Peacemaker by Thant Myint-U

In December 1971, after having stepped down as the United Nations’ longest-serving Secretary-General, U Thant was ranked the sixth ‘most admired man’ in America. So why he is largely forgotten today?

In Peacemaker, Thant Myint-U traces his grandfather’s rise from schoolteacher in a small Burmese backwater in 1947 to celebrity at the centre of global of politics just two decades later. He reveals U Thant’s integral yet forgotten roles in some of the twentieth century’s most critical crises – from battling white supremacist mercenaries in the Congo and mediating a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 to ensuring the ceasefire held after the 1967 Six-Day War – and details the shifting world order that U Thant affected.

At once rigorous and hugely entertaining, Peacemaker is an intimate biography that not only attests to the power of hope, peace and individual actions in times of uncertainty, but also chronicles a golden age of diplomacy: a time when people believed that it was only by coming together that we could tackle the biggest threats posing humanity.

An unparalleled biography of the author’s grandfather, U Thant, the United Nations’ longest-serving Secretary-General, and his crucial role in the Cold War.

About the Author: Thant Myint-U is an award-winning historian, writer, conservationist and international public servant. An Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, he is the author of five books and his writing has been featured in many publications including the New York Times and the Financial Times.

04 Sep 2025
 

Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations and the Untold Story of the 1960s by Thant Myint-U ISBN 9781838958954