Pre-publication Reviews:

“For anyone interested in Eleanor Roosevelt or human rights, this book is a must.  It shows ER ‘on her own,’ a pragmatic visionary leading the effort to create one of the twentieth century’s most important documents.  An essential part of our history, almost lost, has been brilliantly recovered by Mary Ann Glendon.  Her book belongs on the shelf of anyone who cares about human rights or the UN, and it makes clear why Eleanor Roosevelt considered the Universal Declaration her most important achievement.”

--Richard C. Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and author of To End a War

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“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, she also presents a richly textured portrait of a woman driven to public service while simultaneously grieving for her late husband….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.

--Publishers Weekly

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“At long last a first-rate study of Eleanor Roosevelt’s supreme accomplishment:  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In Mary Ann Glendon’s excellent A World Made New we learn the inside story of this historical undertaking aimed at alleviating suffering around the world.  One can only marvel at the framers’ unwavering commitment to freedom, solidarity, and peace.  This is not just a book:  it’s an instructive blueprint for how to make a better world.”

--Douglas Brinkley author of FDR and the Creation of the United Nations

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“An intellectual feast, a great cast of characters, a publishing event.  This is a cracking good story, rich with wisdom and full of newly discovered details.  The tale of the intense personal struggles involved in drafting and voting on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has never been told. No one but Mary Ann Glendon knows enough about comparative law, history and philosophy to have told this tale.  Her book reads like a philosophical novel, full of larger than life personalities.”

--Michael Novak, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission and head of the U.S. delegation to the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

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“From the cataclysmic wrongs of the 20th century, there emerged some of the most important rights in history.  Mary Ann Glendon tells this fascinating story as only she can – with wisdom, passion and elegance.  She brings the players alive and explains the importance of universal rights to every person on this planet.  A great book and n important read.”

--    Alan M. Dershowitz,  Harvard Law School

Post-publication Reviews:

"In 'A World Made New,' Mary Ann Glendon has supplied us with what should become the definitive account of the creation of the Universal Declaration, and of the role played by Eleanor Roosevelt and by such other key figures as Charles Malik of Lebanon, Peng-chun Chang of China, René Cassin of France and the Canadian John Humphrey of the U.N. Secretariat. Glendon, the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University, has made good use of her exclusive access to the unpublished papers of major participants in providing a detailed history of the genesis of the declaration."

--David Fromkin in The New York Times Book Review

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"Vividly written and even-handed, 'A World Made New' is an important, potentially galvanizing book, and in this frightful, ferocious time, marked by war and agony, it is urgent reading….Rich in detail, 'A World Made New' is never tedious. Its power resides in the superb use of Malik's private diaries and papers, given to the author for her exclusive use; recently opened Soviet archives; the works of liberal Chinese philosopher, playwright, educator and diplomat Peng-chun Chang; and transcripts of Human Rights Commission meetings."

--Roosevelt biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook in The Los Angeles Times.

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"An inspiring history of how the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights launched the modern human rights movement….Few books reveal so evocatively the spirit of that time"

--Foreign Affairs

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"A powerful book"

--E. J. Dionne in The Washington Post

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"A magnificent new book….Glendon is worth listening to. She is renowned not only as a Harvard law professor but also as an activist in a number of social and cultural areas and as a first-rate writer and political commentator….What is so remarkable about this book is that after running through all the challenges imposed by the wickedness, misunderstanding, hatred and selfishness of nations, institutions and ordinary people, Glendon emerges with a reaffirmation of hope and beauty for the future of mankind. It is not merely heart-warming; it is glorious."

--Herb Altschull in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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"A riveting, important study….Glendon tells this story with vivid detail and narrative drive"

--Marguerite Feitlowitz in The Washington Post

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"With access to both private and public sources, Glendon, a noted legal scholar, has written a fascinating account of the noble and vexed history of this document which remains almost as radical now as it was half a century ago"

--The New Yorker

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"Glendon's fine book enhances our appreciation of the men and women who sought and found a way to enunciate universals"
--Merle Rubin in The Christian Science Monitor

"Mary Ann Glendon's chronicle of the former first lady's crucial efforts in crafting this international bill of rights is history at its best"

--The Dallas Morning News

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"A fascinating book"

--The Irish Times

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"Mary Ann Glendon's 'A World Made New' is the book I've been waiting to read….I hope it will reach and touch a great body of readers"

--Elena Dodd in The Brattleboro Reformer

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"Mary Ann Glendon is our nation's leading scholar of international human rights law. The book is worth reading, not only because it is a fascinating story brilliantly told, but also because Glendon engages in her own conversation with the greatest theorists of human rights from the post-World War II era….No one ever reads a book or an article by Mary Ann Glendon without profiting from it. Of all her works, A World Made New is the most accessible to nonspecialists and general readers. Don't miss it."

--Robert P. George in Crisis

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"Mary Ann Glendon's A World Made New gives a fascinating and surprisingly personal account of [the Human Rights Commissioners'] achievement."


--Brian Urquhart in The New York Review of Books

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"Glendon's fascinating account of the declaration's process, full of anecdotes and insights, captures the intimacy and excitement that gripped these extraordinary people even when they were working through the boredom of tortuous and repetitive deliberations."

--Pat Swift in The Buffalo News

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"Glendon has produced the definitive work on the creation of the UDHR, one that is at the same time impressively scholarly and immensely readable."


--John Hobbins