Free eBooks The Rwanda Crisis: History Of A Genocide Available To Downloads
In the spring of 1994 the tiny African nation of Rwanda exploded onto the international media stage, as internal strife reached genocidal proportions. But the horror that unfolded before our eyes had been building steadily for years before it captured the attention of the world. In The Rwanda Crisis, journalist and Africa scholar Gérard Prunier provides a historical perspective that Western readers need to understand how and why the brutal massacres of 800,000 Rwandese came to pass. Prunier shows how the events in Rwanda were part of a deadly logic, a plan that served central political and economic interests, rather than a result of ancient tribal hatreds―a notion often invoked by the media to dramatize the fighting.The Rwanda Crisis makes great strides in dispelling the racist cultural myths surrounding the people of Rwanda, views propogated by European colonialists in the nineteenth century and carved into "history" by Western influence. Prunier demonstrates how the struggle for cultural dominance and subjugation among the Hutu and Tutsi―the central players in the recent massacres―was exploited by racially obsessed Europeans. He shows how Western colonialists helped to construct a Tutsi identity as a superior racial type because of their distinctly "non-Negro" features in order to facilitate greater control over the Rwandese.Expertly leading readers on a journey through the troubled history of the country and its surroundings, Prunier moves from the pre-colonial Kingdom of Rwanda, though German and Belgian colonial regimes, to the 1973 coup. The book chronicles the developing refugee crisis in Rwanda and neighboring Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s and offers the most comprehensive account available of the manipulations of popular sentiment that led to the genocide and the events that have followed.In the aftermath of this devastating tragedy, The Rwanda Crisis is the first clear-eyed analysis available to American readers. From the massacres to the subsequent cholera epidemic and emerging refugee crisis, Prunier details the horrifying events of recent years and considers propsects for the future of Rwanda.
Paperback: 389 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 023110409X
ISBN-13: 978-0231104098
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1 x 8.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #620,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #333 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Africa #542 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > African #638 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Political Freedom
This book has plenty of information about Rwanda and the 1994 genocide there. Yes, the book may appear anti-Hutu. But that is because so many of the Hutus were guilty of genocide. The fact that not all Tutsis have always been angels does not change that.Rwanda is a country of a little over 10,000 square miles, with several million people. At the beginning of 1994, about ten percent of its people were Tutsis and almost all of the rest were Hutus. There were about 900,000 Tutsis. In the space of a few weeks, 800,000 of the Tutsis were brutally murdered, many of them by their neighbors, who generally used machetes to slaughter them. This was a carefully planned extermination. There was a long period of incitement. And even the word "inyenzi" (literally, "cockroaches") used by Hutu extremists to describe Tutsis started as a reference to violent armed men who tended to move at night. It was not merely a term of derision, but also one which helped produce a reaction of fear that encouraged the massacres.The author explains that had it not been for the success of a Tutsi army in eventually (but too late) taking the capital city, the leaders of the genocide probably would have gotten away with it completely. There might have been a brief and partial UN boycott, with France discreetly violating it, followed by a restoration of international ties with the government.The differences between Tutsis and Hutus had made a big impression on European colonialists a century earlier. The Tutsis were usually considerably taller and thinner than the Hutus. The Tutsis typically had narrower noses and lighter skins as well. Europeans had put Tutsis in control of the land in spite of the fact that the Hutus were a big majority.
The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide The Courts of Genocide: Politics and the Rule of Law in Rwanda and Arusha When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (Columbia/Hurst) Elements of Crisis Intervention: Crisis and How to Respond to Them (HSE 225 Crisis Intervention) Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda (Bestselling Backlist) A Guide to Crisis Intervention (HSE 225 Crisis Intervention) Crisis Intervention Strategies (HSE 225 Crisis Intervention) INVISIBLE PREPPER - DISAPPEAR FROM BIG BROTHER'S RADAR & PROTECT ASSETS IN THE COMING CRISIS - 2016 EDITION (Prepping, Survival, Crisis, Privacy & Security) (HOW TO BOOK & GUIDE TO AVOID DISASTER) Crisis and Trauma: Developmental-ecological Intervention (Crisis Intervention) The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States Native America: A Concise Guide To Native American History - Native Americans, Indian American, Slavery & Colonization (Crazy Horse, Custer, Slavery, American Archaeology, Genocide, Aztec) History: Human History in 50 Events: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Times (World History, History Books, People History) (History in 50 Events Series Book 1) History: British History in 50 Events: From First Immigration to Modern Empire (English History, History Books, British History Textbook) (History in 50 Events Series Book 11) Escape to Miami: An Oral History of the Cuban Rafter Crisis (Oxford Oral History Series) Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide Darfur: A 21st Century Genocide, Third Edition (Crises in World Politics) Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond
