Books about Genocide
Want to start a cause-related book club or maybe a reading? Raise awareness about genocide? These resources are a great way to do that, not to mention captivating reads.
General
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power
Examines 20th century genocides and U.S. response
The Sunflower on the Possibilities of Limits of Forgiveness, Simon Wiesenthal
Rwanda
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Romeo Dallaire
Written by the former head of the 1993 U.N. peacekeeping mission in Rwanda
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak, Jean Hatzfield
Features the testimonies of 10 friends from the same village who killed Tutsis during the genocide. First-hand glimpse into how regular people became mass-murderers
We Wish to Inform you That Tomorrow we Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, Philip Gourevitch
Gourevitch reported from Rwanda for the New Yorker and examines the stories of Rwandans, including the real “Hotel Rwanda” hero, Paul Russesabagina and politicians like General Paul Kagame. The book touches on race relations, international response to the genocide, the Rwandan justice system and more.
Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide and the Making of Continental Catastrophe, Gerard Prunier
Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda, J.P. Stassen and Alexis Siegel
Say You’re One of Them, Uwem Akpan
Five stories - set in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Benin - about children and their perilous lives, their searches for escape, along with food, family and survival.
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, Gil Courtemanche
The stories of survivors and victims through a journalist's eyes. The pool is Kigali in at the Hotel des Milles Collines of "Hotel Rwanda" fame.
Armenia
Forgotten Fire, Adam Bagdasarian
Based on the experiences of the author’s great-uncle during the Armenian holocaust. The protagonist is forced to watch his father be taken by police, his brothers shot dead, and his system choose deadly poison over rape by soldiers.
A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, Taner Akcam
Story of the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of one million Armenians in 1915 in a genocide still denied by the modern Turkish state. This book examines the dynamics at work during and after.
Vergeen: A Survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Mae M. Derdarian
Tells the story of the author’s mother’s friend, Vergeen, who survived rape, starvation and mutilation under the Turk regime.
Bosnia
The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway
Follows four people in Sarajevo while the city is under siege
The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo, Paula Huntley
Huntley went with her husband on an assignment to help build a legal system in war-torn Kosovo and kept a journal of her experiences coming into contact with human tragedy everyday
Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo, Zlata Filipovic
Called the Anne Frank of the Bosnian genocide, 10-year-old Zlata tells the story of her life living in Sarajevo during the Bosnian genocide
Cambodia
Children of the River, Linda Crew
Tells the story of a Cambodian girl who fled her country as she struggles to fit into American life
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, Loung Ung
The story touches on the deaths and forced separation of family members and reflects the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime. The story moves from tragedy to reunions, marriages, and immigrations
Darfur
A Short History of A long War, Julie Flint and Alex de Waal
An introduction to and history of the Darfur conflict
Darfur Diaries, Stories of Survival, Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro
Unsatisfied with media coverage of the Darfur crisis, three filmmakers went to Darfur and talked to Darfurians about their history, cultures, dreams and their tragic reality
The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to Genocide in Darfur, Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace
Steidle, a former U.S. Marine went to Darfur as part of an unarmed team to monitor a ceasefire agreement. With just his camera and a notebook, he documented the genocide and became frustrated with the lack of international response. The book tells of what he witnessed on the ground.
A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide, Eric Reeves
Thorough and knowledgeable account of the genocide and the Sudanese government’s heavy-handed role in it
Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, Don Cheadle and John Prendergast
Academy-Award Nominated Actor, Cheadle teamed up with activist and African affairs expert Prendergast to raise awareness through a brief history and how they got involved. Includes action tips
The Translator: A Memoir, Daoud Hari
Written by a Zaghawa tribesman in northern Darfur who fled his village when it was under siege. His brother was killed and his family driven into exile, and he touches on the disappearance of traditions, his work as a translator for films and UN genocide investigators, journalists and more
Holocaust
The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank, Anne Frank
Based on excerpts from a diary written by Anne Frank when she was hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands
Night, Eli Wiesel
A Nobel Laureate and one of the world’s most well-known Holocaust survivors, Wiesel writes of a teenager consumed with guilt at having survived the Holocaust that killed his family. He tells of the death camps and of his confusion as to why it all happened.
The Drowned and the Saved, Primo Levi
A look at Auschwitz, the camp where the author was imprisoned during WWII, published months after his suicide in 1987.
Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spigelman
A graphic novel giving the reader a historical, artistic, heart wrenching and at times humorous, account of his father’s experience as a Holocaust survivor.
Number the Stars, Louis Lowry
Brings to light one of the little-known stories of WWII, the evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark. It is a fictionalized version of true events through the eyes of a 10-year old girl.
Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi
Written shortly after the end of the Holocaust, and gives a detailed account of the author’s experience being deported from Turin, italy and ending up in a concentration camp.
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