The Absolutely Indispensable Man

In this political biography, Kal Raustiala tells the life story of famed diplomat, scholar, Nobel prize winner, and civil rights leader Ralph Bunche. Raustiala argues that his most lasting achievement was his work against the European empire across the globe. As a high-ranking United Nations official in the 1950s and 1960s, Bunche saw decolonization as a project of global racial justice. From marching with Martin Luther King to advising presidents and prime ministers, Bunche is one of the most prominent Black Americans of the twentieth century. This definitive biography gives him his due. It also reminds us that the end of empire had a powerful impact on America's own civil rights struggle.