Sean Lester

It was an incredible destiny for a man who repeatedly announced that he was "without ambition." Although he had left school aged fourteen, had no experience of foreign affairs and spoke no languages other than English, in 1929 Sean Lester became the Irish representative to the League of Nations in Geneva. He was soon recognized by his peers as an outspoken and able politician of integrity ready to defend the rules governing civilized society. As the League's High Commissioner in the Free City of Danzig from 1934 to 1936, he tried to resist the Nazi juggernaut. In the early part of the Second World War, Lester took over as Secretary-General of the League of Nations from his disgraced predecessor and for four years fought to keep the institution alive. In his dairies he witnessed many dark chapters of European history in the 1930s and 1940s.

Marit Fosse is a writer, journalist, entrepreneur, and creative manager with a broad-based background in highly competitive and dynamic organizations. She set up Diva International and succeeded in making it a reference magazine for the international community in Geneva, Switzerland, and has published hundreds of articles and co-authored several books. She is also the vice-president of the World Trade Center in Dakar, Senegal, and is involved in developing business in Mali.
John Fox, after a career working as a publications officer for the BBC and UNESCO, is now a retired international civil servant. He is a contributor to and co-editor of Diva: International Diplomat and co-author with Marit Fosse of the book The League of Nations: From Collective Security to Global Rearmament. He has also contributed an article on Lord Robert Baden-Powell to UNESCO's educational journal Prospects.

Foreword by Michael Moller, Acting Director-General, United Nations Headquarters, Geneva
Introduction
1. A Brief Account of Recent Irish history
2. Who Was Sean Lester?
3. The Diplomat
4. The Manchurian Question
5. Latin American Matters
6. Disarmament and Finance
7. Secretariat Appointments
8. Minority Questions
9. Appointed High Commissioner in Danzig
10. Danzig, 1933 and 1934
11. Danzig, 1935
12. Danzig, 1936 and Beyond
13. Ethiopia/Abyssinia
14. Deputy Secretary-General, 1937-1940
15. War Begins, 1939
16. The Summer of 1940
17. Becoming Secretary-General
18. The End of the League
Bibliography
Index