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 A Problem From HellAmerica and the Age of Genocideby Samantha Power Feb 20, 2002
DescriptionAbout this book: In 1993, as a 23-year-old correspondent covering the wars in the Balkans, I was initially comforted by the roar of NATO planes flying overhead. President Clinton and other western leaders had sent the planes to monitor the Bosnian war, which had killed almost 200,000 civilians. But it soon became clear that NATO was unwilling to target those engaged in brutal "ethnic cleansing." American statesmen described Bosnia as "a problem from hell," and for three and a half years refused to invest the diplomatic and military capital needed to stop the murder of innocents. In Rwanda, around the same time, some 800,000 Tutsi and opposition Hutu were exterminated in the swiftest killing spree of the twentieth century. Again, the United States failed to intervene. This time U.S. policy-makers avoided labeling events "genocide" and spearheaded the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers stationed in Rwanda who might have stopped the massacres underway. Whatever America's commitment to Holocaust remembrance (embodied in the presence of the Holocaust Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C.), the United States has never intervened to stop genocide. This book is an effort to understand why. While the history of America's response to genocide is not an uplifting one, "A Problem from Hell" tells the stories of countless Americans who took seriously the slogan of "never again" and tried to secure American intervention. Only by understanding the reasons for their small successes and colossal failures can we understand what we as a country, and we as citizens, could have done to stop the most savage crimes of the last century. -Samantha Power Reviews"Some books elegantly record history; some books make history. This book does both. Power brings a story-teller's gift for gripping narrative together with a reporter's hunger for the inside story. Drawing on newly declassified documents and scores of exclusive interviews, she has produced an unforgettable history of Americans who stood up and stood by in the face of genocide. It is a history of our country that has never before been told, and it should change the way we see America and its role in the world." "Power gives us the behind-the-scenes story of how and why policy-makers made the decisions they did, and she offers recommendations for improving our individual and collective response. This is a moving account of how millions of lives were lost." "This is a serious and compelling work, and should be read by policy makers everywhere, before they confront the genocides that are waiting in the wings." "Samantha Power has written a much needed and powerful book exposing our unreadiness to fulfill the commitment implied by "never again." Her research is path-breaking; and her writing is lucid, nuanced and compelling. This is a work of landmark significance." "Samantha Power has written one of those rare books that is truly as important as its subject. With great narrative verve, and a sober and subtle intelligence, she carries us deep behind the scenes of history-in-the-making to map the gray zones of diplomatic politics where the rhetoric of best intentions founders against inertia and inaction." "American officials have been highly inventive in finding arguments not to breach sovereignty and engage in common action to stop genocide. Timidity and tradition have resulted in endless horror and terror. Samantha Power writes with an admirable mix of erudition and passion, she focuses fiercely on the human costs of indifference and passivity, and she instills shame and dismay in the reader." "A superb analysis of the US government's evident unwillingness to intervene in ethnic slaughter… A well-reasoned argument for the moral necessity of halting genocide wherever it occurs, and an unpleasant reminder of our role in enabling it, however unwittingly." "Samantha Power 's groundbreaking book explores the essential question of why the United States has so often been slow to respond to clear evidence of genocide… Elegantly makes her case that U.S. government officials not only knew of the genocides occurring in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda but in some cases took steps to cover it up, while other heroic individuals were risking their careers and lives to stop it. "Forceful… Power tells this long, sorry history with great clarity and vividness. She is particularly good at bringing alive various people who were eyewitnesses to these catastrophes as they were happening and who tried to make Americans share their outrage." "The emotional force of Power's argument is carried by moving, sometimes almost unbearable stories of the victims and survivors of brutality… This is a well-researched and powerful study that is both a history and a call to action." "[A] magisterial chronicle." "Nothing less than a masterwork of contemporary journalism… Extraordinary… Everybody in the foreign policy apparatus of the American government must read it… An angry, brilliant, fiercely useful, absolutely essential book." " She has produced a damning indictment of American passivity in the face of some of history's worse crimes. Washington, she charges, has consistently failed to live up to the promise made at the end of World War II: to never again sit by during a genocide. It fact, Power argues, the United States has done just the opposite… Power's book really serves two important purposes. On one level, it catalogs, in readable if gruesome detail, the major genocides of the 20th century. And on another, it tries to explain what the United Stated could have done to stop the bloodshed-and why it didn't. Power builds her case carefully, sifting though reams of media accounts, interview and newly declassified government documents." " Her book is one of those rare volumes that makes news, that is so original on a topic of such importance that it must be read… Power is such a skillful author-she has produced a book brilliantly conceived, superbly researched, mixing passion and erudition-it must be placed in the 'must read' category for both misanthropes and lover of humanity for isolationists and internationalists alike." "agonizingly persuasive." "A stunning history of modern genocide that should be read by anyone who makes foreign policy or cares about America's role in the world…. Power asks Americans to respond to genocide with a sense of urgency." "Power presents a sobering story and asks… 'Why do American leaders continually and consistently refuse to take action to stop genocide?'… Power writes convincingly about an essential topic without seeming obsessive or fanatical." "The myriad horror stories of this age of genocide have many ugly characters, several of whom Power profiles in her well written and extensively documented book…. Power… seems to have little problem endorsing American global dominance and, on the basis of such, calling for the United States to take the lead in battling genocide." "In this important book, Power does not preach, and she does not pontificate. What she does, gently but insistently, is to prod our conscience." "Power…writes compellingly of the major and lesser massacres of our time… This is a powerful book, and is so skillfully written that at more than 600 pages it still manages to be a compelling read." "A towering history of the inadequacy of American responses to genocide… The challenge is to make genocide real for the American public. Power's own work is an important contribution to that effort, and deserves a wide reading for that reason…" "Power's book will likely become the standard text on genocide prevention... Engaging and well written; together with the awful fascination of the subject, this should be enough to guarantee that it will be widely read by both students and policymakers." "A marvelous book… It is a tremendous achievement for one so young…to impart from the horrendous facts she documents some sense of the sinister sweep of 20th century history… Many academics have forgotten how to research and tell a story so as actually to engage the reader. Power meets this challenge magnificently. This is one of the few key books of the decade so far, required reading for any student of history, law, philosophy or foreign policy." Power…grippingly chronicles acts of genocide committed during the 20th century…" "[Power] asks us to consider what the obligations of a democratic world power, empire or no, should be… A gripping work of historical analysis written with much care… Power recounts a grim record, one that will move and outrage any reader. She makes clear that steps have been taken along the way, by the UN and, most importantly, the U.S., to prevent-or at least forestall-the brutalities that were visited upon millions of innocent victims." "An eloquent and detailed testimony to why we should not let our government stand on the sidelines when faced with crimes against humanity." "A chilling indictment of the failure of the United States to do anything in the face of obvious genocide." Selling TerritoryWorld Excluding UK & Commonwealth |
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