Description

‘A wonderful subject, beautifully written, evoking a world startlingly like and unlike our own’ Rory Stewart

‘A brilliant portrait not just of a great and unjustly forgotten man, but of an entire age’ William Dalrymple

‘Important reading at any time in history; essential in the world of today’ Peter Frankopan

IN THE EARLY 1960S, a peaceful world seemed possible. The still young United Nations was regarded as humankind’s best hope for ending war. African and Asian nations, having recently won their freedom from colonial rule, sought influence on the world stage. At the helm of their international efforts was Secretary-General U Thant, a practising Buddhist and former schoolteacher from Burma.

In Peacemaker, acclaimed historian Thant Myint-U traces his grandfather’s integral yet forgotten roles in some of the twentieth century’s most critical crises: from battling white supremacist mercenaries in the Congo and mediating an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis to desperately trying to prevent the 1967 Six Day War. Drawing on newly declassified documents, he traces U Thant’s tireless efforts to bring peace to Vietnam, create a fairer international economy, safeguard the environment, and avoid a third world war.

A testament to the power of hope and individual action in times of uncertainty, Peacemaker is an extraordinary chronicle of a golden age of diplomacy – and vital to a fresh understanding of our world today.

Publisher Review

A wonderful subject, beautifully written, evoking a world startlingly like and unlike our own – a reminder of paths tragically not taken, of idealism and cynicism – of how much the United Nations offered and could still offer. Essential reading for anyone interested in the origins and possibilities of our current global crisis. * Rory Stewart, bestselling author of Politics On the Edge * A brilliant portrait not just of a great and unjustly forgotten man, but of an entire age. That age feels very distant now: an era of optimism and idealism, when the postcolonial world first shook off its imperial shackles and began to test its strength. Peacemaker is a model of biographical thoroughness and insight, beautifully written and artfully shaped and plotted, it tells its improbable and altogether extraordinary story with an enviable mixture of writerly skill and scholarly authority. * William Dalrymple * A beautifully written biography about a man who led the UN through a time of great turbulence, risk and uncertainty. Important reading at any time in history; essential in the world of today. * Peter Frankopan * Amazing. This book will come as a revelation even to scholars of the UN in the Cold War period. * Frances Fitzgerald, author of Fire in the Lake * This isn’t just a beautiful, gripping, and indispensable biography of the longest-serving United Nations secretary-general. By reconstructing his grandfather’s reckoning with the upheavals of the 1960s, Thant Myint-U also rehabilitates almost forgotten aspirations for a postcolonial world beyond endless war and enduring hierarchy. These dreams revisited in this eye-opening and uplifting book have an enormous claim on the attention of Americans at a crossroads in their relation to global affairs. * Samuel Moyn, Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University and author of Liberalism Against Itself * A gift: a primer on the Cold War era that revives the pivotal role of U Thant – the first non-European to lead the UN – foreshadowing the conflicts we face today. * Elizabeth Becker, author of You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War * U Thant devoted his life to the pursuit of peace in a fearsomely fractured world. With empathy, care, and scholarly rigor, Thant Myint-U reminds us that the truly courageous never abandoned their struggles for justice, even in the darkest of times. * Kevin Boyle, author of The Shattering: America in the 1960 * A sobering account, told elegantly and eruditely * Financial Times on The Hidden History of Burma * Thant Myint-U’s admirable assessment of his grandfather’s achievements is a generous, if not uncritical, tribute to the man. * Literary Review *