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Peacemaker

U Thant, the United Nations and the Untold Story of the 1960s

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Peacemaker

By: Thant Myint-U
Narrated by: Thant Myint-U
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In December 1971, after having stepped down as the United Nations' longest-serving Secretary-General, U Thant was ranked the sixth 'most admired man' in America. So why is he largely forgotten today?

In Peacemaker, Thant Myint-U traces his grandfather's rise from schoolteacher in a small Burmese backwater in 1947 to celebrity at the centre of global of politics just two decades later. He reveals U Thant's integral yet forgotten roles in some of the twentieth centuries' most critical crises - from battling white supremacist mercenaries in the Congo and mediating a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 to ensuring the ceasefire held after the 1967 Six-Day War - and details the shifting world order that U Thant affected.

At once rigorous and hugely entertaining, Peacemaker is an intimate biography that not only attests to the power of hope, peace and individual actions in times of uncertainty, but also chronicles a golden age of diplomacy: a time when people believed that it was only by coming together that we could tackle the biggest threats posing humanity.©2025 Thant Myint-U (P)2025 Atlantic Books & W. F. Howes Ltd 20th Century Historical Military & War Modern Politicians Politics & Activism Presidents & Heads of State Funny War Imperialism Winston Churchill Soviet Union Military Africa Middle East Social justice Socialism Imperial Japan Russia Iran Interwar Period
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Recommend this to anyone interested in global politics both hating or loving the UN. It shows the role and limits of soft power

Really enjoyed this easy listen that tells the story of 3rd UN sec gen and highlights what soft power could and did achieve and also helping illustrate why the UN is so hamstrung.

I find it somewhat comforting and depressing that many of the geopolitical challenges we face today around war, conflict, and squabbling instead of cooperating.

Great, easy listen - providing context and reminder for what the UN does and why it's limited in what it can do

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