The Best Intentions Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power [Paperback]

Updated for the Paperback Edition

During his first term as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan was one of the most widely admired men in the world. In 2001, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Then the UN failed to stop war in Iraq and genocide in Darfur, and the institution was engulfed by the Oil-for-Food scandal. By the time Annan left office in December 2006, both he and the UN had suffered a terrible loss of standing.

Did the UN's failures arise from its own structure and culture or from a clash with an American administration determined to go its own way in defiance of world opinion?

InThe Best Intentions,New York Times Magazinewriter James Traub traces the entwined histories of Kofi Annan and the UN from 1992 to the present, and offers a definitive portrait of the institution's role in the age of American dominance.

James Traubhas been a contributing writer forThe New York Times Magazine--where he writes about international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, and national political issues--since 1998. He has written three books, includingCity on a HillandThe Devil's Playground. He lives in New York City.

Engaging, nuanced, and often fascinating.The Best Intentionsis proof that the phrase 'U.N. page-turner' is not hopelessly oxymoronic. The Wall Street Journal

If you want to understand this vexing creature with its 192 heads,The Best Intentionsis one of the finest guides around, indeed, the best in recent memory. . . . Beautifully written and meticulously researched. The New York Times Book Review

One of the most definitive and accessible studies of the U.N. and its chief executive ever published. Foreign Affairs

Fascinating . . . The book works, not just as a portrait of Annan but as one of the UN itself, in part because Annan personally encapsulates many characteristics of that inspiring but maddening organizatilÃ'