Título: Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the World
Autor: Samantha Power
Sinopse: The death of the charismatic Brazilian chief of the U.N. Mission to Iraq in a 2003 terrorist bombing symbolized both the U.N.'s haplessness—he died because rescuers lacked the training and equipment to free him from the rubble—and its idealism. In this sprawling biography, Vieira de Mello's life symbolizes the tragic contradictions of coping with humanitarian crises. Journalist Power, author of the Pulitzer-winning The Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, follows Vieira de Mello through a U.N. career spent in hot spots like Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. His tasks were many: implementing peace accords, settling refugees, overseeing elections, running the government of East Timor. In each posting, he confronts a hydra-headed monster of communal violence and poverty, plus difficulties compounded by U.N. red tape, miserly budgets and uncaring Western governments. Agonizing dilemmas abound. Should refugees be fed or sent home? Should U.N. peacekeepers observe or intervene? Should past atrocities be prosecuted or overlooked? Playing by ear, Vieira de Mello charts an erratic course through these conundrums. Sometimes he's a human rights zealot, sometimes he cozies up to the Khmer Rouge; sometimes he negotiates with the Serbs, sometimes he wants to bomb them. Vieira de Mello comes off as a charming diplomat, a canny politician and an inspiring leader, and the author celebrates his flexibility and pragmatism (while criticizing his failures). Power wants to extract lasting lessons for the international community's efforts to head off humanitarian catastrophes and mend failed states from his experience. Unfortunately, it's hard to discern through his improvisations any systematic approach to nation building or to such vexed issues as humanitarian military intervention and regime change. The lack of perspective isn't helped by the biographical format, as the peripatetic Vieira de Mello jets from one conflagration to the next, then on to a romantic getaway with a mistress or to give a murky speech on Kant. We get the impression that U.N. missions are inevitably a hopeless muddle unless Sergio, with his unique talents, parachutes in to fix things; the book may thus inadvertently encourage critics of the U.N.-style interventionism that Power supports. Readers will gain an appreciation of Vieira de Mello's gifts, but not the method to his magic.
Contexto da obra
Quando a classificação é mais ampla, o contexto do livro costuma depender ainda mais de autoria, tema e edição. “Chasing the Flame: One Man’s Fight to Save the World”, de Samantha Power, publicado pela editora Penguin Books, em 2008 e com 656 páginas, integra a categoria Livros Variados. Por isso, autoria, edição e tema acabam tendo ainda mais peso na forma de apresentar o livro.
Editora: Penguin Books
Páginas: 656
Ano: 2008
Edição:
Linguagem: inglês
ISBN: 0143114859
ISBN13: 9780143114857
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Penguin Books apresentam uma experiência de leitura que mescla narrativas históricas e biográficas com ficções densas e envolventes, transitando entre realismo social e imaginação literária. O catálogo traz obras que exploram desde investigações jornalísticas detalhadas até relatos de viagens e estudos culturais, com uma linguagem que varia do rigor acadêmico a tons mais acessíveis e líricos. Há uma presença marcante de temas como conflitos pessoais, transformações sociais e questões éticas, frequentemente ambientados em contextos históricos ou geográficos ricos, como Londres vitoriana, África colonial e cidades contemporâneas. O ritmo dos textos pode ser tanto reflexivo e contemplativo quanto tenso e acelerado, dependendo do enfoque narrativo.
