Blavatnik Book Talk: Peacemaker

Join writer and historian Thant Myint-U in conversation with Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, to discuss his new book Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations, and the Untold History of the 1960s.

Thant Myint-U will talk about his latest book Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations, and the Untold History of the 1960s as well as what this never-before-told story reveals about global politics and the prospects for future peace. Based in part on recently declassified papers, the book tells the story of a schoolteacher in a remote Burmese town who, within a little more than a decade, finds himself at the very centre of global politics, as the UN’s Secretary-General, mediating the Cuban Missile Crisis between Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro, before going on to confront one war after another, through the turbulent 1960s, from Vietnam to the Congo, to South Asia and the Middle East. The story is a missing piece in the puzzle of how our world came to be, shining a fresh light on our options for a peaceful future.

Thant Myint-U is an award-winning writer, historian, conservationist and a former international public servant. He has served on three United Nations peacekeeping operations and worked as the UN Secretariat in New York. For over a decade he helped lead reform efforts in Burma (Myanmar) including as a peace mediator and the founding chair of the Yangon Heritage Trust.

The book talk is followed by a drinks reception.