When the UN asked its Twitter followers what they thought was the most popular book at its Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York last year, there were plenty of titles that came to mind. If delegates were seeking distraction, perhaps they borrowed Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee’s first novel in decades, or sought out a salacious read like E L James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. Alternatively, if international relations were weighing heavy on diplomatic minds, might they have borrowed The Art of War or The Dictator’s Handbook?
In reality, the most borrowed book from the UN library last year turned out to be a work by Ramona Pedretti that bears the title Immunity of Heads of State and State Officials for International Crimes. All of this still begs a further question: why didn’t they buy the book? Mint copies of Pedretti’s book sell for more than Dh2,750 online, which would have made it an unexpectedly good investment for the wealthiest law-evading despots.
