I needed an in dept introduction to the events of the Rwandan genocide and this provided me with that superbly. It read like a horrifying narrative and it told of the build up to the genocide starting as early as 1959. I know it's not necessarily the most common book on the Rwandan genocide that people read, but it was a great read. My only criticism is that it is firmly rooted in journalism and doesn't really seek to analyze any part of the genocide.
informative medium-paced
challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Fantastic detail but when reading other books, it looks a bit one-sided and ignores what the RPF / RPA got up to ...
challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

The most depressing book I've read so far in my life.
dark emotional informative medium-paced

Damn. A very academic book examining the Rwandan genocide.

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I needed an in dept introduction to the events of the Rwandan genocide and this provided me with that superbly. It read like a horrifying narrative and it told of the build up to the genocide starting as early as 1959. I know it's not necessarily the most common book on the Rwandan genocide that people read, but it was a great read. My only criticism is that it is firmly rooted in journalism and doesn't really seek to analyze any part of the genocide.

Excellent, thorough, highly detailed, well-researched exploration of events & causes and of the betrayal of the international community
Not super well written and oddly strung together in terms of timeline and narrative
Leaves out a lot of the research that Straus concluded as far as motivations and assumes ethnic tensions are at the root of the conflict.

Casual readers without historical background will struggle with Melvern's work. Recommend reading Prunier's Rwanda Crisis first.

I needed an in dept introduction to the events of the Rwandan genocide and this provided me with that superbly. It read like a horrifying narrative and it told of the build up to the genocide starting as early as 1959. I know it's not necessarily the most common book on the Rwandan genocide that people read, but it was a great read. My only criticism is that it is firmly rooted in journalism and doesn't really seek to analyze any part of the genocide.