We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
by Philip Gourevitch
List Price:
Our Price: $4.99
You Save: $10.01 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.34 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Philip GourevitchEdition: Paperback
Published: 1999-09-01
ISBN: 0312243359
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Book Review: Never Again, again
Summary: 4 Stars
We now know the basic story. Hutu extremists killed Tutsis and the world ignored them. The "International Community" from President Clinton to the Red Cross ignored Rwanda and allowed it to happen.
In Gourevitch's book, he looks not only at those months but also afterwards. The struggle and continued animosity between Tutsis and Hutus led to the tangled web of involvement in the Congolese wars. Mobutu stood on one side; while Kabalia stood on the other.
The work itself is insightful and well-written. However, while he is quick to condemn the Hutu Power and the "international community" (both correct in being condemned) he does little to give similar condemnation of Paul Kagame or his compatriots who are now in charge in Rwanda.
The world stood by and ignored the genocide and all we can do now about it is say "Never Again," again.
Summary of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
"Hutus kill Tutsis, then Tutsis kill Hutus--if that's really all there is to it, then no wonder we can't be bothered with it," Philip Gourevitch writes, imagining the response of somebody in a country far from the ethnic strife and mass killings of Rwanda. But the situation is not so simple, and in this complex and wrenching book, he explains why the Rwandan genocide should not be written off as just another tribal dispute.The "stories" in this book's subtitle are both the author's, as he repeatedly visits this tiny country in an attempt to make sense of what has happened, and those of the people he interviews. These include a Tutsi doctor who has seen much of her family killed over decades of Tutsi oppression, a Schindleresque hotel manager who hid hundreds of refugees from certain death, and a Rwandan bishop who has been accused of supporting the slaughter of Tutsi schoolchildren, and can only answer these charges by saying, "What could I do?" Gourevitch, a staff writer for the New Yorker, describes Rwanda's history with remarkable clarity and documents the experience of tragedy with a sober grace. The reader will ask along with the author: Why does this happen? And why don't we bother to stop it? --Maria Dolan
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
In April 1994, the Rwandan government called upon everyone in the Hutu majority to kill each member of the Tutsi minority, and over the next three months 800,000 Tutsis perished in the most unambiguous case of genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews. Philip Gourevitch's haunting work is an anatomy of the war in Rwanda, a vivid history of the tragedy's background, and an unforgettable account of its aftermath. One of the most acclaimed books of the year, this account will endure as a chilling document of our time.
In April 1994, the Rwandan government called upon everyone in the Hutu majority to kill each member of the Tutsi minority, and over the next three months 800,000 Tutsis perished in the most unambiguous case of genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews. Philip Gourevitch's haunting work is an anatomy of the war in Rwanda, a vivid history of the tragedy's background, and an unforgettable account of its aftermath. One of the most acclaimed books of the year, this account will endure as a chilling document of our time.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Humanitarian Media Foundation (HMF) Recommended Media List
International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law: Treaties, Cases, and Analysisby Francisco Forrest Martin, Stephen J. Schnably, Richard Wilson, Jonathan Simon, Mark Tushnet
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2006-01-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $80.80
Price in other shops:
Geldof in Africaby Bob Geldof
Random House UK; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.38
Price in other shops:
(PRODUCT) Red Special Edition Red Ipod 4GB Nano MA725LL/ A 2nd Generation by AppleApple Computer; CE
Best price: $199.99
Dangerous Sanctuaries: Refugee Camps, Civil War, And the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)by Sarah Kenyon Lischer
Cornell University Press; Published: 2006-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.92
Price in other shops:
Tibet - Cry of the Snow LionRelease date: 2004-12-14; DVD
Best price: $23.61
Price in other shops:
Philip Glass - Kundun: Music From The Original SoundtrackRelease date: 1997-11-25; Music CD
Best price: $11.50
Price in other shops:
KundunRelease date: 1998-10-14; DVD
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops:
Hotel RwandaRelease date: 2005-01-11; Music CD
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
Sevdalinka: Sarajevo Love SongsRelease date: 2007-07-10; Music CD
Best price: $16.91
Price in other shops:
Passengers - Miss SarajevoRelease date: 2006-01-09; Published: 1995; Music CD
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwandaby Mahmood Mamdani
Princeton University Press; Published: 2002-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaustby Immaculee Ilibagiza
Hay House; Published: 2007-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.27
Price in other shops:
Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Revised and Updated Editionby Gerard Prunier
Cornell University Press; Published: 2007-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Rwanda, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guideby Philip Briggs
Bradt Travel Guides; Published: 2006-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.38
Price in other shops:
Frontline: Ghosts of RwandaGHOSTS OF RWANDA (WS) (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2005-05-10; DVD
Best price: $15.93
Price in other shops:
An Ordinary Man : An Autobiographyby Paul Rusesabagina, Tom Zoellner
Amazon Remainders Account; Published: 2006-04-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africaby Adam Hochschild
Mariner Books; Published: 1999-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.02
Price in other shops:
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speakby Jean Hatzfeld
Picador; Published: 2006-04-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
Shake Hands with the Devil : The Failure of Humanity in Rwandaby Romeo Dallaire, Samantha Power
Published: 2004-12-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocideby Samantha Power
Basic Books; Published: 2002-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.95