Conor Cruise O'Brien is a distinguished statesman and writer. Over a long and varied career, he has served in the Irish external affairs office; was a member of the Irish delegation to the United Nations (at one point being seconded as a special assistant to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold); was elected an Irish Labour Party parliamentarian, later serving in the cabinet; and was appointed editor-in-chief of the "London Observer." A contributing editor to "The Atlantic Monthly, " O'Brien lectures around the world at leading unversities and writes weekly columns for "The Independent" in Br...