An unforgettable memoir of three UN workers fighting for sanity at the edge of violence.
In the early 1990s three young people attracted to the ambitious global peacekeeping work of the United Nations cross paths in Cambodia.
Andrew strives for a better world through his live saving work as a doctor. Heidi, a social worker is in need of a challenge and a paycheck and Ken is fresh from Harvard and brimful of idealism. As the Cold War ends and the New World Order dawns, they peace-keep by day, throw wild parties by night and become the deepest of friends.
However, as their stories interweave through the years, from Rwanda, Bosnia and Somalia to Haiti, the trio reveal a world of witnessed atrocities, primal fear, desperate loneliness and base desires. They fend off terror and futility with revelry, humour and sex. They ask hard questions about the world order that America has created, the true power of the UN and whether there is any possibility for change.
This is a startling celebration of human, strength and spirit. Of the power of humour and friendship, of the limits of human compassion and the need for a warm body and a cold beer during a Condition Echo lockdown.
The black humour of M*A*S*H, meets the frenetic pace of ER, meets the anger of Michael Moore, in a book that shows the human cost of global politics and the tragic truth that wars are much more avoidable than our governments would ever admit.
A brilliant, provocative funny and fast moving book.
