8:30 am today

Thant Myint-U: The forgotten Peacemaker

From Saturday Morning, 8:30 am today

U Thant was the United Nations' longest-serving Secretary-General and ranked the sixth 'most admired man' in America in 1971. So why he is largely forgotten today?

His grandson, writer and historian, Thant Myint-U, is now sharing the integral yet forgotten roles his grandfather played in some of the twentieth century's most critical crises. Thant's intimate biography Peacemaker covers his grandfather's battle with white supremacist mercenaries in the Congo, mediating a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and ensuring the ceasefire held after the 1967 Six-Day War.

Peacemaker traces U Thant's rise from schoolteacher in a small Burmese backwater in 1947 to being a celebrity at the centre of global of politics just two decades later. It also chronicles a golden age of diplomacy and is a tribute to hope and individual actions in times of uncertainty.

Thant Myint-U speaks with Susie Ferguson about his grandfather's extraordinary legacy.

Thant Myint-U next to his book 'Peacekeeper'

Thant Myint-U writes about his grandfather in 'Peacekeeper''. Photo: Allen & Unwin