Interventions: A Life in War and Peace - Hardcover

Annan, Kofi; Mousavizadeh, Nader

3.98

1,110 ratings by Goodreads

9781594204203: Interventions: A Life in War and Peace

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594204209 ISBN 13: 9781594204203

Publisher: Penguin Pr, 2012

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"[A] resolute, detailed, and unflinching review of [Annan’s] most difficult hours?No one ever came closer to being the voice of ?we the peoples” and no one paid a higher price for it. The world still needs such a voice, but the next person who tries to fill that role will want to reflect long and hard on the lessons of this candid, courageous, and unsparing memoir." --Michael Ignatieff, The New York Review of Books

Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke to a world still reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11. ?Ladies and Gentlemen,” proclaimed Annan, ?we have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further?we will realize that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations, or regions.” Yet within only a few years the world was more divided than ever?polarized by the American invasion of Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the escalating civil wars in Africa, and the rising influence of China.

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace is the story of Annan’s remarkable time at the center of the world stage. After forty years of service at the United Nations, Annan shares here 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. With eloquence and unprecedented candor, Interventions finally reveals Annan’s unique role and unparalleled perspective on decades of global politics.

The first sub-Saharan African to hold the position of Secretary-General, Annan has led an extraordinary life in his own right. His idealism and personal politics were forged in the Ghanaian independence movement of his adolescence, when all of Africa seemed to be rising as one to demand self-determination. Schooled in Africa, Europe, and the United States, Annan ultimately joined the United Nations in Geneva at the lowest professional level in the still young organization. Annan rose rapidly through the ranks and was by the end of the Cold War prominently placed in the dramatically changing department of peacekeeping operations. His stories of Presidents Clinton and Bush, dictators like Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe, and public figures of all stripes contrast powerfully with Annan’s descriptions of the courage and decency of ordinary people everywhere struggling for a new and better world.

Showing the successes of the United Nations, Annan also reveals the organization’s missed opportunities and ongoing challenges?inaction in the Rwanda genocide, continuing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, and the endurance of endemic poverty. Yet Annan’s great strength in this book is his ability to embed these tragedies within the context of global politics, demonstrating how, time and again, the nations of the world have retreated from the UN’s founding purpose. From the pinnacle of global politics, Annan made it his purpose to put the individual at the center of every mission for peace and prosperity.

A personal biography of global statecraft, Annan’s Interventions is as much a memoir as a guide to world order?past, present, and future.

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Product Description:

HardCover. Pub Date :2012-09-04 Pages: 512 Language: English Publisher: Penguin Books Over forty years of service to the United Nations - the last ten as Secretary-General - Kofi Annan has been at the centre of the major geopolitical events of our time. Drawing on his recollections of major figures from Tony Blair to George W. Bush. Yasser Arafat to Yitzhak Rabin. Saddam Hussein to Nelson Mandela. INTERVENTIONS offers a unique. behind-the-scenes view of global diplomacy during one of the most consequential eras in recent history. With eloquence and immediacy. Annan recounts the highs and lows of his years at the United Nations: from shuttle-diplomacy during crises such as Kosovo. Lebanon and Israel-Palestine to the disastrous and wrenching battles over the Iraq War and the creation of the landmark Responsibility to Protect doctrine. He writes with unprecedented candour about...

Review:

A fluent, compelling account... clear-eyed and honest... Annan emerges as an effective and charismatic embodiment of the UN's ideals (The Times)

A taut and timely memoir... Annan and his co-author, Nader Mousavizadeh, a former aide, embody the UN at its idealistic and yet level-headed best (Alec Russell Financial Times)

Annan doesn't shy away from admitting that he made mistakes, or that the UN needs to reform its outdated administrative structures. Yet he mounts a passionate, impressive defence of the organisation... The UN may be imperfect, but this powerful memoir shows that it is vital (Ian Critchley Sunday Times)

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 (Bill Clinton)

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)

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)

Written as part autobiography, part history lesson, [Interventions] is infused with Mr. Annan's accounts of private encounters with world leaders (The New York Times)

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