A World Made New

January 1, 2001
In 1947, in a world recently ripped apart by the Holocaust, a devastating war and mass displacement, the very idea of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights seemed both impossible and supremely necessary. As the specter of the Cold War loomed, a U.N. delegation, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, began writing what would become the world's first standard statement of human rights. Glendon, a professor of law at Harvard University, has written a compelling, at times thrilling account of how Roosevelt and her cohorts argued and cajoled one another through a series of intellectual, political and moral positions, finally hammering out a statement that was acceptable across national, religious and philosophical lines. While Glendon successfully traces the evolution of the document--which was ratified on December 10, 1948, after six drafts and much debate by the U.N. General Assembly--she also presents a richly textured portrait of a woman driven to public service while simultaneously grieving for her late husband. Roosevelt's politics were also at issue: at one point, she resigned from the U.N. over the U.S. government's initial disapproval of the creation of Israel. Glendon concludes with a legal analysis of the declaration and a lengthy discussion of its applicability today, when many non-Western nations (such as China) claim that the concept of "universal" human rights precepts precludes an acceptance of cultural differences. Glendon's work is a welcome addition to the realm of international law and to the growing body of literature on Eleanor Roosevelt's role in modern politics. Agents, Lynn Chu and Glen Hartley, Writer's Representatives.

January 1, 2001
When it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first formal statement of what the phrase human rights actually entailed. Glendon (law, Harvard) has written a legislative history of the Declaration covering both the negotiation process and the ratification debates and process during the years 1946-52. The book is based on extensive access to the diaries and unpublished memoirs of many of the participants as they worked with the horrors of World War II fresh in their minds and against the backdrop of the rapidly chilling Cold War. While the content and phrasing of the Declaration are the product of the many fine minds and strong personalities who worked on it, Eleanor Roosevelt is here given full credit for facilitating the process and steering the group to a final agreement that incorporated the best from many cultural and religious traditions. Recommended for academic libraries and broad Roosevelt collections.--Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2001
The final stage of Roosevelt family leadership is the subject of Harvard Law School professor Glendon's study of what may have been Eleanor Roosevelt's most notable accomplishment after her husband's death: the drafting and 1948 acceptance by the international community of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was an intense, sometimes fractious negotiation, and Roosevelt was not the only major player. Glendon also focuses major attention on three others: Peng-chun Chang, Chinese philosopher, diplomat, and playwright; Rene Cassin, the "legal genius of the Free French" and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate; and Lebanon's Charles Malik, an existentialist philosopher and master diplomat. A nuanced analysis of the roots of an essential international agreement; the texts of six drafts and the final declaration are appended. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)