'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! ( )

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. ( )

I read this after returning from Rwanda, a country where one would never know (except for the genocide memorial in Kigali) that such horrific events happened such a short time ago. Beautifully written. I recently heard Paul Rusesabagina (the manager of the Milles Collines hotel) speak, and I never would have understood the complicated history or his perspective had I not read Gourevitch's book. ( )