Thant Myint-U, an award-winning writer, historian, and international public servant, will speak about his new book, Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World. U Thant was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961-1971, and, as the first non-Westerner in that role, led the world organization at the height of the Cold War. It was a time when the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa came to the fore at the UN, and when, for a while. a global peace seemed both urgent and possible.