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Shake Hands with the Devil : The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
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Binding: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 584
Publication Date: 2004-12-10
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Editorial Reviews:
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On the tenth anniversary of the date that UN peacekeepers landed in Rwanda, Random House Canada is proud to publish the unforgettable first-hand account of the genocide by the man who led the UN mission. Digging deep into shattering memories, General Dallaire has written a powerful story of betrayal, naivete, racism and international politics. His message is simple and undeniable: "Never again." When Lt-Gen. Romeo Dallaire received the call to serve as force commander of the UN intervention in Rwanda in 1993, he thought he was heading off on a modest and straightforward peacekeeping mission. Thirteen months later he flew home from Africa, broken, disillusioned and suicidal, having witnessed the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in only a hundred days. In "Shake Hands with the Devil", he takes the reader with him on a return voyage into the hell of Rwanda, vividly recreating the events the international community turned its back on. This book is an unsparing eyewitness account of the failure by humanity to stop the genocide, despite timely warnings. Woven through the story of this disastrous mission is Dallaire's own journey from confident Cold Warrior, to devastated UN commander, to retired general engaged in a painful struggle to find a measure of peace, reconciliation and hope. This book is General Dallaire's personal account of his conversion from a man certain of his worth and secure in his assumptions to a man conscious of his own weaknesses and failures and critical of the institutions he'd relied on. It might not sit easily with standard ideas of military leadership, but understanding what happened to General Dallaire and his mission to Rwanda is crucial to understanding the moral minefields our peacekeepers are forced to negotiate when we ask them to step into the world's dirty wars.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: What can I say ...
Comment: What can I say about this book... It is not an easy read and it is important to realize that it is written from the point of view of the General Dallaire, the Force Commander for the operation. The writing is simple and straightforward and it essentially covers Dallaire's life and career first with the Canadian armed forces and later as the head of the ill fated United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). Dallaire assumes the blame for the numerous failings of UNAMIR while also pointing out that assistance form the UN and from member states was not forthcoming. In a sense, the book makes it clear that since Rwanda has little strategic value to the world, no member nation, other than one or two ex-colonial powers was interested in putting its troops in harms way to prevent the genocide. What is surprising is the fact that the UN and its member nations were acutely aware that the country was headed for an ethnic cleansing and chose to do nothing about it. In the case of the UN, one can't help but feel that the organization was not only sidelined but also manipulated by various Rwandan political parties, ex-colonial powers and UN member states. All in all it makes for an excellent description of the UNAMIR mission as long as one realizes that it only presents the viewpoint of one person
Customer Rating:
Summary: Heart-wrenching, gutting...
Comment: Another unfortunate reminder of a holocaust allowed to take place because of our Western-world's refusal to act; blatantly ignoring the fate of a people because of their 'lesser-than-us' status according to our 'civilized' mindset. "Never again." How many more times will we hollowly say that? Romeo Dallaire's account of his harrowing uphill battle against international bureaucracy for a people he made it a moral duty to protect, is an example we can all truly learn from and live by. He bares all, opening the door for us to see into his post-war, tortured mind and soul. His humble question: "Did I do enough?" resonates deeply throughout this must-read.
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Summary: When politics and diplomacy fail, humanity fails
Comment: Politics and politicians matter. Even corrupt self-serving politicians bring some structure and stability. We may scoff at politicians, but the fact is when they fail, when they are replaced by ideologues and hate mongers, and when the institutions in which they serve no longer work, the social body dies and people stand naked and unsheltered in the world. Civilization disappears and what we've built to establish justice collapses, plunging us into chaos and horror.
Dallaire's book brings home that the genocide resulted from political failure. Failure first within Rwanda to hold the Hutu extremists in check. Failure of the UN to realize the magnitude of the problem. Failure of the major powers, especially France and the United States, to risk people and material to prevent a massacre. Failure of the Tutsi expatriate forces in Uganda to care for the Tutsi still in Rwanda. And, as Dallaire makes clear, the naïve failure of a soldier to understand that politics matter.
Vincent Poirier, Dublin
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well written book about what never should have happened
Comment: This is a long book, but still you don't get bored while you are reading it. Mainly I just got upset as I read how Romeo Dallaire tried to stop this genocide from happening. There was an informant telling him that the Hutu extreemists planned to kill the Tutsis. The UN's reaction was to order Dallaire to inform Rwanda officials about what he had been told. This was a very grave mistake, since people who were planning the genocide then would get access to this information.
Mainly, very little if anything at all was done to stop the planning and the actual genocide to take place. It's disturbing to compare this genocide to the one which took place during WW II. It was decided that this should never happen again, and still there has been Cambodia and Rwanda, and what is happening in Congo nowadays (4 million dead??)
Dallaire writes that he warned that if the situation wasn't handled with care after the Rwandan civil war and genocide, the risks were high that the entire region would be destabilized. In his book he mentions how this region has been destabilized due to problems that weren't solved.
It's a disturbing, good and important book written by an eye witness, and I encourage everyone to read it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best, most objective book on the Rwanda genocide
Comment: I did quite a bit of research on Rwanda in 2006 and 2007. This excellent book was by far the best, most accurate source of all the materials I used. I then spent time in Kigali in the summer of 2007, doing extensive interviews with many Rwandan. Unhesitatingly, Dallaire is loved in Rwanda. Those who know of his book regard it as objective and authoritative. I have purchased and given away probably a dozen of this book. It is a MUST READ for all who are seeking an objective report of what transpired in Rwanda in 1993-1994.
Professor Bill
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