Full name: Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict

Author: William Shawcross Year: 2000 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Non Fiction, Politics, War/Military, History Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780743200288 0743200284

Foreign-affairs journalist Williamm Shawcross travels around the world - Bosnia, Baghdad etc - to paint a messy portrait of the post-cold-war world. Deliver Us from Evil is very much an on-the-ground book, full of reportage & descriptions of world leaders such as UN chief Kofi Annan. It includes a strong point of view: the dewy-eyed, do-gooder mentality that drives so much contemporary international relations is, as far as Shawcross is concerned, deeply wrongheaded. Peacekeeping missions often find that there's no peace to keep. Expectations of what they can accomplish soar far too high. "Today 'humanitarianism' often rules. It becomes a sop to international concern, & then it can be dangerous," he writes. Coupled with a world of instant media, where CNN broadcasts live from the killing fields, humanitarianism fuels a strong desire to have immediate reconciliation between warring factions. But it's a delusional goal, says Shawcross, pointing to the American Civil War & how long (even after Appomattox) it took North & South to reconcile fully. There's no reason to think other torn nations will respond more quickly. Peacekeeping missions often promise a heaven on earth they cannot deliver. "In a more religious time it was only God whom we asked to deliver us from evil," concludes Shawcross. "Now we call upon our own man-made institutions for such deliverance. That is sometimes to ask for miracles." -John J. Miller Similar books: The Parliament of Man by Paul Kennedy Sideshow by William Shawcross Generation Kill by Evan Wright Fool's Errand by Scott Horton The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk Drift by Rachel Maddow Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan Ghost Wars by Steve Coll Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark The Forever War by Dexter Filkins The Dark Side by Jane Mayer The March of Folly by Barbara W. Tuchman Dereliction of Duty by H. R. McMaster America's War for the Greater Middle East by Andrew J. Bacevich Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer The Fall of the Ottomans by Eugene Rogan The Good Soldiers by David Finkel