Overview

No institution is better known, and perhaps more misunderstood than the United Nations. When the world was desperate to create a lasting peace after two devastating World Wars, the UN Charter was written in 1945 in San Francisco with much fanfare. Seven decades later, the UN has more than one hundred sub-organizations, executive offices in more than twenty-three countries, over 44,000 paid employees, and officially recognizes more than 2,000 NGOs (Nongovernmental Organizations) as partners. Conversations at the United Nations provides an enjoyable way to get a richer look at this behemoth organization by introducing the reader to a number of the ambassadors of the Permanent Missions, UN Administrative Directors, the NGOs, and volunteer civil society organizations such as Rotary International, by breaking down this monolithic Member State organization into individual, comprehensible segments. The information in this book is based on interviews, conversations, and presentations that the author chronicled from the monthly International Breakfast Meetings the Rotary Club of New York organized over a fourteen-year period at UN Headquarters Permanent Missions, and other venues in New York City. In a readable and enjoyable chronicle, Conversations at the United Nations takes the reader on a journey to many of the branches of the UN, the diplomats, the NGOs (Nongovernmental Organizations) and Civil Society. It also introduces many of the men and women from these organizations that comprise today's United Nations global network. The conversations provide an overview of the topics and political complexities facing the United Nations, and the reader will get a firsthand account of the personalities and backgrounds of those individuals as well as the organizations they represent.

Full Product Details

9781935905820

Table of Contents

Reviews

Tom McConnon has given us a unique gift ... a permanent resting place for some of the many intriguing and informative conversations that have taken place at the monthly International Breakfast and Luncheon Meetings of the Rotary Club of New York. He has compiled his detailed notes into an engaging book which introduces us to UN dignitaries, ambassadors, diplomats, and others who share their uncensored views about the countries they represent and why peace is so elusive, yet hopeful. A 'must read' for those who want to know what goes on behind the international scene. --Helen Reisler, Rotary International Representative to the UN, 2007-2017

Author Information

Thomas V. McConnon has been a longtime supporter and active member of Rotary International since starting up a technical training program as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the early 1980s in partnership with The Rotary Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development. Before joining the Peace Corps, Tom was a financial analyst at Dun and Bradstreet in New York, and editor and manager of their publication Key Business Ratios. Previous to joining Dun and Bradstreet, he was a research assistant to the staff economists at Townsend-Greenspan & Company, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States, Alan Greenspan's economic forecasting company. Tom is currently the CEO of Thomas Refrigeration, Inc., a leading company in its field that provides mechanical services primarily to New York City area real estate managers and owners. Since 2004, Tom has assisted in conducting the Rotary Club of New York's monthly International Breakfast Meetings and was editor and contributor for Inside the United Nations Blog, and a frequent contributor to Rotary International Day at the United Nations review. He lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Noemi, whom he met while serving with the Peace Corps, and somehow was lucky enough to convince her to move to the United States. They have five children, and seven grandchildren at the printing of this book.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available