Description: In The Peacemakers, a kind of global edition of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, Bruce Jentleson shows how key figures in the previous century rewrote the zero-sum and transactional scripts they were handed and successfully prevented conflict, advanced human rights, and promoted global sustainability. Covering a broad range of historical examples, from Yitzhak Rabin's efforts for Arab-Israeli peace to Dag Hammarskjöld's effectiveness as secretary-general of the United Nations and Mahatma Gandhi's pioneering use of nonviolence as a political tool, Jentleson argues that individuals can shape policy?because they have. For each leader, Jentleson tells us who they were as an individual, why they made the choices they did, how they pursued their goals, and what they were able to achieve. An ambitious book for ambitious people, The Peacemakers is a useful guide for anybody who wants to achieve meaningful change on the global stage.
Brief description: Bruce Jentleson is professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, where he served from 2000 to 2005 as director of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. He has served as a senior advisor to the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Director; as a foreign policy aide in the U.S. Senate; and as foreign policy advisor to Al Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign. In addition to numerous articles, he is the coauthor of The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas, with Steven Weber.
Review Quotes:
"Combines scholarly breadth and depth with practical insight and inspired storytelling. The Peacemakers is a book badly needed for our time, reminding us all that the choices made by individual leaders can transform our world."
-- "Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of The Chessboard and the Web"