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Being an undergraduate history major and on my way to Africa, I should have known more about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. But, admittedly and probably like many of my fellow Americans, I was naïve, unaware, and protected from world news in 1994, which pre-dated my introduction to NPR in 2000.

This book is a gripping journalistic account of the 1994 genocide. It makes the genocide real in a way that is personal, uncomfortable, and shocking. Gourevitch explores the historical roots of the ethnic tensions in Rwanda shedding light on the many layers of colonial involvement in developing that tension. Like much of journalistic investigative reporting, the book intermittently gets bogged down in the locations, the characters, the dates. But, considering the magnitude of the events that occurred in Rwanda from the 1960s until the early 1990s, I couldn’t fault Gourevitch for his attention to detail.

12 years later I feel that most people are at least aware that there was a genocide in Rwanda, maybe in great part because of Don Cheadle and Hotel Rwanda. But, 12 years ago, the majority of the world looked the other way as 800,000 Tutsis were killed in the span of 3 months. Gourevitch’s account is a must-read for anyone interested in how such a tragedy could happen. 101paige 101reviews