DAG HAMMERSKJOLD: of the Brushfire Peace

by Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 1961

A very important book. Its subject appear intensified by its appearance while the news of tragic death has stunned the world and while the U N is wrestling with the impossible task of replacing him. And yet it is only honest to warn the that the determination to stress the job and not the man has male task of biography a very difficult one. The text of the book is that integrity and impartiality must be above national loyalties. This he proved throughout his life of dedication to public service, culminating in his years as General of the U.N. The importance, then, of this book is that it too is delicated to the U.N., to presenting its history with Hammerskjold the pivotal figure in in the sense that he was center on at each vital point. What years of crisis these have been: the Issue of the American airmen held prisoners by Red China- and the mission to successive problems in the Near and Middle East,- Suez, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq Intra- politics and rivalries; problem of the Arab refugees; the and Thailand dispute; Laos and North Vietnam; various issues between Soviet Russia and the U.S.A. over control of Outer Space, parity and disarmament, and questions of the Security Council, of Summit meetings, and so on and on. The problem of the small nations was another crucial factor in recent years: Africa and 4 members in the U.N. in '53, 26 in '60. had faith in the small nations; France feared their growing dominance, sought a solution to the one nation, one vote status. Through the record of these and their solutions, the stature of Hammerskjold grows. And along with it the of his office, legal, political, personal-though never as personal empire buildnes. was ""kind of moral magistracy"" in the man, which added to a razor sharp mind, a had fashioned a mantle of authority. His final success averting extension of civil war in Africa makes a culminating point of an amazing career, along with the supreme sacrifices. A book to which the render must bring concentrated and informal interest.

Pub Date: Nov. 16, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION