United Nations: The First Fifty Years

by Stanley Meisler

In a lucid, colorful account, Stanley Meisler brings alive the personalities and events of the first fifty years of the United Nations. It is a story filled with action and heartbreak. "Stanley Meisler tells the story of the United Nations, its promise and its problems, with clarity and authority. He brings to life the history of the world organization and a half-century of America's hopes for and frustration with world government . . . . You will learn why China is almost by chance one of five permanent members on the Security Council, how the Council's veto power was adopted at Stalin's demand, why Adlai Stevenson left his post as U.S. ambassador in lonely despair, how Kurt Waldheim hid his past to become Secretary General, how the Bush administration maneuvered the United Nations into supporting Operation Desert Storm, and much, much more. This is the definitive account of the United Nations for a general audience, told by a master." -- Jim Hoagland, chief foreign correspondent, The Washington Post

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, International Relations

386 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1995

About the author

Stanley Meisler served as a Los Angeles Times foreign and diplomatic correspondent for thirty years, assigned to Nairobi, Mexico City, Madrid, Toronto, Paris, Barcelona, the United Nations and Washington. He still contributes articles to the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Sunday Opinion and Art sections and writes a News Commentary for his website, www.stanleymeisler.com.

For many years, Meisler has contributed articles to leading American magazines including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, The Nation, the Reader’s Digest, the Quarterly Journal of Military History, and the Columbia Journalism Review. While most of these articles focus on foreign affairs and political issues, he also has contributed more than thirty articles on artists and art history to the Smithsonian Magazine.

Meisler has twice won the Korn-Ferry Award for Excellence in United Nations Reporting and is a recipient of the Ford Foundation Area Training Fellowship in African Studies. He conducted classes in international reporting at the Columbia University School of Journalism in 2003 and 2004.

Reviews

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meisler weaves a historical narrative about the United Nations which is both interesting and accessible. His biographical approach, detailing the lives of key figures within the United Nations, adds dimensions to his work which enhances the experience. Meisler's weak attempts at nuance, Americentrism, and his inability to sympathize with the legitimate grievances of third world countries diminishes from an overall great book.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

High level overview of the UN - from its founding to the Arab Spring. Author highlights the successes/failure of various peace-keeping missions, political clashes between the UN and USSR, UN and US, and UN and the American public. Much of the story is framed in terms of who was Secretary-General at the time, and how that person worked (successfully or otherwise) with the Security Council. But many UN missions were ignored or barely covered, and many UN agenices not discussed at all in this short history.

[Jeff Macey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that needed to be written and read! excellent introduction to what I see as an integral part of the modern world and our future. So misunderstood by most Americans and vilified for no reason other than the old racism of most Americans. Highly recommend!

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you need to read about the history of the UN, this will do. Good resource to have on the shelf.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up; easy to read narrative history. however, many typos and a clear US focus/lens that could benefit from more international perspectives and context

[Shoushoulya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is centred on the personalities of the international political scene, particularly those of the successive SGs, US ambassadors to the UN (and to a lesser extent on other American political actors). I consider it diminishing to view the history to be a result of the actions of a couple of persons. I do not deny that some have greater influence of the course of the history, but in my view the book assigns to the ego/character of each person a far greater role than anyone could potentially have in influencing the chaotic and unpredictable political crises of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century.
Being structured this way, the book has a flare of a novel, which makes it easy to follow and probably to remember, as it is filled with fun facts and anecdotes that we always remember better than any underlying serious political processes. Although this same argument could be used against the book, sometimes it concentrated too much of the isolated facts and omits to put it against a wider background, which would be way more helpful to reader’s understanding of the situation.
As a novice to the subject of the book, I learned many new about the world, international diplomacy and history of international relations.

[Susetyo Priyojati · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit tired so here's the (temporary) review in Indonesian:
Bukunya bias pro-AS dan Israel, tapi banyak info orang dalem soal intrik2 dan lobi2 PBB, jadi seru2 aja. Namanya politik pasti bias sih, tapi tetep aja... Agak "eh" sama label "munafik" buat negara2 Dunia Ketiga yang pilih2 isu buat dibawa ke PBB, sementara AS yang bolak-balik diceritain bersikap munafik ga pernah eksplisit dikasih label itu. Israel selalu dicitrakan sebagai "korban" yang dikhianati PBB, sementara RRC yang diveto AS bertahun2 ga bisa masuk PBB ga pernah di-mensyong dengan simpati serupa. Ini kayaknya penyakitnya sama dengan politisi yang suka selective name-calling.
Abis baca buku ini bagusnya baca buku yang ditulis orang non-AS, misalnya International Relations terbitan Cambridge. Buat detox gitu deh.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fairly detailed history of the UN from inception to the 50th anniversary in 1995 (a 2011 edition updates it with 15 more years of history). It moves chronologically by both secretary general and major actions such as Korea, the Suez Canal, UNESCO, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, etc. The author covers not only the character of each of the secretary generals, but also the politics that brought each of them to the position and that governed their terms. He also puts each of the major events into Great Powers politics context.

Very interesting read; well written.

[Jeff Schauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book on the United Nations that takes the story relatively near to the present. I think that my major criticism would be that it is in many ways more about the relationship between the UN and the U.S. than it is about the organization and its work as a whole, which reflects the author's status as a journalist covering the UN for an American newspaper. That said, it's an enjoyable read and a good complement to the many things recently written about global humanitarianism.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A through and objective history of the first 50 years of the United Nations. It is not a complex, difficult read since Meisler clearly explains the world events following its creation. if you are interested in international history/ international events, defenately pick this one up.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to read more of it...I skipped around and read parts. So very interesting and informative. I need to pick this one up off of my shelf soon and peruse it again.

[Joe Hilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information on the transition from the WWII model to the post-war economy, order, etc.

[Kristinn Valdimarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fróðleg saga en hlutverk UN er ekki í aðalhlutverki í henni líkt og ég bjóst við. Höfundur fer heldur ekkert yfir skipulag samtakanna sem var vonbrigði.

[Sheldon Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but not very exciting.