No Enchanted Palace traces the origins and early development of the United Nations, one of the most influential yet perhaps least understood organizations active in the world today. Acclaimed historian Mark Mazower forces us to set aside the popular myth that the UN miraculously rose from the ashes of World War II as the guardian of a new and peace

"This is a sprawling tale told with great energy, verve, and insight. Mazower offers an original and disturbing picture of the ideological foundations of the great sacred cow of postwar international institutions. No Enchanted Palace will be a much discussed volume in what is likely to be a continuing debate over the future of the United Nations."--Sunil Khilnani, author of The Idea of India

"This is a superb, highly readable account of the ideas and some of the events that informed the creation and early history of the United Nations. No Enchanted Palace is an engaging and penetrating work, and a timely reminder of the need to think historically about the UN and its place in world affairs."--Peter Wilson, London School of Economics and Political Science

"Mark Mazower is one of the most original and interesting historians at work on Europe's modern history. In this book, he turns his attention to the broader theme of world order, and to the various ways in which it was being reimagined at the moment when the United Nations was created in 1945. The result is a lucid, perceptive, and indispensable study."---John Darwin, American Historical Review