Man without a gun

the long version

Man Without a Gun is the true story of a single UN diplomat's astonishing high-wire struggle for peace in the Middle East. In more than two decades, Giandomenico Picco negotiated an end to wars in Afghanistan and between Iran and Iraq with the force of his decency and the strength of the UN. But little could prepare Picco for the danger he would face in resolving the Lebanon hostage crisis. Picco worked on the ground, alone. He was taken to meet the hostage takers themselves many times, shrouded in a black hood, racing through the darkened streets of Lebanon as masked gunmen barked orders. The details of Picco's secret negotiations have never before been revealed; until now, it was barely even known who the kidnappers were. As the chief UN hostage negotiator, Picco often had to make split-second, life-or-death decisions based on the promise of a masked informant or an anonymous official. Yet on the strength of his own word, he managed to forge an unlikely coalition among Iran, Syria, Israel, and the Lebanese groups to win the release of the captives.