From 1944 to 1946, as the world pivoted from the Second World War to an unsteady peace, the newly-created United Nations needed a meeting place, a central place for global diplomacy. But what would it look like, and where would it be? At times it seemed the world’s diplomats could agree on only one thing: under no circumstances did they want the United Nations to be based in New York. And for its part, New York worked mightily just to stay in the race it would eventually win. In vivid detail, Charlene Mires traces New York’s long and often complicated journey to host the United Nations.