The Diplomat

Finalist for the John W. Dafoe Book PrizeNovember 1956. Lester Pearson, Canada's foreign minister (and future prime minister) stands before the United Nations General Assembly. His speech, shaped by caution and hope, is a last-ditch attempt to prevent a conflict in Egypt from igniting a conflagration throughout the Middle East. He is about to carve out a razor's edge of common ground to bring together angry allies and bitter enemies by suggesting the creation of the first UN peacekeeping force.Pearson's diplomacy throughout the Suez Crisis launched a bold experiment in international security and cemented Canada's reputation as "a moderate, mediatory, middle power." Antony Anderson has written both a compelling portrait of a future prime minister and a nuanced analysis of the political maze navigated by Pearson to avert a bloody war.