Un Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice

The authors have cajoled, intrigued, or reassured their 73 'voices' into telling a fascinating story of the UN and its institutions, which is also a story of 73 individual lives, of women and men . . . with their own complicated histories of emigration and education, family relationships and professional choices, hopes and successes. --from the Foreword by Emma Rothschild

Far from being a distant bureaucracy, the UN is composed of individuals who are reshaped by vital experiences. UN Voices gives international civil servants human faces and shows how ideas drive the grand experiment. It is a fascinating book. --Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

UN Voices presents the human and moving stories of an extraordinary group of individuals who contributed to the economic and social record of the UN's life and activities. Drawing from extensive interviews, the book presents in their own words the experiences of 73 individuals from around the globe who have spent much of their professional lives engaged in United Nations affairs. We hear from secretaries-general and presidents, ministers and professors, social workers and field workers, as well as diplomats and executive heads of UN agencies. Among those interviewed are noted figures such as Kofi Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Alister McIntyre, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, and Kurt Waldheim, as well as many less well known UN professional men and women who have made significant contributions to the international struggle for a better world. Their personal accounts also engage their contributions in dealing with such events and issues as the UN's founding, decolonization, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, human rights, the environment, and September 11, 2001.

Author: Thomas G. Weiss, Tatiana Carayannis, Louis Emmerij
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 06/17/2005
Pages: 544
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.66lbs
Size: 9.22h x 6.20w x 1.19d
ISBN: 9780253217882

Review Citation(s):
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2006 pg. 1 - Recommended/Special Interest
Choice 02/01/2006 pg. 1091

About the Author

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center and Director of its Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.

Tatiana Carayannis is Research Manager of the United Nations Intellectual History Project.

Louis Emmerij is Senior Research Fellow at The CUNY Graduate Center's Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.

Richard Jolly is Senior Research Fellow at The CUNY Graduate Center's Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies and Professor Emeritus at the University of Sussex.