Synopses & Reviews
A man who had won the Nobel Peace Prize, who was widely counted one of the greatest UN Secretary Generals, was nearly hounded from office by scandal. Indeed, both Annan and the institution he incarnates were so deeply shaken after the Bush Administration went to war in Iraq in the face of opposition from the Security Council that critics, and even some friends, began asking whether this sixty-year-old experiment in global policing has outlived its usefulness. Do its 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? James Traub, a New York Times Magazine contributor who has spent years writing about the UN and about foreign affairs, delves into these questions as no one else has done before. Traub enjoyed unprecedented access to Annan and his top aides throughout much of this traumatic period. He describes the despair over the Oil-for-Food scandal, the deep divide between those who wished to accommodate American critics and those who wished to confront them, the failed attempt to goad the Security Council to act decisively against state-sponsored ethnic cleansing in Sudan. And he recounts Annan’s effort to respond to criticism with sweeping reform—an effort which ultimately shattered on the resistance of U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. In The Best Intentions, Traub recounts the dramatically entwined history of Kofi Annan and the UN from 1992 to the present. In Annan he sees a conscientious idealist given too little credit for advancing causes like humanitarian intervention and an honest broker crushed between American conservatives and Third World opponents—but also a UN careerist who has absorbed that culture and can not, in the end, escape its limitations.
Review
"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
Synopsis
Analyzes the dramatically intertwined history of Kofi Annan, the United Nations, and American foreign policy from 1992 to the present in an in-depth assessment of Annan's tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations. 40,000 first printing.
Synopsis
"A man who had won the Nobel Peace Prize, widely counted one of the greatest UN Secretary Generals, was nearly hounded from office by scandal. Indeed, both Kofi Annan and the institution he incarnates were so deeply shaken after the Bush Administration went to war in Iraq in the face of UN opposition that critics, and even some friends, began asking whether this sixty-year-old experiment in global policing has outlived its usefulness. Journalist Traub recounts the dramatically entwined history of Annan and the UN from 1992 to 2006. In Annan he sees a conscientious idealist given too little credit for advancing causes like humanitarian intervention, and an honest broker crushed between American conservatives and Third World opponents--but also a UN careerist who has absorbed that culture and can not, in the end, escape its limitations.--From publisher description."--From source other than the Library of CongressAnalyzes the intertwined history of Kofi Annan, the United Nations, and American foreign policy from 1992 to the present in an assessment of Annan's tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations.
Synopsis
Traub recounts the dramatically entwined history of Kofi Annan and the U.N. from 1992 to the present. In Annan he sees a conscientious idealist given too little credit for advancing causes like humanitarian intervention, an honest broker crushed between American conservatives and Third World opponents, and a U.N. careerist who has absorbed that culture and cannot, in the end, escape its limitations.
Synopsis
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 UNs 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 institutions role in the age of American dominance.
About the Author
James Traub has been a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine--where he writes about international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, and national political issues--since 1998. He has written three books, including City on a Hill and The Devil's Playground. He lives in New York City.