by Michael Herr
First published 2015
Philip Gourevitch travels to Rwanda in 1995 to examine what happened during the 1994 genocide. The Hutu majority government had organized a systematic campaign to exterminate the Tutsi minority population. Nearly one million people died in one hundred days while the international community failed to intervene. Gourevitch conducts his investigation into this unambiguous genocide, the clearest case since Hitler targeted Jews during World War II. The Guardian recognized this work as among the hundred greatest nonfiction books ever written. Gourevitch provides firsthand reporting on one of the most significant atrocities in recent history. His account dissects how Rwanda was torn apart during those brutal months. The book serves as both a compelling narrative and an emotional examination of how humanity can both abandon others and endure unimaginable suffering.
Genres: history, 20th-century, politics, non-fiction, africa
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-reporting, true-story
Setting: Rwanda
Period: 1994, 1995
368 pages · Paperback · Picador Classics
Content warnings: violence