Bennis's trenchant and provocative, if at times hyperbolic, indictment of U.S. policy at the United Nations follows the crusading tradition of her previous works, From Stones to Statehood (LJ 11/1/90) and Beyond the Storm (LJ 12/91), which assailed Israeli practices in the occupied territories and U.S. actions during the Gulf War, respectively. Eschewing any pretense of objectivity and unabashedly anti-Western, Bennis, who covers the United Nations for Pacifica Radio, nonetheless makes a compelling argument in support of her contention that "the United Nations was created, and continues to exist ... in order to consolidate and strengthen ... the global reach of its most powerful member-states, most especially that of the U.S." Her ardor, however, is eclipsed by the book's beguiling and tendentious logic. Although it may make for engrossing reading, such journalistic license is clearly no substitute for unbiased scholarship, making this book a questionable purchase. For a dispassionate analysis of this subject, see Robert W. Gregg's About Face: The United States and the United Nations (Lynne Rienner, 1993). David Ettinger, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
UNITED NATIONS
RELEASED1995
PUBLISHEROlive Branch Pr
LENGTH288
LANGUAGEEN
Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's UN (Voices & Visions - New Thinking for the New Century Series)
Bennis's trenchant and provocative, if at times hyperbolic, indictment of U.S. policy at the United Nations follows the crusading tradition of her previous works, From Stones to Statehood (LJ 11/1/90) and Beyond the Storm (LJ 12/91), which assailed Israeli practices in the occupied territories and U.S. actions during the Gulf War, respectively. Eschewing any pretense of objectivity and unabashedly anti-Western, Bennis, who covers the United Nations for Pacifica Radio, nonetheless makes a compelling argument in support of her contention that "the United Nations was created, and continues to exist ... in order to consolidate and strengthen ... the global reach of its most powerful member-states, most especially that of the U.S." Her ardor, however, is eclipsed by the book's beguiling and tendentious logic. Although it may make for engrossing reading, such journalistic license is clearly no substitute for unbiased scholarship, making this book a questionable purchase. For a dispassionate analysis of this subject, see Robert W. Gregg's About Face: The United States and the United Nations (Lynne Rienner, 1993). David Ettinger, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.