Hammarskjold: A Life

Lipsey (Angelic Mistakes) revisits the legacy of the Swedish diplomat and thinker 50 years after he perished in a plane crash while on a secret mission in Africa. Youngest son of an aristocratic family, Hammarskjold held top posts with the Swedish government before the UN recruited him to succeed Trygve Lie in 1953. Lipsey tackles the tricky question of Hammarskjold's private life: the fact that he was a "confirmed bachelor" and good friend of poet W.H. Auden generated widespread speculation; denial was the only option at the time. Like Henry David Thoreau, Hammarskjold preferred solitude and kept a journal that posthumously became the bestseller Markings. Lipsey views his subject as a man of deep faith who showed remarkable courage in the face of numerous Cold War crises, and his spirit lives on at the UN thanks to the Room of Quiet, a sanctuary built during his tenure. Meticulously researched, new evidence shows that his death may have been an assassination, an interpretation sure to intrigue conspiracy theorists. Murky scandals aside, political junkies and history buffs will relish this definitive, painstakingly thorough treatment of a great statesman and consummate diplomat. 20 b&w halftones. (Mar.)