Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

Paperback

$20.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Temporarily Out of Stock Online
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

A “candid, courageous, and unsparing memoir” (The New York Review of Books) of post–Cold War politics and global statecraft

Written with eloquence and unprecedented candor, Interventions is the story of Kofi Annan’s remarkable time at the center of the world stage. After forty years of service at the United Nations, Annan—who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001—shares his unique experiences during the terrorist attacks of September 11; the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; the war between Israel, Hizbollah, and Lebanon; the brutal conflicts of Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia; and the geopolitical transformations following the end of the Cold War. A personal biography of global statecraft, Interventions is as much a memoir as a guide to world order—past, present, and future.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780143123958
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 09/03/2013
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Kofi Annan served as secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006—the first sub-Saharan African to hold the post and the first to emerge from the ranks of the U.N. staff. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Arc of Intervention xi

Prologue: Peacekeeper, Peacemaker 1

Chapter I Independence: African Beginnings 15

Chapter II Promises to Keep: Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Trials of Peacekeeping in a World of Civil War 29

Chapter III Sovereignty and Human Rights: Kosovo, East Timor, Darfur, and the Responsibility to Protect 81

Chapter IV A Peoples' United Nations: Reforming Global Governance and Restoring the Rule of Law 135

Chapter V The Fate of the Continent: Africa's Wars, Africa's Peace 159

Chapter VI Redefining Human Security: The Global Fight Against Poverty and the Millennium Development Goals 209

Chapter VII The World's Fault Line: Peacemaking in the Middle East 251

Chapter VIII The Wars of 9/11: Terror, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations at the Brink 315

Epilogue: Dreams of a Realist 367

Index 373

What People are Saying About This

Amartya Sen

Kofi Annan is a great global leader of our time. This wonderful book gives the readers a lucid and enjoyable understanding of the kind of reasoning and commitment that has made Annan such a force for good in the troubled world in which we live.
--Amartya Sen, author of The Idea of Justice and Development as Freedom

Graca Machel

An insightful and candid account of the most defining and complex conflicts and peace deals of the last decades of the 20th century intertwined with the vision and the life journey of one of the most outstanding global leaders of our times. Kofi Annan marks his footprint in history with leadership values in which truth, humility and dignity are the weaving threads.
-- Graça Machel, former first lady of South Africa

Lee Kuan Yew

Kofi Annan gives a candid, clear and thoughtful account of his successes and failures in one of the world's most challenging and thankless jobs.
--Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore

Bono

Behind the velvet tones of Kofi Annan's dulcet Ghanaian voice, there's a fearsome and fearless iron will, intent on finding solutions to some of the world's biggest problems.
--Bono

From the Publisher

A Washington Post 2012 Notable Work of Nonfiction

“Avoiding the nebulous rhetoric of many political memoirs, Annan instead provides a peacemaker’s invaluable perspective on those crises as well as insight into the daunting challenges facing international diplomats in today’s strife-ridden world." —Booklist

“[A] first-hand survey of efforts to attend to the world’s ills,recalling an alphabet of post-Cold War U.N. peace work from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.” —The Washington Post

“Written as part autobiography, part history lesson, [Interventions] is infused with Mr. Annan’s accounts of private encounters with world leaders.”  —Rick Gladstone, The New York Times

“[An] interesting memoir… The accounts related by Annan… are worth every minute spent reading them. Nobody alive can quite match what he has heard and seen. As a bonus, he names names of national rulers and less well-known diplomats. For readers who want to identify heroes and villains, the book provides plenty of material. … With his book as his legacy, perhaps [Annan] will inspire younger individuals to make inroads against  incredible cruelty around the world.” —Christian Science Monitor

“An insider's personal account based on lessons drawn from long experience.” —Kirkus

“In this thought-provoking new memoir, Kofi Annan describes the peaceful and more equitable world that is within our grasp, and offers his candid perspective on the challenges we must overcome to get there. Interventions is a powerful reminder that the United Nations still matters—and must continue to matter if we want our new century to be more free, peaceful and prosperous than the last.”
    —President William J. Clinton

“Kofi Annan has been a powerful voice for the poor and a tireless advocate for peace. As a catalyst for international security and human rights, Annan reminds us that we, as a global community, are more alike than different. His life’s work demonstrates what is possible when we focus on the universal values of equality, tolerance and human dignity.”
    —Bill Gates

“Kofi Annan is a great global leader of our time. This wonderful book gives the readers a lucid and enjoyable understanding of the kind of reasoning and commitment that has made Annan such a force for good in the troubled world in which we live.”
    —Amartya Sen

"Behind the velvet tones of Kofi Annan's dulcet Ghanaian voice, there's a fearsome and fearless iron will, intent on finding solutions to some of the world's biggest problems."
    —Bono

“An insightful and candid account of the most defining and complex conflicts and peace deals of the last decades of the 20th century intertwined with the vision and the life journey of one of the most outstanding global leaders of our times. Kofi Annan marks his footprint in history with leadership values in which truth, humility and dignity are the weaving threads.”
    — Graça Machel, founder of the Graça Machel Trust

“Kofi Annan gives a candid, clear and thoughtful account of his successes and failures in one of the world’s most challenging and thankless jobs.”
    —Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of the Republic of Singapore

President William J. Clinton

In this thought-provoking new memoir, Kofi Annan describes the peaceful and more equitable world that is within our grasp, and offers his candid perspective on the challenges we must overcome to get there. Interventions is a powerful reminder that the United Nations still matters—and must continue to matter if we want our new century to be more free, peaceful and prosperous than the last.
--President William J. Clinton

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews