THE UNITED NATIONS: Hope for a Divided World

Sir Leslie Munro, New Zealand's representative at the United Nations, has played a noted part in this organization since its inception. He has written this book for the general public, so that the latter may acquaint itself better with the workings and objectives of the U.N. He points out quite significantly that the United Nations is only an instrument of its members and that many of the members have different ideas as to what the objectives of the organization should be. Of course, they have all subscribed to the same charter and are ostensibly in agreement as to basic principles. But, in practice, this has not been so apparent. Witness the wars of words that have been waged in the halls of the organization since its beginning. Sometimes these verbal battles have been vocal extensions of shooting wars being waged between member nations on the other side of the globe. Nevertheless, Sir Leslie sees hope in the United Nations and he gives good reasons why. The book is full of interesting intimate glimpses of the men who run the U.N. His closeup of the Russian diplomats is perhaps the most fascinating part of the book. There are chapters covering virtually every aspect of the United Nations' machinery, its successes and failures, and its limits and potentialities for the future.