Book details
The Best Intentions
Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power
Author: James Traub
The Best Intentions
$31.00
About This Book
Book Details
Updated for the Paperback Edition
During his first term as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan was one of the most widely admired men in the world. In 2001, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Then the UN failed to stop war in Iraq and genocide in Darfur, and the institution was engulfed by the Oil-for-Food scandal. By the time Annan left office in December 2006, both he and the UN had suffered a terrible loss of standing.
Did the UN's failures arise from its own structure and culture or from a clash with an American administration determined to go its own way in defiance of world opinion?
In The Best Intentions, New York Times Magazine writer James Traub traces the entwined histories of Kofi Annan and the UN from 1992 to the present, and offers a definitive portrait of the institution's role in the age of American dominance.
Imprint Publisher
Picador
ISBN
9780312426743
In The News
“Engaging, nuanced, and often fascinating. The Best Intentions is proof that the phrase 'U.N. page-turner' is not hopelessly oxymoronic.” —The Wall Street Journal
“If you want to understand this vexing creature with its 192 heads, The Best Intentions is one of the finest guides around, indeed, the best in recent memory. . . . Beautifully written and meticulously researched.” —The New York Times Book Review
“One of the most definitive and accessible studies of the U.N. and its chief executive ever published.” —Foreign Affairs
“Fascinating . . . The book works, not just as a portrait of Annan but as one of the UN itself, in part because Annan personally encapsulates many characteristics of that inspiring but maddening organization.” —Salon.com
“A highly readable account of the infighting and drama that have gone on behind the scenes over the past fifteen years, along with often amusingly acerbic thumbnail sketches of several prominent characters.” —The Economist
About the Creators
The Best Intentions