'During the genocide, I didn't know - I thought so many people did as I did, because I know that if they'd wanted they could have done so.' - Paul Rusesabagina

Wow.

This was one of those books where reading just a few pages was not really an option. I liked this book because the first half tells the story of what happed during the Rwandan genocide, and the second half tells why it happend. The author, Philip Gourevitch, doesn't flinch at pulling punches, he doesn't shy away from saying 'x screwed up', or from taking sides, and he isn't afraid to said that intolerance is intolerable or that Rwandans are people with motives and politics, rather than some backward primordial tribal people.

Mr. Gourevitch makes a few very simple, should-be-obvious, yet completely overlooked points about the genocide that I think are central to understanding what happened:
1) The causes were not as straightforward or pithy or about nothing as was commonly described by outsiders or the develped world
2) That essentially the genocide was political strategy, and that it was not simply a case of descent into an anarchic scramble for power, nor was it an end but rather a means.
3) Rwandans, especially the Hutu Power refugees, are not babes in the wilderness, or naive, and have self-motivations and strategies, and have been able to manipulate and utilize the international community for their own benefit.

This book lays the groundwork for a compelling argument that the international community has a moral imperative to take the side of preventing loss of human life and should be able to committ troops - really commit troops - to do so.

This is not a dry book, but nor is it a weepy book - it presents personal stories through the genocide, profiles of how Rwandans see themselves and the time 'Before' and up to 1998, but also a sharp look at the West and developed nations.

Overall highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart reading at teatime. ( )

I read this book for a political anthropology course in college and it completely blew my mind. This book woke me up and shook me. I had no idea about any atrocities in Rwanda until I read this brilliant book - how sad is that? Gourevitch has written a superb book that details and informs the public about the genocides in Rwanda. He explores the magnitude of the destruction that occurred in that country, along with the disgusting ways in which the world did not answer the calls for help that were being shouted by the peoples being massacred on a daily basis. This book provokes emotions and instigates discussions and is generally a wonderful book to read. ( )

A brilliant, compassionate, insightful telling of the tragedy of the Rwandan genocide. Masterful and unforgettable! ( )

Wow. This is an extremely powerful book. I had read some about the genocide in Rwanda before, I knew the basic story and the most general aspects of what happened, but I had nowhere NEAR the amount of knowledge about it that is packed into this book. This is a fantastic book to read for people who enjoy history and/or politics, as well as world events in general. There is so much information in these pages that truthfully I feel like I should read it again because I know it didn’t all sink in. I’m not going to lie to you guys, We Wish to Inform You… is not an easy read. Not even close. It took me quite a while to get through it, just because of the sheer depth of information presented here - I had to read much more slowly than I normally do to make sure everything sunk in. But I think it’s an important read… this does happen. This did happen, and something similar is happening in Darfur as well.

One thing that makes this book different from many others in the same genre is that it specifically points out all the opportunities the world, the United States in particular, had to intervene in the genocide and stop it from happening, and every time nothing was done. It is difficult to fully grasp the fact that not only did the world know this was happening, the major world powers did everything they could to deny that it was an actual genocide and to point blame at everyone but their own governments for not helping. This information is not easy to read about, but at the same time, very important to know about. The book also goes into extensive detail regarding the aftermath of the genocide, when Hutu killers were living in “refugee” camps and receiving foreign aid, and when surviving Tutsis had to go back to their homes, and carry on their lives living next door to the murderers of their parents, spouses, and children. Can you imagine - having to look EVERY DAY at the face of the person who murdered every single person you love? It is absolutely unbelievable. Yet very few of the killers were put to justice, and the book covers a lot about the broken country of Rwanda after the genocide was “over” (I am putting “over” in quotation marks because there were plenty of killings for a long time after the genocide was thought to be over by the world).

Gourevitch is an amazing journalist - the way he brought this time to life for the reader is stunning. He did a great job mixing politics with stories of genocide survivors - although there is a LOT of politics in this book. His language is fantastic and kept me interested even when I wanted to put the book down because of how sad I was feeling. I am very interested to see what else he has done, or what else he is currently working on.

Highly recommended. We Wish to Inform You is not a peaceful, easy read by any means, but one that is absolutely worth your time. ( )

Perhaps this is the best account that we've got. Or maybe not. I just happened to see in the paper today about the death of Alison Des Forges, a Human Rights Watch adviser and historian of Rwanda, who spent four years documenting the genocide, concluding that 500,000 were killed. "Her book 'Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda,' published that year, has been called a definitive account of the genocide."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/nyr...
This one by an anthropologist sounds promising too: “When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and Genocide in Rwanda.”
Here's another academic one: “The Order of Genocide: Race, Power and War in Rwanda.”

Assuming for the moment that PG's was the best account for some years, it's still a hard read, and not just because of the subject matter. It's terribly disorganized and much in need of attribution. Too many broad sweeping statements and summations and not enough specifics.

Who is this "international community"? Ditto "international aid agencies"? if you must bring in the dithering of the UN--and fail to give us their cited reasons for inaction--can't you at least tell us how some of the major countries are voting or arguing? And what happened to France?

If you're seeking some sense of the geopolitics of the region, post-colonial history, colonial history, look elsewhere. I don't think PG knows very much. Never fear, though, we do get analogies to Nazi Germany.

I also sense that he was young, little trained and very flattered to be given such access to Paul Kagame, the general who led the RPF army in from Uganda to push out the Hutu Power government and army. Nobody, no African military man, is that pure. And now that I read Dr. Des Forges's obit, it seems that she reached harsher conclusions. ( )