Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

A shattering history of the last hundred years of genocidal war which won the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction 2003.'The United States has never in its history intervened to stop genocide and has in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred.'In this convincing and definitive interrogation of the last century of American history and foreign policy, Samantha Power draws upon declassified documents, private papers, unprecedented interviews and her own reporting from the modern killing fields to tell the story of American indifference and American courage in the face of man's inhumanity to man.Tackling the argument that successive US leaders were unaware of genocidal horrors as they were occurring - against Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Kurds, Rwandans, Bosnians - Samantha Power seeks to establish precisely how much was known and when, and claims that much human misery and tragedy could readily have been averted. It is clear that the failure to intervene was usually caused not by ignorance or impotence, but by considered political inaction. Several heroic figures did work to oppose and expose ethnic cleansing as it took place, but the majority of American politicians chose always to do nothing, as did the American public: Power notes that 'no US president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on.' This riveting book makes a powerful case for why America, as both sole superpower and global citizen, must make such indifference a thing of the past.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction 'A devastating indictment' SUNDAY TIMES

'An important book, a superb piece of reporting' OBSERVER

'With great narrative verve, and a sober and subtle intelligence, she carries us deep behind the scenes of history-in-the-making' PHILIP GOUREVITCH

Autorentext

Samantha Power

Zusammenfassung
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction'A devastating indictment' SUNDAY TIMES'An important book, a superb piece of reporting' OBSERVER'With great narrative verve, and a sober and subtle intelligence, she carries us deep behind the scenes of history-in-the-making' PHILIP GOUREVITCHWhy do leaders who vow 'never again' repeatedly fail to prevent genocide?In her award-winning modern classic, Samantha Power presents a deeply researched and powerfully argued answer to this haunting question. Disproving claims that successive American leaders were unaware of genocidal horrors occurring around the world, Power tells the stories of courageous individuals who risked their careers and lives in an effort to save others, revealing how policy makers and outsiders alike ignored chilling warnings and rationalised inaction. A riveting account, A Problem From Hell has forever reshaped debates about foreign policy, while inspiring a new generation to raise their voices in the face of contemporary injustice.