Product Description

When President Habyarimana's jet was shot down in April 1994, Rwanda erupted into a hundred-day orgy of killing - which left up to a million dead. Fergal Keane travelled through the country as the genocide was continuing, and his powerful analysis reveals the terrible truth behind the headlines. 'A tender, angry account...As well as being a scathing indictment - Keane says the genocide inflicted on the Tutsis was planned well in advance by Hutu leaders - this is a graphic view of news-gathering in extremis. It deserves to become a classic' - "Independent".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #592026 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780140247602
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
Fergal Keane, an Irish journalist, formerly BBC correspondent in South Africa, was sent in 1994 to cover the war in Rwanda that had left one million Tutsis dead, most of them gruesomely hacked to death by their Hutu neighbors. The power of this account lies in Keane's profound emotional shock at barely imaginable cruelty, and in the personal testimony of the survivors he interviewed. Keane also searches for meaning. Like many familiar with Africa, he rejects the too easy explanation of "tribal hatred," with its assumption that the problem is intractable and internal. He emphasizes instead the economic and class disparities driving a political bloodlust, reminiscent perhaps of revolutionary France. Even though understanding such atrocity seems out of reach, Keane bears eloquent witness to evil.

From Publishers Weekly
Winner of Britain's Orwell Prize for best political book of 1995, this searing, impassioned eyewitness account of the genocide of Rwanda's Tutsi minority by Hutu extremists dispels a number of media-sustained myths surrounding the slaughter in 1994 of a million people. BBC reporter and documentary filmmaker Keane saw absolutely no evidence to support the widely held belief that the Tutsis?who once comprised Rwanda's ruling class, abetted by German and Belgian colonialists?are lighter-skinned than Hutus. Contrary to the view that mutual hatred between tribes spontaneously erupted into irrational violence, he demonstrates that the killings were planned well in advance by a clique close to Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. Bitterly resentful of the prospect of sharing power with the Tutsis, this clique created its own civilian militia and mounted a virulent propaganda campaign scapegoating Tutsis. The principal architects of the genocide found a haven in Zaire and Tanzania. Blaming the U.S., the European Community and the U.N. for failing to halt mass murder, Keane calls on the international community to assist Rwanda's new government, formed after the death of Habyarimana in a plane crash in April 1994.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Keane is a journalist for BBC and winner of Britain's 1995 Orwell Prize for best political book and Amnesty International's Human Rights Reporter of the Year 1993. His first book, on South Africa (The Bondage of Fear: A Journey Through the Last White Empire), only partially prepared him for his Rwandan journey in the spring of 1994. Containing some of the most graphic depictions of death and violence in modern history, Keane's well-written account of the genocide in Rwanda recalls the stunned words of the Allies who liberated Nazi death camps in 1945. Keane's thesis is that the Rwandan massacres were due to more than tribal squabbling: murdered Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and his supporters had long planned the genocide of over a million Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus. After an introductory chapter on the history of the Rwandan situation, Keane leads us through "an encounter with evil." Constantly present is the incomprehensible fact that most of the killings occurred within a two-month period. Other recent books on the subject include Gerald Prunier's The Rwandan Crisis: History of a Genocide (LJ 11/1/95) and Alain Destexhe's Rwanda and Genocide in the Twentieth Century (LJ 10/1/95). Highly recommended because of the focus on understanding, and hopefully solving, the issue of ethnic genocide and hatred in today's world.?Cynthia D. Bertelsen, Virginia Polytechnic Institute Lib., Blacksburg, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Powerful, evocative work
The Rwandan massacres seemed to barely make the news cycle in the United States, and while our government shamefully refused to take any action to prevent the massacres, many international news organizations placed reporters in jeopardy to uncover the events of that harrowing month. Feargal Keane's book is a very personal and immediate account of what happened in his time reporting on the attempted genocide. While I do agree with other reviewers that his account does not attempt to place the regional tensions into a broader context (like Gourevitch's excellent "We regret to inform you..."), it does more to involve the reader in the stinging reality of what was happening at the very moment of the crisis. His fear is palpable, and as he drives up to each roadblock, his writing conveys the uncertainly of that situation, of the drunk soldiers, of those in the bush trying to avoid them, etc. It is this immediacy that makes the book so valuable in my mind, that it puts you so close to the nightmare as it was happening makes this an unforgettable and immensely distressing read. It is these kinds of images, written or drawn, that might move our leaders to act.

fails on many fronts
As one of the earlier books written on the tragic subject of the genocide Keane's book might seem acceptable. His depiction of the suffering and death is powerful and forceful and leaves little to the imagination. The book, in my opinion, is well-intentioned but ends up being narcissistic. It seems to be more about the author's story of himself. I found certain passages and comments to be indicative of white privilage, ethnocentrism, demeaning and condescending. As far as understanding the genocide I would suggest other books, especially Human Rights Watch's "Leave None to tell the Story". If you are interested in first person experiences I would recommend Gourevitch's "We Regret to inform you"...an excellent book and L General Romeo Dallaire's book "Shake Hands with the Devil"...an incredible book by an exceptional human being. There are many good books on the subject. If you are interested in Rwanda and plan to read more than one book I would suggest passing on Keane's book. I would go with Gourevitch for a similar but much more profound and humane approach.

Excellent Journalism
It is truly a shame that the Western media did not provide greater coverage of the genocide and civil war that nearly destroyed Rwanda in the early 1990's. It seems that the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia etc. completely eclipsed the African tragedy so well captured by Fergal Keane. I like to think that armed with more information, Western Powers would have intervened in order to halt the tribal savagery organized by both the Hutus and Tutsis. In reality, however, Western powers continue to see Africa as a backwards and barbarous continent, more fit for colonization than development.

Keane did a remarkable job of bringing the Rwandan tragedy to light. As a renowned BBC correspondent, Keane has witnessed reprehensible tragedies, disasters, and acts of inhumane conduct that most of us will never (hopefully) ever bear witness to. And although Keane has seen the worst of mankind, in a variety of instances, it seems that what he saw in Rwanda left lasting and troubling memories.

The book is relatively short, only 200 pages, but it certainly leaves its mark on the reader. The graphic descriptions are intense, but Keane's insight into not only the Rwandan situation, but into the minds of those who participated in the horror is startling as well. We certainly need more authors like Keane, who delve into the loathsomeness of man and bring forth the lessons that we all should heed.