Soldiers for Peace. Fifty Years of United Nations Peacekeeping

Author: Barbara Benton (ed)

Condition: Good 

Paperback

268 pages

The United Nations' 50th anniversary in 1995 prompted the world to reflect on how peacekeeping has changed over the decades. This military history book is an anthology of thirteen essays by journalists, peacekeepers, and military historians - often in provocative disagreement with one another. It provides a substantive, objective overview to anyone who wants to get background about this vital subject.

This military book is a revealing examination of all aspects of peacekeeping, its successes and failures past and present, and its prospects for the future. Written from an historical perspective that sheds light on the ever-evolving goals of the U.N. as it struggles for balance in peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, and peace-building throughout the world today. Soldiers for Peace is a must-read.

Essays include a history of peacekeeping, a concise analysis of operations since 1948; an interview with Sir Brian Urquhart, the man most involved with the development of the peacekeeping concept; eyewitness accounts of missions in Cyprus, the Congo, the Middle East, Cambodia, Haiti, Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia; the special training of peacekeeping soldiers, who must face a range of potentially explosive situations; lessons on tactics and the divisive issue of command and control; consideration of public attitude and the American soldier; and the special frustrations of humanitarian-relief operations.

Complementing each essay are photographs from United Nations archives and various news sources, and specially drawn maps that allow readers to locate various peacekeeping operations discussed in the text. A guide to U.N. acronyms and a gazetteer of operations provide quick reference to all peacekeeping missions since 1948.

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