‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Tomorrow Is Yesterday’ are personal histories of diplomacy

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Two new books dive into the details of diplomacy. First, in the 1960s U Thant became the first non-Western secretary-general of the United Nations. Now his grandson, historian Thant Myint-U, has written Peacemaker, a new biography of the diplomat. In today’s episode, Thant speaks with NPR’s Michele Keleman about his grandfather’s journey. Then, Hussein Agha and Robert Malley have been a part of negotiations to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine. In today’s episode, they speak with NPR’s Scott Simon about their book Tomorrow Is Yesterday, a history of that failed peace process.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Peace in the world is hard,
0:07.7	maybe even impossible, but that doesn't mean you don't try. Today, we've got two books
0:13.2	detailing different attempts for peace in the world. In a bit, we'll hear about the history of the
0:17.9	1993 agreement that was supposed to end the conflict between Israelis
0:22.4	and Palestinians, supposed to. But first, Uthans was the Secretary General of the United Nations
0:28.8	from 1961 to 1971, which means he had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War,
0:36.1	crises in Congo, Yemen, Cyprus, and more.
0:39.1	There's a new biography about him written by his grandson,
0:41.8	Thont Mint You, titled Peacemaker, Uthont,
0:44.9	and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World.
0:47.5	And he spoke with NPR's Michelle Kellerman,
0:49.3	who covers diplomacy about what made his grandfather
0:52.8	such a one-of-a-kind figure. That's coming up.
0:56.6	At Radio Lab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry.
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1:25.4	Wherever you get your podcast.
	...

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