Customer Reviews

United Nations: The First Fifty Years

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a gem in terms of the analysis it presents. Its concise easy to read and broken in to parts which allows the reader to examine major events involving the united nations during the last 50 years. It of course deals with the establishment of the UN in 1945 and quickly moves to its first major test in 1948, the construction of a Palestinian settlement involving the Ralph Bunche who following his efforts received the noble peace prise. The reader gets enough information to work out exactly the main players and positions relating to many of the crisis which have faced the organisation since 1945.

The Suez crisis of 1956 and the role of the Dag Hammershold receive particular attention. It explained the establishment of the first peace keeping force to be set up with a mandate agreed by the parties to the conflict. Later under the direction of Secretary General Uthant this force was withdrawn under pressure from the Egyptian Government leading ultimately to the Six-Day war of 1967. This and many other issues like it are examined with a critical eye. The book is not shy on pointing out the failures of the organisation however in doing this one is challenged to consider whether or not we could have afforded to live the last half century without some form of internationally agreed political/security organisation.

This book was an assigned reading for my International Law and Organizations class, and I was really pleased with it. It's very interesting and easy to read (unlike a lot of other things we've been assigned to read). This book covers the history of the UN's first fifty years, and it deals a lot with people and personalities. Each chapter is about a crisis or event in the UN's history such as the 1967 Six-Day War, and each chapter is divided into much smaller sections of not more than a page, so it's easy to find places to stop reading, put the book down, and then be able to pick the book up again and continue reading without much effort in remembering where you left off. The other book we were assigned for this class provided the nuts and bolts of how the UN was formed, how it is organized, what's in the charter, etc. This book provided an excellent, practical view of how that organization and charter have been put to the test over the last fifty years.

Meisler has done an excellent job in introducing the UN to the general public with a format and language that makes it an entertaining and easy read. The most intense crises that the UN faced since its creation after WWII are all here, as are some of the greater personalities like Ralph Bunche and Dag Hammarskjold.

However, the book only briefly discusses the creation of the outlying organizations of the UN family - like UNESCO, UNICEF, and FAO. I find this to be a flaw due to the fact that these are the organizations that the UN is mostly associated with today - and not the major crises of the Cold War and beyond.

But all in all Meisler has done a magnificent job that will deepen your understanding of the UN's origins, mission, potentials, and short-comings.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Get it before it disappears from the world! (It was written in 1995)

It is an easy, quick read filled with interesting quirks and quotes from the most important figures in recent history.

It provides a condensed history of crisis, war, leaders and resolutions from 1945 to 1995.

Definitely worth reading, it's the most entertaining way i have come across of learning 50 years of dynamic history.

Meisler writes in an engaging style and with an eye for the telling detail. He often manages to convey the crux of a complex situation in relatively few words. Given the length of the book, it is to be expected that the discussion is thin in places, and, of course, some fairly important elements of UN history are omitted.

I would add that the chapter on the Suez crisis is marred by a glaring lacuna: Meisler fails to mention that along with nationalizing the Suez Canal, Nasser closed off the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping. As a result of this omission, Israel's motivations for going along with Anglo-French adventure are left wholly unexplained. (Indeed, the question of what might be in it for Israel was never so much as raised.) Furthermore, when it comes to the war of June 1967, the full significance of Nasser's closing of the Strait on that occasion--i.e. his re-closing in violation of previous agreements--is lost.

This book was in great condition and it was delivered promptly. I was told the book would be delivered in two weeks but I received it in two days. What an excellent service.

Author Stanley Meisler traces the first fifty years of the United Nations; covering the terms of office of the first five UN Secretary-Generals from Trygve Lie to Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Well written and interesting to read, the book covers the birth of the world organisation; the election of the first UN Secretary-General and some of the diplomatic issues involved in proposing a nominee satisfactory to all.

The author also looks at some of the problems confronting the fledgling world body in its early years immediately after the Second World War, progressing through five decades of unrest and dispute. It also looks at the expansion of the UN General Assembly, which doubled in size due to the increase in new member states; particularly in the post 1960's era, together with the expansion of the UN Security Council and issue of which China should be the fifth permanent member; as well as the push to expand the number of permanent member seats on the Security Council by some states.

The post of UN Secretary-General has been sometimes controversial: the death of Dag Hammarskjold in an air crash, the Soviet Union's push to replace the post of UN Secretary-General with a three person 'troika' and allegations of Kurt Waldheim's past life in World War 2. Boutros Boutros-Ghali's vetoed second term is also discussed.

I found the book well researched; it highlights the work of the UN, especially the UN Security Council, is not plain sailing in a troubled world and gives a good insight into the vision of the wartime allied world leaders for a better world in the aftermath of the Second World War. The book was published nearly fourteen years ago and a revisit and revised edition would be welcome. Well done, Stanley Meisler!

Stanley Meisler's fascinating book takes us through the history of the United Nations' first fifty years. And the focus is on the UN's incredible series of disasters in international policy. We see nothing about, say, Planned Parenthood or the elimination of smallpox. But we do see U.N. involvement in one war after another.

We see the U.N. mess up as early as 1946, with Iran. Next we see the U.N. fail to defend Israel in 1948 when it was attacked by Arabs. In addition, we see how the United States managed to have its President espouse one policy (recognition of Israel) while its State Department and United Nations representative did the opposite! And we see how a U.N. mediator, Count Bernadotte, did a truly terrible job that would probably have been even worse had be not been assassinated.

The next section is about the Korean War. Even here, the UN failed to accomplish much. And then we read about Suez and Hungary in 1956. Meisler admits that the Soviet suppression of the Hungarians in 1956 "mocked the power of the U.N." I agree. But he then boasts that "settlement of the Suez crisis was one of the most spectacular single achievements of the U.N. during its first fifty years." I disagree about this, and I encourage folks to read what Arthur Herman has said about Suez this year. Herman says that Suez "destroyed the United Nations." He adds "instead of teaching Nasser and his fellow dictators that breaking international law does not pay, Suez taught them that every transgression will be forgotten and forgiven, especially if oil is at stake." This "ushered in a new era of international gangsterism" and "destroyed the moral authority of the world community." I agree with Herman here. And I think that Meisler ought to have mentioned Egypt's closing of the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping in 1956, which was significant both then and in 1967.

After this, we see further United Nations misadventures: in the Congo, with the Cuban missile crisis, with Viet Nam, and then the Six Day War, in which the UN peacekeeping force pulled out of the Sinai at once, as soon as it was actually needed. Even Meisler admits that the Six Day War dealt the U.N. a "devastating blow."

After that, Kurt Waldheim, a former member of a cavalry unit of the Sturmabteilung (also known as the Storm Troopers, S.A., or Brownshirts) became the secretary-general of the United Nations. And perhaps it should be no surprise that Yasser Arafat actually was permitted to address the U.N. in 1974 (a major turning point for the U.N. that Meisler does not even mention in this book). Meisler does discuss the infamous "Zionism Is Racism" resolution of 1975, which was finally repealed in 1991. And he does admit that this resolution hurt the U.N. badly (he shows that before this, U.S. public opinion polls generally showed support for the idea that the U.S. should cooperate fully with the U.N. at over 60%, but that after this, that support immediately went below 50%). Nevertheless, I think he still manages to underestimate the significance of this absurd resolution. I think the appointment by Caligula of a horse to the Roman Senate has finally been overshadowed by this gratuitous and cheap act of wickedness.

If a person is willing to commit a disgraceful act of violence in public to steal ten dollars, we'll all realize that this person would be even more eager to do such a thing to steal ten thousand dollars, ten million dollars, or ten billion dollars. I think that the "Zionism Is Racism" resolution is an example of the U.N. being willing to disgrace itself for practically nothing. The fact that it could do such a thing convinces me that it is capable of doing literally anything, no matter how wicked, should it get the opportunity. And that convinces me that the U.N. is dangerous and counterproductive. It also makes me very suspicious of global organizations in general. Some folks say that such organizations will eventually wind up supporting tyranny, with the worst available people rising to the top. And after witnessing the U.N. and its first fifty years, I have to agree.

Meisler does mention the hijacking of the U.N. 1975 Conference on Women by anti-Zionists. But he does not follow this up by explaining the extent to which the General Assembly became obsessed with Israel, passing one absurd resolution against it after another and confirming that the General Assembly had been reduced to an opponent of human rights and a propaganda arm of a terrorist organization.

Oh, there's more in this book, including material about Iraq, Rwanda, and Bosnia. But it is interesting to see that the U.N. has not been helpful in any of these situations. And that brings us to Meisler's conclusions. He quotes Arthur Goldberg as saying that "if the U.N. were junked, we'd have to recreate it tomorrow." I surely do not believe that. I think if one is cured of a serious illness today, the last thing one would want or need to do is fall prey to it tomorrow. And his final words in this book are "the United Nations has served the world nobly and well for fifty years." Well, he wrote these words over ten years ago. But I very strongly disagree with them. I think the U.N. has done far worse than pretty much anyone could have predicted back in 1945. And my advice is simple: outlaw the U.N. and make sure we never try to establish anything like it again.

This book is interesting and informative, so I'm giving it three stars. But I think it vastly overestimates the value of the United Nations.