Encyclopedia of the United Nations (Facts on File Library of World History), 2 Volumes

Praise for the previous edition:
"...a first-rate job...Recommended for all libraries." Library Journal, starred review

"Recommended..." Choice

"...user-friendly and clearly written..." Booklist

The United Nations was created as a response to the suffering caused by World War II. The goal of the organization, as stated in the Charter of the United Nations, was "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." That goal is as vital today as it was in 1945. While other structures of the cold war era have disappeared completely or have undergone major revisions, the UN has gained increasing importance as a collective security response to the challenges that have emerged in this millennium.

Now in two volumes, with more than 100 new and revised entries, Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Second Edition provides a comprehensive update to the United Nations's institutions, procedures, policies, specialized agencies, historic personalities, initiatives, and involvement in world affairs. This reference puts into context the past 50 years of major world events and the role the United Nations has played in them. Presented in alphabetical format, this book features more than 500 entries that include brief references, longer explanatory essays, and detailed data on the UN The appendixes contain important UN documents, such as the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and recent Security Council resolutions.

New and revised entries include:

• African Union
• Carol Bellamy
• Hans Blix
• Climate change
• Conflict diamonds
• Darfur
• Developing countries
• Election assistance
• Group of Eight
• Human trafficking
• Khmer Rouge trials
• Ban Ki-moon
• Millennium Project
• Office on Drugs and Crime
• Al-Qaeda
• Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Timor-Leste
• United Nations mission in the Sudan
• Volcker Report
• World summit on sustainable development.

Encyclopedia of the United Nations has grown by nearly 50 percent over the size of the first edition. It is organized in the same general manner. An introduction gives a brief history of the UN, and an acronyms list offers welcome relief to a person attempting to decipher the myriad of UN agency abbreviations. The main A–Z entries follow. UN member countries do not receive individual articles unless some peacekeeping or other significant action has occurred in the history of the UN to warrant an article. New entries include more biographies and topics such as African Union, Darfur, and SARS. Most of the more than 500 entries are longer explanatory essays, though a few consist of brief paragraphs. Appendixes contain the Charter of the UN, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a list of member states as of March 2008, a list of secretaries-general of the UN, Statute of the International Court of Justice, and several important UN resolutions. Also appended are a chronology of important UN dates and a listing of useful Web sites. Short reading lists at the end of each article are complemented by a thorough general bibliography. The index is located in the second volume only but is well organized and helpful.  The encyclopedia was worth updating since globalization makes the work of the UN more important each year. Public and academic libraries that do not own the set will want to consider it strongly, and those with the older edition may opt to replace it. --Steve Stratton