READING ON RWANDA
(updated at bottom, May 4, 2008)

The following is a list of books on Rwanda that I've read (and written) and recommend (so far) in the order that I read (and wrote) them. ~ Jackie Jura

Rwanda Gourevitch
WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES: STORIES FROM RWANDA
by Philip Gourevitch, 1998
This extraordinary book concerns what happened when the Rwandan government in 1994
implemented a policy that called on everyone in the Hutu majority
to murder everyone in the Tutsi minority...

Rwanda Dallaire
SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL: THE FAILURE OF HUMANITY IN RWANDA
by Romeo Dallaire with Major Brent Beardsley, 2004
Serving in Rwanda in 1993 as a UN Force Commander, Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire
and his small UN peacekeeping force found themselves abandoned
by the world's major powers in a vortex of civil war and genocide...

Gorillas Fossey
GORILLAS IN THE MIST
by Dian Fossey, 1983
In Dian Fossey's own words, here is the riveting account of her thirteen years in the remote
Africa rain forests [of Rwanda] with the greatest of the great apes...

Rwanda Waugh
PAUL KAGAME AND RWANDA: POWER, GENOCIDE AND THE RWANDAN PATRIOTIC FRONT
by Colin M. Waugh, 2004
Paul Kagame's life - from exiled child refugee, to geurilla warrior and rebel politician,
to president of Rwanda - is traced in this exploration of Rwanda's struggle for change...

Rwanda Melvern 1
A PEOPLE BETRAYED: THE ROLE OF THE WEST IN RWANDA'S GENOCIDE
by Linda Melvern, 2000
In Rwanda in 1994, up to one million people were killed in a planned public and political campaign.
For six years Linda Melvern has worked on the story of this horrendous crime, and this book,
a classic piece of investigative journalism, is the result.
Its new and startling information has the makings of an international scandal...

Rwanda Nziza
RWANDA NZIZA
Photographs by Gilles Tordjeman; Text by Faustin Kagame, 2005
The dream of this book - "Beautiful Rwanda" - is to assemble a definitive photo library
worthy of Rwanda in the 21st century...

Rwanda Jura
DESTINY DESTINATION RWANDA
by Jackie Jura, 2006
This photo journal takes "Orwell Today" readers along for the visit to Rwanda in July 2006.

Rwanda Khan
THE SHALLOW GRAVES OF RWANDA
by Shaharyar M. Khan, 2000
Khan's tenure as the UN Secretary-General's Special Rep in Rwanda began in the immediate aftermath
of the downing of President Habyarimana's plane on 6 April 1994 and the massacres that followed.
Khan details his encounters with the region's leading actors - Rwanda's soldiers and politicians,
victims and survivors, as well as some of the perpetrators of the massacre...

Rwanda Melvern 2
CONSPIRACY TO MURDER: THE RWANDA GENOCIDE
by Linda Melvern, 2004
Drawing on a vast range of new material gathered in Kigali, Paris, New York, Brussels and London,
and using interviews with those caught up in the genocide, this book provides
a compelling account of one of the last century's greatest crimes...

Matchete Season
MACHETE SEASON: THE KILLERS IN RWANDA SPEAK
a report by Jean Hatzfeld, 2003
This astonishing account of conversations he had with some of the killers, now convicted and in jail,
offers extraordinary insights into the nature of this collective crime.
There has never been testimony like this...
"Killing was less wearisome than farming."

Into Quick
INTO THE QUICK OF LIFE: THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS SPEAK
by Jean Hatzfeld, 2000 (English 2005)
Fourteen survivors talk of the genocide; speaking of the death of family and friends
in the church and in the marshes of Bugesera to which they fled, and they try to account
for the reasons behind the extermination; contrasting with vivid descriptions of
Rwanda's villages and countryside in peacetime.

Thousand Hills
LAND OF A THOUSAND HILLS: MY LIFE IN RWANDA
by Rosamond Halsey Carr, 2000
In 1949, Rosamond Carr, from New York City, accompanied her husband to the Belgian Congo.
When her marriage broke up she decided to stay on in neighbouring Rwanda
and managed a flower plantation (pyrethrum) in the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes.
After the 1994 genocide she turned her plantation into an orphange.

Murambi Bones
MURAMBI, THE BOOK OF BONES, A NOVEL
by Boubacar Boris Diop, 2000 (English 2006)
The novel (surrounding historical fact) recounts the story of a Rwandan history teacher
who returns to Rwanda after the genocide to comprehend the death of his family
and write a play about the events that took place there.
As a writer he must bear witness to the atrocities of the genocide.

French Rwanda
SILENT ACCOMPLICE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF FRANCE'S ROLE IN RWANDAN GENOCIDE
by Andrew Wallis, 2006
Wallis reveals that the French role went far beyond arms deals with the pro-Hutu Habyarimana government.
Both before and during the genocide, French special forces armed and trained the interahamwe paramilitary
who carred out most of the killing.

Wander Rwanda
A WANDER IN RWANDA
by Jackie Jura, 2007
Readers are again taken along on a photo-journey of Rwanda - this time in June 2007.

Fossey Mowat
VIRUNGA: THE PASSION OF DIAN FOSSEY
by Farley Mowat, 1987
Virunga is the startling true account of Dian Fossey's life
based on her private correspondence, journals, camp records, personal papers
and interviews with her colleagues, friends and enemies.

Fossey Love Gorillas
NO ONE LOVED GORILLAS MORE: DIAN FOSSEY LETTERS FROM THE MIST
by Camilla de la Bedoyere, photos by Bob Campbell, forward by Dr Jane Goodall, 2005
Here for the first time, Dian's story is told through the letters she wrote
to her friends and family, set in context by a compelling narrative.
Bob Campbell, the National Geographic photograher who worked closely with Dian,
captured the unique and extraordinary images.

Hotel Holly Cover
HOTEL RWANDA OR THE TUTSI GENOCIDE AS SEEN BY HOLLYWOOD
by Alfred Ndahiro & Privat Rutazibwa, 2008
The authors were outraged by the version of events given by the film "Hotel Rwanda".
This book is the result of two years devoted to studies, analysis, research and interviews
with witnesses and participants, notably the survivors of the hotel.

RWANDA BEDSIDE READING

RPF INKOTANYI SAVED SURVIVORS (excerpts from "Into the Quick of Life")

RWANDA SHALLOW GRAVES REVIEW and RWANDA GENOCIDE HORROR

SOMETIMES IN APRIL and HOTEL HERO NOT ORDINARY and 60 MINUTES READING RWANDA

RWANDA'S GOOD MAN KAGAME and HOW KAGAME BECAME LEADER

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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