The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide
by Gerard Prunier
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In the spring of 1994 the tiny African nation of Rwanda exploded onto the international media stage, as internal strife reached genocidal proportions. But the horror that unfolded before our eyes had been building steadily for years before it captured the attention of the world. In The Rwanda Crisis, journalist and Africa scholar Gérard Prunier provides a historical perspective that Western readers need to understand how and why the brutal massacres of 800,000 Rwandese came to pass. Prunier show more shows how the events in Rwanda were part of a deadly logic, a plan that served central political and economic interests, rather than a result of ancient tribal hatreds--a notion often invoked by the media to dramatize the fighting. The Rwanda Crisis makes great strides in dispelling the racist cultural myths surrounding the people of Rwanda, views propogated by European colonialists in the nineteenth century and carved into "history" by Western influence. Prunier demonstrates how the struggle for cultural dominance and subjugation among the Hutu and Tutsi--the central players in the recent massacres--was exploited by racially obsessed Europeans. He shows how Western colonialists helped to construct a Tutsi identity as a superior racial type because of their distinctly "non-Negro" features in order to facilitate greater control over the Rwandese. Expertly leading readers on a journey through the troubled history of the country and its surroundings, Prunier moves from the pre-colonial Kingdom of Rwanda, though German and Belgian colonial regimes, to the 1973 coup. The book chronicles the developing refugee crisis in Rwanda and neighboring Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s and offers the most comprehensive account available of the manipulations of popular sentiment that led to the genocide and the events that have followed. In the aftermath of this devastating tragedy, The Rwanda Crisis is the first clear-eyed analysis available to American readers. From the massacres to the subsequent cholera epidemic and emerging refugee crisis, Prunier details the horrifying events of recent years and considers propsects for the future of Rwanda. show lessTags
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Prunier's elucidation of [Rwanda's history] seems to me to be beyond praise. He has reconstructed the entire process by which a thorough modern genocide was planned.He has read all the documents. He has interviewed both perpetrators and survivors. He has anatomized the cold process of mass murder in both theory and practice
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Gerard Prunier's new history of the Rwandan genocide casts this sad moment into the black and white relief of print and commits to memory the struggle of those Rwandans who fell victim to the atrocities of last year's tragedy. His book is a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives, and an important contribution to the work of understanding the complexities of modern conflict.
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The most thorough treatment of the background to the massacres ... He presents his balanced and painstaking research with clarity and skill, and he shows how the ideological, political, and economic components of Rwanda's human time bomb slowly assembled... A former consultant to the Mitterrand government, Prunier is particularly well informed on the shameful role of the French in helping show more create the conditions that led to the 1994 explosion. show less
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Author Information
14 Works 614 Members
Common Knowledge
- Important places*
- Rwanda
- Important events
- Rwandan Genocide (1994)
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 967.57104 — History & geography History of Africa Central Africa: Congo, Angola, Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa); Rwanda & Burundi Rwanda and Burundi Rwanda 1962-
- LCC
- DT450.435 .P78 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Africa History of Africa Eastern Africa Burundi History
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 131
- Popularity
- 248,561
- Rating
- (4.56)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
