Review: Chasing the Flame
Recensione editoriale - Kirkus ReviewsBiography of the handsome Brazilian intellectual who served as the UN's top troubleshooter from East Timor and Bosnia to Iraq, where he died in a terrorist car bombing. Pulitzer Prize–winner Power (Global Leadership/Harvard School of Government; "A Problem From Hell": American and the Age of Genocide, 2002) draws on more than 400 interviews to offer this detailed portrait of charismatic Sergio Vieira de Mello (1948–2003), whom she first met in 1994 while working as a young reporter. A diplomat's son, Sergio (as he was generally known) earned a doctorate in philosophy at the Sorbonne and took part in the Paris student revolt in May 1968. He joined the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 1969 and remained with the organization until his death. Writing with a keen understanding of international affairs, Power traces each step of Sergio's career: early humanitarian postings in Sudan, Mozambique and Peru; his initial encounter with terrorism in 1981 as a UN political advisor in Lebanon; and later work in Hong Kong and Cambodia that made his reputation as a pragmatic negotiator. Power describes a man who was always learning, reaching out to everyone from taxi drivers to thugs in the belief that to resolve problems all must be heard. An elegant charmer in his starched shirts and tailored suits, Sergio was a ladies' man who frequently bedded colleagues and a deeply loyal UN official who neglected his wife and two children. Power shows how his winning ways, knowledge of Kantian philosophy and deep regard for the dignity of both people and nations made him a force for change. Her description of failed attempts to rescue Sergio from the rubble of the UN's quarters in Baghdad, where he was Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative, is both riveting and heartbreaking. A well-rendered account of one of the UN's best in pursuit of "the flame of idealism that motivated many to strive to combat injustice and that inspired the vulnerable to believe that help would soon come."
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - GoodreadsThis book had an extremely powerful impression on me. For one, the life of Sergio Vierea de Mello was an incredible study of philosophy in action and metamorphosis. His ideals for how the UN could be ...
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - Kari - GoodreadsI picked this book up on a clearance sale so I was not sure what to expect. However, I actually learned a lot while reading it. While Sergio was spanning the globe intervening in humanitarian crises ... Leggi recensione completa
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - Fatima - GoodreadsI'm a huge fan of Samantha Power because she answers the "how" of idealism; she analyzes the way that individual people try to deal with impossible problems like war. Her book on genocide ("A Problem ... Leggi recensione completa
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - JK - GoodreadsGreat read about a very impressive guy. Leggi recensione completa
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - GoodreadsI was assigned chapters of this book for a class in business school on Navigating Organizations, and the full book certainly provides a lesson in that. Power also does a great job of telling the story ...
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - GoodreadsFinishing this gave me a boost of energy to finally get through some job apps. Three down, three dozen to go... things I liked about this book: the evolution of a career that dealt with humanitarian ...
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - Noelle - GoodreadsNonfiction that reads like a novel, this is a fascinating biography that also provides a refresher course on recent chapters in the history of global warfare and glimpses into the inner workings of the UN. Now being published under the title "Sergio." Leggi recensione completa
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - Johari - GoodreadsI loved this book. I knew about his death and learned more after watching the documentary on HBO. Sergio had an amazing career and while a flawed human, he always sought to learn from his mistakes. He ... Leggi recensione completa
Review: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
Recensione dell'utente - Tom - GoodreadsA very good book that somewhat radically changed my notion of what the UN does and its importance. A few points really struck me: • Member nations seem silly when they attack the UN for being weak ... Leggi recensione completa
