissinger, “For Henry thanks for the opportunity Joe 7.31.07.” The recipient Henry Kissinger served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938, he became National Security Advisor in 1969 and U.S. Secretary of State in 1973. For his actions negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam, Kissinger received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. From the library of Henry Kissinger. An exceptional association.

Vice President Joe Biden has both witnessed and participated in a momentous epoch of American history. In Promises to Keep, Joe Biden reveals what these experiences taught him about himself, his colleagues, and the institutions of government. With his customary candor and wit, Biden movingly recounts growing up in a staunchly Catholic multigenerational household in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware; overcoming personal tragedy, life-threatening illness, and career setbacks; his relationships with presidents, with world leaders, and with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle; and his leadership of powerful Senate committees. “A ripping good read . . . Biden is a master storyteller and has stories worth telling" (The Christian Science Monitor).