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Also made into the film Sergio, this is the biography of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a career UN diplomat who negotiated with the Khmer Rouge, led the rebuilding of East Timor after independence, and ultimately died in Baghdad as the head of the UN after the 2nd gulf war.
By proxy, the novel is also a fascinating look at the performance of the UN during the 20th century through the eyes of one of its humanitarian heroes. The son of a Brazilian diplomat, completing his PhD on philosophy from the Sorbonne, he rose to become if not the heart then certainly the soul of the UN. The book is required reading for anyone with a humanitarian bone in their body about the outlook, aspirations and career one of the UN’s brightest lights.
Controversially, the breakdown of Vieira de Mello’s marriage is referenced only in passing. The voice of Vieira de Mello’s widow is conspicuously silent during the biography, and the reader can only hint at the personal cost of a life characterised by such professional career triumph.
The author Samantha Power is exceptional herself. A Yale and Harvard graduate, she has previously been named by Time Magazine as one of their 100 most powerful people, and would become a member of the National Security Council and US Ambassador to the UN. If Vieira de Mello is a good entrant for one of those ‘who would you most like to have dinner’ conversations, surely Power is also cut from similar cloth.
Personally, this book was gifted to me as a graduation present, and when I undertook a 6-month internship in Kenya this 640 page hardback was the one indulgence I took with me. No regrets, almost a decade on it remains one of my favourite books and one I regularly recommend to friends and adversaries alike.
David Carbines 