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mol15's review against another edition
5.0
Really an exceptional exploration of American response to genocide throughout the 20th century. Recommended reading for anyone remotely interested in the topic. Thorough, convincing, and, at most times, utterly heart wrenching. Power explores every angle.
lvandyk's review against another edition
4.0
This book is fantastic - but quite long. I had to return it to the library before I finished reading it :(
ambi2's review against another edition
3.0
"We should long ago have shifted the burden of proof away from the refugees and to the skeptics, who should be required to offer persuasive reasons for disputing eyewitness claims. A bias toward belief would do less harm than a bias toward disbelief."
smcg's review against another edition
3.0
This history of genocide will make you weep and curse the inhumanity of humanity. I can't imagine how Power survived researching this book. I'm glad I read it, and I'm glad I'm done with it.
bandherbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I read this during Graduate School. I found it compelling and excellently written take on this terrible topic. I especially liked reading about Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire.
brittneysthings's review against another edition
5.0
Power's saving grace in penning such a long book on such a grim topic is her quality of writing. She is a masterful storyteller. The book is not without its flaws, but it is very emotionally moving. I had to read in small sections because it left me emotionally exhausted and at times in tears. The detail is extraordinary, although it becomes bit wearying throughout the sections on former Yugoslavia. Separate chapters on Bosnia, Kosovo, and Srebrenica was a bit much for me.
Some complain that she is naive in her confidence in military intervention, but I don't think that's the point of the book. She is indeed a very liberal personality, but I think her point is to generate awareness about modern genocide and critique the views that "it's not our problem" and "there's nothing we can do". She places citizenship of humanity on a higher priority than state citizenship, which is something political conservatives generally hold great issue with. She strikes on a heated topics in international relations, such as the limits of sovereignty the disparity between state "interests" and human suffering. She is very clear about where she stands in the debate, which I feel is a strength and NOT a weakness in the book. She's not trying to address genocide from an unbiased angle. She wants to inspire change in the way we approach it.
Some complain that she is naive in her confidence in military intervention, but I don't think that's the point of the book. She is indeed a very liberal personality, but I think her point is to generate awareness about modern genocide and critique the views that "it's not our problem" and "there's nothing we can do". She places citizenship of humanity on a higher priority than state citizenship, which is something political conservatives generally hold great issue with. She strikes on a heated topics in international relations, such as the limits of sovereignty the disparity between state "interests" and human suffering. She is very clear about where she stands in the debate, which I feel is a strength and NOT a weakness in the book. She's not trying to address genocide from an unbiased angle. She wants to inspire change in the way we approach it.
notsayingrevolutionbut's review against another edition
3.0
I started reading this book having no idea what I was getting into. I knew ashamedly little about America's foreign policy post-WWII and I was woefully unprepared for the level of detail that Power presents. So fair warning, I am not going to be a very good reviewer because this was the first time I learned the details of (or even heard of, in some instances) genocides other than the Holocaust. They don't teach these things in school, don't cast light on the profound ways that America has failed to live up to our pledges of "never again."
And yes, this book was very hard to get through. Dense and detailed, it is stuffed with names and facts and figures that are painstaking at best. By the middle of it, though, I felt an almost moral obligation to finish. What does it say about me if I cannot even finish a 500 page book about the suffering and slaughter of millions of people? Can I not even afford a sliver of my time to understand the pain of others? That is a hard thing and that means this book isn't easy reading. It's not the kind of thing you can pick up and put down, like a novel or a pretty packet of essays. It's hard and it's gonna suck, but once you're in, you're in.
All that being said, I will carry Power's spirit of criticism and dissent into her own work. This book is primarily designed for people who are intimately acquainted with the politics of the Balkans, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Balkans, Iraq, did I mention the Balkans? There is a clear lack of balance in her research across the regions, visible most obviously in the page count given to the various genocides. She references numerous political situations and international US involvements that are confusing and that fail to support her points (for example, she repeatedly references the policymakers' bias against repeating "what happened in Somalia" but never gives a clear picture of what that is).
This is an imperfect view of very complicated, very messy issues and even a book of this size and level of detail ultimately fails to do them justice.
And yes, this book was very hard to get through. Dense and detailed, it is stuffed with names and facts and figures that are painstaking at best. By the middle of it, though, I felt an almost moral obligation to finish. What does it say about me if I cannot even finish a 500 page book about the suffering and slaughter of millions of people? Can I not even afford a sliver of my time to understand the pain of others? That is a hard thing and that means this book isn't easy reading. It's not the kind of thing you can pick up and put down, like a novel or a pretty packet of essays. It's hard and it's gonna suck, but once you're in, you're in.
All that being said, I will carry Power's spirit of criticism and dissent into her own work. This book is primarily designed for people who are intimately acquainted with the politics of the Balkans, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Balkans, Iraq, did I mention the Balkans? There is a clear lack of balance in her research across the regions, visible most obviously in the page count given to the various genocides. She references numerous political situations and international US involvements that are confusing and that fail to support her points (for example, she repeatedly references the policymakers' bias against repeating "what happened in Somalia" but never gives a clear picture of what that is).
This is an imperfect view of very complicated, very messy issues and even a book of this size and level of detail ultimately fails to do them justice.