In 1996, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, SIPRI published a book edited by a former Director, Frank Blackaby, under the title SIPRI: Continuity and Change 1966-1996. It is not the aim of the present volume either to supplant or to update this useful work. Instead, a fresh selection of materials is offered here with the idea of reflecting not just the intellectual and professional, but also the human and personal, reality of SIPRI's 40 years of history. The book starts with an essay on the creation of the Institute, prepared by Jan Prawitz on the basis of personal testimony provided by the late Rolf Björnerstedt, a former Chairman of the SIPRI Governing Board (whose memory and whose seminal contribution to SIPRI deserve tribute here). The middle and longest section of the volume is organized in historical sequence and combines excerpts from past editions of the SIPRI Yearbook, and historical photographs, with personal reminiscences contributed by a number of SIPRI staff, Board members, and working partners past and present. These contributors were given freedom to choose the length and focus of their texts, and the results well display the variety of national backgrounds, personal beliefs and expert skills that have enriched the SIPRI 'melting pot' over the years. Some of the final contributions touch upon future goals for SIPRI, and the volume ends with a personal essay on that subject by the Institute's present Director. The appendices provide details for reference purposes of all past Board members, Directors, Deputy Directors and staff members of the Institute.

It is hoped that the volume will give pleasure to many kinds of reader; will remind them of what SIPRI has achieved over the years but also of the many people and authorities that have helped to achieve it; and will provide both food for thought and inspiration regarding the Institute's future.

If you want to learn more about SIPRI and its activities in its anniversary year, or to browse through other written pieces and the anniversary photo archive, please visit http:// anniversary.sipri.org. If you have any comments or questions regarding this book, please contact editors@sipri.org.

Acknowledgements

Editors: D. A. Cruickshank, Tom Gill, Jetta Gilligan Borg, Connie Wall Design and Layout: Tom Gill Research: Carol Barta, Nenne Bodell, Connie Wall Picture Research: Carol Barta, Tom Gill, Gerd Hagmeyer-Gaverus, Milton Leitenberg

Picture Credits

Corbis; FEMA News Photo/Andrea Booher; Gerd Hagmeyer-Gaverus; Grand Hotel, Saltsjöbaden; Milton Leitenberg; NATO Media Library; Ronald Reagan Library; SIPRI archive; United Nations; United Nations/R. Chalasani; United Nations/Y. Nagata; and Pieter D. Wezeman

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