false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255629835m/915961.jpg 2017247 6 The death of the charismatic Brazilian chief of the U.N. Mission to Iraq in a 2003 terrorist bombing symbolized both the U.N.'s haplessness—he died because rescuers lacked the training and equipment to free him from the rubble—and its idealism. In this sprawling biography, Vieira de Mello's life symbolizes the tragic contradictions of coping with humanitarian crises. Journalist Power, author of the Pulitzer-winning <i>The Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide</i>, follows Vieira de Mello through a U.N. career spent in hot spots like Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. His tasks were many: implementing peace accords, settling refugees, overseeing elections, running the government of East Timor. In each posting, he confronts a hydra-headed monster of communal violence and poverty, plus difficulties compounded by U.N. red tape, miserly budgets and uncaring Western governments. Agonizing dilemmas abound. Should refugees be fed or sent home? Should U.N. peacekeepers observe or intervene? Should past atrocities be prosecuted or overlooked? Playing by ear, Vieira de Mello charts an erratic course through these conundrums. Sometimes he's a human rights zealot, sometimes he cozies up to the Khmer Rouge; sometimes he negotiates with the Serbs, sometimes he wants to bomb them. Vieira de Mello comes off as a charming diplomat, a canny politician and an inspiring leader, and the author celebrates his flexibility and pragmatism (while criticizing his failures). Power wants to extract lasting lessons for the international community's efforts to head off humanitarian catastrophes and mend failed states from his experience. Unfortunately, it's hard to discern through his improvisations any systematic approach to nation building or to such vexed issues as humanitarian military intervention and regime change. The lack of perspective isn't helped by the biographical format, as the peripatetic Vieira de Mello jets from one conflagration to the next, then on to a romantic getaway with a mistress or to give a murky speech on Kant. We get the impression that U.N. missions are inevitably a hopeless muddle unless Sergio, with his unique talents, parachutes in to fix things; the book may thus inadvertently encourage critics of the U.N.-style interventionism that Power supports. Readers will gain an appreciation of Vieira de Mello's gifts, but not the method to his magic. (<i>Publishers Weekly</i>) 2021554 2007 Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World total:191|5:74|4:83|3:27|2:5|1:2| 191 795 561 51 4 2 false false Tue Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 07:35:42 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 15:54:37 -0700 2008
At first I thought (feared) this was going to be a more conventional biography, as Powers zeroed in on certain elements of de Mello's early life and th...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:56:10 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:56:10 -0800 2009 Samantha Power, a professor at Harvard, met Sergio Vieira de Mello when she was a journalist in Bosnia in 1994. Although he charmed her as he did everyone else, she has written a balanced biography of the flawed but dedicated and likable man. While Power impressed the critics with her research, she ...

more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 18:33:24 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 07:26:36 -0800 2008
In the book we can follow t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 18:40:46 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 19:07:20 -0700 2009 I cannot say the story was inspiring, but it was a good read.

Why?
Not inspiring:I don't care how inspiring everyone says his life was... He was a mama's boy who treated women like objects: i.e.- his wife was worthy of typ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jun 29 09:18:40 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 09:21:17 -0700 2009
This is a fascinating b...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 09:58:37 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 10:14:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 07 15:23:32 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 15:25:55 -0800 2009 STOP SMILING review of Chasing the Flame:

A few months ago, a friend invited me to brunch and I declined. My explanation: I needed to finish reading, for review, Samantha Power’s new 640-page biography of the late international diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello.

“Ser...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 13:20:05 -0700 2009 Fri May 29 09:42:29 -0700 2009
This book though falls short of fulfilling Power's missio...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 13:48:59 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 21:21:59 -0700 2009 The fi...more...]]> 5 0 false true Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 09:59:08 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 10:07:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 13:02:29 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 06 06:54:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 12:35:43 -0700 2008 Thu May 28 10:26:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Oct 14 07:11:23 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 07:56:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 18:34:48 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 17:14:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 07:44:59 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 07:44:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 15:08:32 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 09:53:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 29 09:11:44 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 20 18:59:34 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 25 11:00:44 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 11:02:30 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 19:51:10 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 19:54:33 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Apr 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 06:50:21 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 18 04:36:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=915961