United Nations: The First Fifty Years

This lucid, popular version of the first 50 years of UN history by former Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Meisler is organized around the various crises the UN has faced since its inception--Israeli independence, Korea, Suez, the Congo, Cuban missiles, Vietnam, the Six-Day War, the Gulf war--and also includes chapters on the various secretaries-general. Meisler doesn't pull any punches in assessing the policies and personalities of the world organization, excoriating former secretary-general Kurt Waldheim for concealing his past (``it seems like a fortuitous metaphor for the United Nations to be led during the 1970s by a Nazi and a liar''). Yet he is fair-minded in his presentation, opining that ``Though cautious, [Waldheim] was an adequate and active secretary general.'' This up-to-date account concludes with chapters detailing the UN's travails in the quagmires of Somalia and the former Yugoslavia. A handy primer for those who want to know the score but haven't taken the time to unravel the byzantine workings of the world organization. (Oct.)