Kofi Annan - by Stanley Meisler

Book Synopsis

In this thoughtful, balanced biography, former Los Angeles Times foreign and diplomatic correspondent Stanley Meisler traces Kofi Annan's unconventional rise from optimistic student to striving personnel and budget specialist in the United Nations bureaucracy to full-time manager of the world's crises. The book presents a unique portrait of this widely admired leader, with Annan's own view of events tempered and augmented by those of his allies and opponents, defenders and detractors.

From the Back Cover

Praise for "Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War"

"Stanley Meisler, an old and steady hand at the U.N., has written a readable, wise, balanced, and most thoughtful biography of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The focus is on his victories and defeats as secretary-general and on his problems and challenges and how he faced them. Stanley looks at the charges against him as well as his undoubted contributions and calls it as he sees it. This book is essential for anyone who wants to understand Kofi Annan's contribution to the 'house' as well as the genesis and exodus of the attacks against him."
--Thomas R. Pickering, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former undersecretary of state

"Stanley Meisler is a great reporter--this is a wonderfully observed and beautifully written book. It is the definitive portrait of Kofi Annan's calm and dedicated leadership of the United Nations at a time of huge international turmoil."
--William Shawcross, author of "Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords, and a World of Endless Conflict"

"Kofi Annan is one of the world's most compelling figures. This is both an absorbing biography of a remarkable man and a fast-paced history of the United Nations at the opening of a new century. Stanley Meisler has made the U.N. story come alive as a flesh-and-blood drama of outsized egos clashing over high-stakes issues."
--Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times

"[This is] a revealing and timely portrait of a remarkable man who has helped shape the first years of the twenty-first century. After finishing Stanley Meisler's book, my only regret is that Kofi Annan isn't running for president of the United States. He'd have my vote in a heartbeat."
--David Lamb, author of "The Africans"

"Stanley Meisler is one of America's most knowledgeable and entertaining writers about the United Nations and its history. Now, he gives us an authoritative, highly readable account of the career of Kofi Annan, from his days as a young Ghanian student at MIT to his tenure at the United Nations. The book covers Annan's successes and his notable failures, from Rwanda to, especially, Iraq. Through Annan's career, Meisler narrates the story of how both the Clinton administration and the George W. Bush administration have used the United Nations as a political scapegoat. This is, in a sense, a biography of a tragedy."
--James Mann, author of "Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet" and the author-in-residence at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.

Review Quotes

"Meisler has done an admirable job in portraying a complex and shrewd man...a fascinating read"". (Books Quarterly, March 2007)

""Meisler is a distinguished foreign affairs correspondent who has know Annan for many years and interviewed him for this book."" (Diplomat, March 2007)

""...comprehensive and well-written...anyone genuinely interested in the affairs of this all-important world body, ultimate guarantor of peace and stability, should read it." (The Irish Times Weekend Supplement, Saturday 21st April 2007)

About the Author

STANLEY MEISLER is the author of "United Nations: The First Fifty Years," the only authoritative history of the U.N. He has known Kofi Annan for many years, having covered him during much of Annan's career as a public figure. For twenty years, Meisler covered much of the world for the "Los Angeles Times," heading bureaus in Nairobi, Mexico City, Madrid, Toronto, and Paris. He then returned to the United States for a decade to cover the U.N. in New York and the State Department in Washington. Meisler still contributes articles to the paper's Book Review, Sunday Opinion, and Art sections. He has also contributed to "Foreign Affairs," "Foreign Policy," the "Atlantic," "Reader's Digest," and numerous other periodicals.