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ebenezeer_swett's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Ok reading this book took me several months because it was simultaneously so good that I wanted to read every word and also such a bummer (sorry) that I couldn’t read too much at a time. I think everyone working for the government should read this book. Summary: the United States government consistently fails to intervene in genocide, often cites not knowing it’s going on (always a lie, it’s more about not wanting to believe that the facts we hear are true) and the cost is hundreds of thousands of lives. The United States is uniquely situated to intervene in genocide given both our fabulous resources and our standing in the global community (we can easily influence European allies to take action). Yet we consistently fail to take even the most minimal steps. We understandably balk at the idea of sending in ground troops, but throw our hands in the air and declare we can do nothing, which is patently false (we could have employed radio jamming technology in the Rwandan genocide, for example, or obeyed the Geneva convention and intervened when Saddam gassed his own people) and ignores the vast options available to us, the most minuscule of which have meaning (we routinely refuse to call genocide what it is.) These policies are unlikely to change without immense pressure from citizens and actual consequences for those who shirk their duty and do nothing when innocents are being slaughtered in scores out of respect for state sovereignty (ie we stop fucking voting for them). A demoralizing and critical book. Read it.
fractaltexan's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Now, this was a book that I consider a must-read.
It was a very heavy book, I will not lie, and Samantha Power works well at discussing how the United States has repeatedly failed to respond in a timely, and effective manner, to numerous Genocidal moments since the end of World War II.
Giving us a much-needed history of the origin of Genocide as a term via Raphael Lemkin, Power offers us a new way to understand just how badly the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust led to the need for a new word.
Power devotes nearly half of the examples to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, with extensive Chapters on Bosnia, Srebrenica, and Kosovo, and these are prime examples for use. She also devotes other chapters to Iraq leading up to the Gulf War, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, and Rwanda. And she discusses the ways in which, in some cases, the United States opted to side with the perpetrators of Genocide such as in the case of the Khmer Rouge and Iraq; both largely due to American Political/Economic interests.
This is not a book that will leave you feeling good, but I believe this is a book that is a must read for History lovers, those who are in International Relations, or those who wish to broaden their understanding of Genocide, and America's role in not stopping it.
It was a very heavy book, I will not lie, and Samantha Power works well at discussing how the United States has repeatedly failed to respond in a timely, and effective manner, to numerous Genocidal moments since the end of World War II.
Giving us a much-needed history of the origin of Genocide as a term via Raphael Lemkin, Power offers us a new way to understand just how badly the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust led to the need for a new word.
Power devotes nearly half of the examples to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, with extensive Chapters on Bosnia, Srebrenica, and Kosovo, and these are prime examples for use. She also devotes other chapters to Iraq leading up to the Gulf War, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, and Rwanda. And she discusses the ways in which, in some cases, the United States opted to side with the perpetrators of Genocide such as in the case of the Khmer Rouge and Iraq; both largely due to American Political/Economic interests.
This is not a book that will leave you feeling good, but I believe this is a book that is a must read for History lovers, those who are in International Relations, or those who wish to broaden their understanding of Genocide, and America's role in not stopping it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Deportation, Death, Child death, and Antisemitism
aggie2010's review against another edition
4.0
In "A Problem From Hell," Samantha Power introduces readers to Raphael Lemkin and the creation of a word for a crime without a name- genocide. Power enthralls readers as she recounts Lemkin's life-long struggle to create a law forbidding the crime of genocide and his unrelenting battle against the international community for its passage. As the book continues, Power acquaints readers with the historical background leading up to several genocides in the 20th century and the progression of each genocide. The heart of Power's book however is the response, or lack of response, by the United States when genocide is being committed. Power argues that the United States refused to take action against the genocidal regimes of the Khmer Rouge and Saddam Hussein and stood back while genocide was committed in Bosnia and Rwanda because of national self-interests. It is a damning account of how the United States puts self-interest ahead of saving thousands of innocent civilians from being murdered.
samtast1cal's review against another edition
This is a very difficult book to read; I can't imagine how difficult it was to write. It is well structured and brilliantly written. It is also soul-crushing, giving very, very little hope for the future.
expatally's review against another edition
5.0
Still more heartbreaking to read this while news of the atrocities in Syria goes on. When will our government learn to intervene even when it's not in our "national interest."
ferrerister's review against another edition
5.0
The book goes through genocide in the 20th century. It starts out with the Armenian genocide and works its way through the holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, the Iraqi Anfal campaign against the Kurds, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo. It chronicles Raphael Lemkin's coinage of the term genocide and his efforts to make it into a crime against international law. It goes through each of the genocides and describes America's response to the unfolding events and how "never again" really isn't US policy.
maxstone98's review against another edition
4.0
Great book on genocide, covering several genocides (starting with the Armenian genocide 100 years ago) in detail, plus a lot of material on how international law developed in this space, with a particular focus on the American response. Not all the way to "page turner" but an interesting and accessible book about a tough topic. I learned a ton.
My one reservation about the book concerns the extent to which the genocides were genuinely knowable significantly in advance of when they were known / treated seriously / responded to by the US and the rest of the international community. The book generally takes the stance that our response (mostly government response but also media response) could have been materially faster and more perceptive, and the book cites dozens or hundreds of communications that were prescient or even just describing the on-the-ground reality which did not generate much of a response.
Ideally of course they would have been responded to, but governments are big complicated operations (international organizations like the UN as well) and I can't help but wonder, for each one of these (in retrospect) very informative communications, how many tens or hundreds or thousands of other communications were sent, understated or hyperbolic, biased or unbiased, accurate or inaccurate, etc. Obviously one wants to do as good a job as possible recognizing what is going on quickly and hence responding faster and more effectively, but I'm sympathetic to the notion that there is an email existing that predicts every possible event, and it is a very difficult task to figure out which ones are accurate and super-meaningful in advance, and easy to look backward and say "see, here's an email that warned of exactly what happened, why was it ignored".
On the other hand, Samantha Power is smart, expert on the topic, and knows 1000 times as much as I do about how government agencies and international agencies actually work, so it seems likely that concern is wrong.
My one reservation about the book concerns the extent to which the genocides were genuinely knowable significantly in advance of when they were known / treated seriously / responded to by the US and the rest of the international community. The book generally takes the stance that our response (mostly government response but also media response) could have been materially faster and more perceptive, and the book cites dozens or hundreds of communications that were prescient or even just describing the on-the-ground reality which did not generate much of a response.
Ideally of course they would have been responded to, but governments are big complicated operations (international organizations like the UN as well) and I can't help but wonder, for each one of these (in retrospect) very informative communications, how many tens or hundreds or thousands of other communications were sent, understated or hyperbolic, biased or unbiased, accurate or inaccurate, etc. Obviously one wants to do as good a job as possible recognizing what is going on quickly and hence responding faster and more effectively, but I'm sympathetic to the notion that there is an email existing that predicts every possible event, and it is a very difficult task to figure out which ones are accurate and super-meaningful in advance, and easy to look backward and say "see, here's an email that warned of exactly what happened, why was it ignored".
On the other hand, Samantha Power is smart, expert on the topic, and knows 1000 times as much as I do about how government agencies and international agencies actually work, so it seems likely that concern is wrong.
evamadera1's review against another edition
5.0
This book will be hard to surpass. Power created a masterpiece that will stand the test of time. Even though 20 years have passed since publication, so much of this work has striking applicability to the current situation. This is a heavy read, full of harsh realities and recent history that took a little longer than normal (for me) to finish but all the time I spent reading, I found myself thoroughly engrossed and frequently infuriated by the utter inaction of the country in which I love.
jbelang85's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Xenophobia
solaana's review against another edition
Nothing like reading a book on genocide while on your period.