New York Launch: The World We Want

Book launch for The World We Want.

To be launched by former Forum Alumni Association Chair Dorothy Chen-Courtin (Malaysia 1962).

Please click on the 'get tickets' button if you are interested in attending this launch.

PLEASE ENTER EACH ATTENDEE'S NAME ON THE TICKET.

*** The New York Herald Tribune World Youth Forum Alumni Association have purchased copies of the book - one each for every Forum delegate (or their designated relative), and  members of the Alumni Association. You will be able to collect these books at the launch (signed by the author if you wish!). Please fill in the relevant details if applicable when you are booking tickets. 

Extra copies of the book will also be available for sale at the launch. Cash is preferred.

THE BOOK:

What happens when you handpick 30 smart, articulate teenagers from across the globe and bring them to New York for 3 months during the Cold War? 

They lived with American families, attended American schools, and participated in forums in person and on television, discussing Middle East conflicts, South African apartheid, the Vietnam war, American civil rights, and women’s place around the world.

Lauded as the voices of youth and hope, they jammed with Pete Seeger, chatted with US Presidents, were star-struck by Harry Belafonte and Ingrid Bergman, took inspiration from Noam Chomsky, and had tea with Eleanor Roosevelt. Many delegates later had significant roles in politics, academia, and international affairs.

The Herald Tribune World Youth Forum was both an idealistic attempt to create a better, more peaceful postwar world and an exercise in Cold War soft power diplomacy.

Using over 200 oral history interviews, archives and memorabilia scattered across the globe, and the fabulous surviving footage of the 1950s televised debates (now viral on YouTube), award-winning historian Catherine Bishop brings to life the story of the Forum and its impact on young delegates.

For some it was simply a pleasant interlude. 

For others, it changed their world completely.