Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War

by Stanley Meisler

Overview

In this thoughtful, balanced biography, former Los Angeles Times foreign and diplomatic correspondent Stanley Meisler traces Kofi Annan’s unconventional rise from optimistic student to striving personnel and budget specialist in the United Nations bureaucracy to full-time manager of the world’s crises. The book presents a unique portrait of this widely admired leader, with Annan’s own view of events tempered and augmented by those of his allies and opponents, defenders and detractors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470281697
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stanley Meisler is the author of United Nations: The First Fifty Years, the only authoritative history of the U.N. He has known Kofi Annan for many years, having covered him during most of Annan's career as a public figure. For twenty years, Meisler covered much of the world for the Los Angeles Times, returning to the United States to cover the U.N. in New York and the State Department in Washington. Meisler still contributes articles to the paper's Book Review, Sunday Opinion, and Art sections. He has also contributed to Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, Reader's Digest, and other publications.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

1 Ghana and America.

2 Through the UN System.

3 The Grand Illusion of the First Persian Gulf War.

4 In the Footsteps of Ralph Bunche.

5 Peacekeeping.

6 The Stain of Rwanda.

7 Charade over Bosnia.

8 Supplanting Boutros-Ghali.

9 The New Secretary-General.

10 Intervention: Kosovo and East Timor.

11 The Nobel Peace Prize.

12 Interlude in Vienna and Africa.

13 Facing the American Juggernaut.

14 Relevance and Melancholia.

15 Oil for Food and Kojo.

16 The Year of Summing Up.

Kofi Annan’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture.

Chronology.

Sources.

Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"[This is] a revealing and timely portrait of a remarkable man who has helped shape the first years of the 21^st century. After finishing Stanley Meisler’s book, my only regret is that Kofi Annan isn’t running for president of the United States. He’d have my vote in a heartbeat."
—David Lamb, author of The Africans

"Stanley Meisler, an old and steady hand at the UN, has written a readable, wise, balanced and most thoughtful biography of Secretary General Kofi Annan. The focus is on his victories and defeats as Secretary General and on his problems and challenges and how he faced them. Stanley looks at the charges against him as well as his undoubted contributions and calls it as he sees it. This book is essential for anyone who wants to understand Kofi Annan's contribution to the "house" as well as the genesis and exodus of the attacks against him."
—Thomas R. Pickering, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former undersecretary of state

"Kofi Annan is one of the world's most compelling figures. This is both an absorbing biography of a remarkable man and a fast-paced history of the United Nations at the opening of a new century. Stanley Meisler has made the UN story come alive as a flesh-and-blood drama of outsized egos clashing over high-stakes issues."
—Doyle McManus, Washington bureau chief, Los Angeles Times

"Stanley Meisler is a great reporter - this is a wonderfully observed and beautifully written book. It is the definitive portrait of Kofi Annan's calm and dedicated leadership of the United Nations at a time of huge international turmoil."
—William Shawcross, Author of Deliver Us From Evil: Peacekeeping, Warlords, and a World of Endless Conflict

Editorial Reviews

* "Meisler has done an admirable job in portraying a complex and shrewd man…a fascinating read". (Books Quarterly, March 2007)

"Meisler is a distinguished foreign affairs correspondent who has know Annan for many years and interviewed him for this book." (Diplomat, March 2007)

"…comprehensive and well-written...anyone genuinely interested in the affairs of this all-important world body, ultimate guarantor of peace and stability, should read it." (The Irish Times Weekend Supplement, Saturday 21st April 2007)

From the Publisher