Summary

As a child in South Korea, Ban Ki-moon wrote a letter to the U.N. secretary-general regarding the Hungarian uprising against Russia. A few years later in the United States, he met President John F. Kennedy. From then on, Ban desired to work for peace, an aspiration that led him to become South Korea’s foreign minister in 2004, at a time when tensions between North Korea and its neighbors were heated. Two years later, he ascended to the position of U.N. secretary-general. Ban has worked to show the benefits of diplomatic approaches in solving conflict, and has called for the world’s citizens to change their habits to curb global warming. To restore people’s trust in the battered organization, he has set standards for other U.N. staff. In Ban Ki-moon, read how his further success in these areas will attempt to keep the U.N. relevant in an increasingly complex world.

Specifications

Full-color and black-and-white photographs. Chronology. Bibliography. Further reading. Index.

About the Author(s)

Rebecca Aldridge has been an editor and writer for more than 11 years. She has written nonfiction children’s books about Thomas Jefferson, the presidency, and Italian immigrants in America. Her editorial work includes input on more than 50 children’s nonfiction books, ranging in topics from disease and illness to the Revolutionary War. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Introduction by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, City University of New York; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History and for Biography