The period after an aircraft goes missing, and before any trace of it turns up, is known as "The Uncertainty Phase" – just one of many fascinating facts I learned from Ravi Somaiya’s forensically-researched book, and a term which perfectly sums up the cross-currents of conflict and conspiracy surrounding the mysterious death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash near the Congo/Zambia border in 1961.
Published in the UK under the more obscure title Operation Morthor, Somaiya’s 2020 non-fiction debut draws on his journalism and documentary background, and on novelistic non-fiction classics in the courtroom drama and true crime genres, to produce one of the best-told true stories I’ve ever read, with a style and structure as sophisticated as the finest literary thriller.
LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS "GOLD DAGGER" AWARD FOR NON-FICTION CRIME WRITING
Uncover the story behind the death of renowned diplomat and UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in this true story of spies and intrigue surrounding one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.
On September 17, 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld boarded a Douglas DC6 propeller plane on the sweltering tarmac of the airport in Leopoldville, the capital of the Congo. Hours later, he would be found dead in an African jungle with an ace of spades playing card placed on his body.
I have spent more than 30 years in my lab at Columbia University studying how seemingly intractable conflicts develop and the conditions under which they change. I'm a professor at Columbia, a social psychologist who has studied, taught, and written about conflict for decades. I'm also a mediator, facilitator, and consultant who has worked with divided groups and communities around the world. I direct the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia, where we run the Difficult Conversations Lab, an audio/video/physio “capture lab” where we systematically study the dynamics of divisive moral conflicts to try to understand when encounters over them go well and when they go terribly wrong.
If you are interested in gaining a better understanding of why the UN fails so miserably at building and sustaining peace – read this new book. Adam Day works at the UN and uses ideas from complexity science to both explain why the UN is so challenged in its ultimate mission to sustain peace, and what it should do to move in the right direction. Day uses two current case studies on some of the most challenging situations faced by the international community and applies new ideas in useful and practical ways. This is the state-of-the-art of complexity-informed peacebuilding.
Today's vision of world order is founded upon the concept of strong, well-functioning states, in contrast to the destabilizing potential of failed or fragile states. This worldview has dominated international interventions over the past 30 years as enormous resources have been devoted to developing and extending the governance capacity of weak or failing states, hoping to transform them into reliable nodes in the global order. But with very few exceptions, this project has not delivered on its promise: countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain mired in conflict despite decades of international…
Every day, we hear about crises worldwide and wonder what our government is doing to keep us safe and prosperous. Reality is often very different from what we see on the news. I was lucky to serve as a senior State Department diplomat and witnessed how the American government machine reacts to wars, coups, and political upheavals. Insights from the inside gave me both comfort (about the high quality of US officials), fear (about how many serious threats we face), and exasperation (at how messy things often get). When I left government, I wanted to share some of those frustrations and found fiction was the best vehicle.
I love Palmer’s thrillers because he writes while he’s still working as a senior US diplomat. I have no idea how he got clearance to publish his books, but they’re fun, light, and absolutely authentic about what it’s like to work in a US embassy overseas. This book is his first, a wild romp that also rings true to my experience inside the State Department.
Global headlines come to life as intrigue and international politics collide in this electrifying debut thriller from Matthew Palmer.
After a devastating experience in Darfur strips Alex Baines, former rising star of the State Department, of his security clearances, he is faced with two choices: spend the rest of his career in visa-stamping limbo or move to the private sector.
On the verge of resigning, he receives a call from his old mentor with an incredible opportunity to start over with a role in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yet the job isn't quite what Alex imagined it to…
This book plunged me into the world of special operations! Since the author has major military and law enforcement experience, in addition to a highly respectable list of books he’s penned, he was able to craft an action thriller with believable characters and realistic battle scenes. The stakes were high, and I really cared about what was going to happen to the hero.
From the USA Today bestselling author of Robert Ludlum’s Treadstone series, The Guardian is an action-packed adventure with a hint of romance that’s perfect for fans of Extraction and Romancing the Stone.
When a retired Air Force PJ with nothing to lose is hired to rescue a kidnapped American from the depths of the Congo Basin, what was supposed to be a simple mission quickly turns into a fight for survival …
As a member of the elite Air Force Pararescue, Travis Lane abides by the motto “These things we do, that others may live.” After an injury forces him…
