We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
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Book Reviews of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Book Review: The best, most educational and most gripping account of the genocide
Summary: 5 Stars
I've lived in Africa near Rwanda for several years and have studied the Rwanda genocide extensively in graduate school. There is no better book about the genocide than "We Wish to Inform You.." It's extremely sad, frustrating, and fascinating at the same time. Gourevitch tells the stories so well that this doesn't read like non-fiction. My favorite part about this work is how he goes into detail about the refugee situation after the genocide, a time not as well documented as the actual genocide. It was fascinating how the international aid machine facilitated more murders by the interahamwe. The story he unravels is engaging and suspenseful and you can't wait to turn the page to find out what nugget of knowledge he turns up next. Pitching curveball after curveball, you are bound to learn a lot about many issues surrounding the genocide by reading this book. Book Review: Average, loses momentum
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased and read this book last year, as I have studied the subject on this one quite extensively.
This book gets off to a good start, but loses interest as the book progresses.
There is also a lack of real-life survivors and witnesses imput, which could have made it more interesting.
The book however shed light onto many of the problems and atrocities that occurred after the genocide - which I wasn't particularly savy about previously - most notablly the problems in the Congo as a result of Genocidaires fleeing and relocating there - and still not losing their blood-lust and total disrespect for life.
Still a good addition to your home library however.
Derek Meade, NSW, Australia
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.
Book Review: A indictment of the international response to genocide..
Summary: 5 Stars
Those who think "pece at all costs" would be well to read this. There are times when a person, a country, a WORLD, must take action. The Rwandan Genocide was one of those times.
The most sickening aspect of the tragedy of Rwanda--indeed all genocides--are that they were and are preventable.
Philip Gourevitch does a superb job of expressing his outrage over the lack of will displayed by the UN and US to the mass murder of the tutis by the Hutus'.
I highly recommend this book. This book should be required reading in high schools throughout the country. It is a real eye opener.
Book Review: Arrogance and Ignorance: How the World Failed Rwanda
Summary: 5 Stars
It's not easy to help other people, let alone other countries. Gourevitch's book shows us how the international "community" managed to misstep over and over again in Rwanda, making an already tragic situation even worse, first through its inaction and then through its misguided charity. What makes Gourevitch's thoroughly researched account of this tragedy so compelling is the way it focuses the reader's attention on the circumstances that made this evil possible. This writer not only looks unflinchingly at the ugliest aspects of humanity, but he persists in peeling back the layers of human stories piled on stories, searching for the truth. As he points out early in the book, "...power consists in your ability to make others inhabit your story of their reality..." and in the case of such terrible human suffering, perhaps healing can come from the courageous effort to insist that this story be the most true account that we can discover.