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An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography

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Paul Rusesabagina, the inspiration for the Oscar nominated film, Hotel Rwanda, is not an ordinary man but an extraordinary one. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Civil rRghts Museum's 2005 Freedom Award - rightly so. During the 1994 bloodbath in Rwanda that resulted in the slaughter of some 800,000 people, he sheltered over 1,200 in the luxury hotel that he managed.

It all began with the shooting down of a plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian presidents. Utter madness almost immediately ensued. When Rusesabagina turned to U.N. representatives for assistance their response was all but ludicrous.

How he managed to endure some 100 days of utter devastation and at the same time save the lives of others is a tale of heroic proportions. Here, in An Ordinary Man we're able to hear his story in his own words for the first time. He is candid about the details of that dreadful 100 days, as well as his personal views of actions that might have been taken by international peacekeepers.

Voice performer Dominic Hoffman offers a riveting narrative of an this courageous man's story during this nightmarish time in world history.

- Gail Cooke

Well written, provocative and emotionally captivating. "An Ordinary Man" should be required reading for everyone, especially young adults - our future generation. I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Rusesbagina when he spoke at a local college on April 10th to a crowd of over 1000. He is humble, bright and compassionate. He escaped death at least half a dozen times during the spring of 1994. I can only wonder if God's plan was not only for him to save 1268 lives, but to bring the whole issue of genocide to the forefront of the minds of the hundreds of thousands who will read this book.

I bought his book on the spot and have been consumed by it for the past week. I've stayed up late; I began researching genocide and I've been lost in deep thought and prayer for those who were murdered and those who are being murdered by genocide as you read this. I plan on reading it again, more slowly in a few months in order to digest all of his ideas, opinions and suggestions.

History was presented to me in a boring manner in high school, but the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and now this book, have caused me to stop what I am doing and take a good hard look at the whole issue of genocide.

Not only genocide, but I can see how the power elite (high level politicians in our country) try to build a case with rhetoric and faulty arguments to get Americans to unknowingly agree with some ludicrous and dangerous beliefs, such as support for the current war in Iraq and possible aggression toward Iran.

In 1994, I remember listening to radio commentary that suggested that the US stay out of Rwanda's affairs and I agreed because that's the case that was built and that's what I heard on the radio. Now I know differently. Imagine if the US stayed out of the affairs of the Nazi holocaust - would there be 6 million more deaths in the 1940's? Because of this book, I have a renewed interest in history. And please, media, don't let me hear you say "ethnic cleansing." The term is genocide.

As far as I'm concerned, Paul Rusesabagina is on the level of Mother Teresa and has a lot in common with her - an ordinary man who was just doing what he could, using peaceful means. And today, Paul heads a foundation that helps the displaced orphans (500,000+).

Read this book as soon as you can and take heed - genocide is something that is ongoing in the Congo and Sudan, and may erupt again in the near future, if not in Rwanda, then somewhere else.

I heard Mr. Rusesabagina speak on April 4th at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and was fortunate enough to buy an autographed copy of the book. The writing is amazingly beautiful, and every page is filled with ideas that, if followed, will make us all better people. I'm on chapter two at the moment and preparing for the grisly details to come... but am astonished at the hope and spirituality evident even in the face of such ugliness. Paul Rusesabagina is a saint for modern times, and I would recommend not waiting for the paperback edition of this book.... it is destined to become a classic.

Because I'd done all mentioned in my review title, I opted to borrow rather than purchase this book on the assumption that what few new things I'd learn really wouldn't merit the expense. How wrong I was.

I can't count the number of times I wished the book were mine so I could underline one of Mr. Ruseabagina's memorable ways of seeing the situation and people in it. In explaining why he maintained contact with an old friend who was among those leading the massacre, for example, Ruseabagina wrote, "People are never completely good or completely evil. And in order to fight evil, you sometimes have to keep evil people in your orbit. Even the worst of them have their soft side, and if you can find and play with that part of them, you can accomplish a great deal of good." The absence of braggadocio in this passage is characteristic of Ruseabagina and the story he tells, something else that is pretty astonishing, given what he did.

Ruseabagina also did a masterful job of explaining the history of Rwanda that led to the genocide. Finally, his description of his childhood home and the beauty of the land is quite poetic and can be sampled via the "Search Inside" feature.

In sum, so well-written, informative and thought-provoking was the book that I bought a copy and am currently re-reading it in order to underline the many things in it that I do not want to forget.

Note: The audio book, which I bought for my mother, is indeed a treat to listen to.

"Our time here on the earth is short, and our chance to make a difference is tiny. For me the grinding blocks of history came together in such a way that I was able to take what fragile defense I had and hold in place for seventy-six days. If I was able to give much it was only because I had some useful things from my life to give. I am a hotel manager...my job never changed, even in a sea of fire."
- Paul Rusesabagina

According to Paul Rusesabagina, there was nothing extraordinary about his actions during the Rwandan genocides in 1994. "Over and over people kept telling me that what I did at the Milles Collines was heroic, but I never saw it that way, and I still don't. I was providing shelter. I was a hotel manager doing his job. That is the best thing anyone can say about me, and all I ever wanted. And that's really the best I have to give." To this day and despite the overwhelming success of the recent film Hotel Rwanda that brought his heroic deeds international attention, Rusesabagina insists that he was just an ordinary man doing what he thought was right in a time of national crisis.

Although he is right in saying that he should not be treated as superhuman, there is a certain amount of awe and respect with which we must look upon Rusesabagina and those like him, and recognize the immense amount of courage it took for him to do what he did. Using his strength in character, ability to negotiate with any person or party despite what side they were on, and utmost faith in the power of words to produce a workable outcome, he managed to save the lives of approximately 1,268 friends, relatives and strangers by creating a safe but incredibly fragile asylum for them at the Hotel Milles Collines during one of the most volatile and deadly times in Rwandan history, with he as their protector.

For 76 days, Rusesabagina used whatever resources he could find to prevent the hotel from being ambushed or destroyed completely. He kept a secret black book of the names and telephone numbers of people high up in power (in Rwanda and elsewhere) to call in case of an emergency. He offered bribes of cognac and money to blood-hungry colonels who had committed countless killings that day in order to prevent a midnight raid on the hotel that night. He wisely understood that "the cousin of brutality is a terrifying normalcy" and therefore he kept his enemies as close as he kept his friends. "If sitting down with abhorrent people and treating them as friends is what it took...then I was more than happy to pour the Scotch."

In his intelligently written and incredibly moving autobiography, Rusesabagina not only shares his memories of the horrifying period spent trapped inside the Hotel Milles Collines in a straightforward and non-sensational manner, but also he explains the historic significance of the bloody skirmish between the Hutus and the Tutsis and dispels a few ardent myths surrounding its origins. He hints that the nationwide slaughter was not a product of ancient racial hatreds, but instead that this oversimplification was "an easy way for Westerners to dismiss the whole thing as a regrettable but pointless bloodbath that happens to primitive brown people." In truth, these tribal prejudices were "a cheap way to motivate the citizen killers --- not the root cause" and more accurately, the impetus to kill was born out of a desire for power. With a precision that could only come not from a researched historian but from a Rwandan in love with the country that made him, he carefully outlines the circumstances leading up to the massacre so that readers can finally begin to understand how and why such a tragedy was (and still is) possible.

Currently, the Rusesabaginas live in Belgium and are doing their best to move past the indescribable horrors they witnessed in 1994. Following the success of Hotel Rwanda, Paul started the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation to provide education and health care to thousands of homeless Rwandan children who were left parentless in the wake of the genocide. He has also written this book in order to set the record straight, for "words are the most powerful tools of all, and especially the words that we pass to those who come after us.... We cannot change the past, but we can improve the future with the limited tools and words that we have been given."

Perhaps the most astonishing gift that Rusesabagina has to offer should not be described as heroism, but instead as a gentle willingness to do what's right in the face of grave danger and a refusal to forgo the pursuit of goodness when presented with an easier way out. Whether he believes he deserves the title of "hero" is well beside the point. He is clearly a shining example of a valiant humanitarian and one who deserves recognition as an "ordinary man" with a resounding message: "Wherever the killing season should next begin and people should become strangers to their neighbors and themselves, my hope is that there will still be those ordinary men who say a quiet no and open the rooms upstairs."

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

This is a unique book, elegant in its own right (through the co-author) and informative in its lucid explanation of how a society moves towards genocide. But this is trivial in comparison with what it is all about. It is the derivative of the fine film, Hotel Rwanda, but far deeper and very moving in its lack of any melodrama. I think the title is a superb one. Paul Rusesabagina is indeed an ordinary man -- not particularly interesting, someone who did a good job as a manager and was moving up the management ranks of his Belgian-owned hotel, married to an ordinary woman. Nothing would ever have made him stand out in ordinary times as a hero of awesome courage and honor. That for me makes the book so special. It is a reminder that for all us ordinary people, there are choices to be made all the time and moments when we must decide who we are and what we stand for.

This is to my knowledge the only thinking aloud book by an ordinary man who heroically took a stand at the risk of his life and opposed genocide. We don't have the memoirs of Raul Wallenberg, the savor of so many Jews who seems to have ended his life as a prisoner of the Soviets, or of the rascally Oscar Schindler whoe personal life was a disgrace except for his equally heroic stand to save Jews that has many parallels with Paul R - the smoozing with the bad guys, bribes, whatever it took.

I wish this ordinary man, who continued an ordinary life when he left Rwanda to live in Belgium, starting up a taxi company of which he was the only employee, the very, very best for his life.

The book is good in and of itself: brief, shrewd, analytic and very gentle. The film was good. This book is closer to great. Through his own voice and the skilled writing of his co-author, he vividly comes to life as a person and brings the times he lived in very much to life.

This was my Christmas gift to a number of friends. May I suggest you keep it in mind for your own gifts. We should all read it.

This is an extremely well told story. Paul Rusesabagina tells the story of how he as an ordinary man came to save over 1200 people taking refuge in the Hotel Milles Collines. He tells it with humility and rare insight into humanity. He has no guns, yet time after time he is able to persuade, cajole, beg for the lives of his guests. He does this by the use of words, by appealing to the humanity of men that are killers. You owe it to yourself to read this book. Short, worthwhile. 'I was just a hotel manager', he says. Yet, that is the beauty, his heroism was very simple, but no less profound. His words contain the uncomfortable truth of why 'never again' is probably a lie.

The wisdom, bravery and humanity of Paul Rusesabagina shine through every page of this compact but engrossing book. He was able to combine his remarkable managerial and negotiating skills, his inexhaustible capacity for empathy, and unflinching courage to achieve a heroic result. Yet, he wants us to know, he was just an "ordinary man" who found the courage to say "no" at the right time.
A particular value of the book is its explanation of how the genocide was planned and incited. Rusesabagina wants us to understand that it was not "ancient tribal hatreds" or "black-on-black" violence that took place, but a carefully prepared strategy for holding on to power, and therefore an event that could happen in other settings.
This book should be required reading for young people taking history courses.

I saw the movie when it came out and was deeply moved. I heard the author being interviewed recently on CNN about this book and immediately went to buy it. I read the book completely within a day or two and was again deeply touched and inspired by the this man who calls himself "ordinary." I agree with him that there is a good place within most of us and also that that place can and does, all too often in this world, get caught up in group madness and hysteria. The author shows us and reminds us all how important it is to stay true to that goodness within ourselves and to call that place of goodness out from others.
As an American, living in Arizona amidst all the concerns about people coming across our borders, in many cases illegaly, I am watching and listening to the voices taking positions for and against the issue. I am concerned about our leaders failing to get truly involved. I am concerned about the feelings that are escalating amongst the population. I am concerned about the tone of voices by news reporters. I am concerned about the place of goodness that I know is within us all. Rusesabagina's book is a "must read" particularly for us in the US at this time. And also for a world that too often ignores, covers and defiles the place of goodness within.
Thank you Mr. Rusesabagina.

This is the autobiography of the man who inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda." The book is well written and has three main ingredients. First, there is a short history of Rwanda and the colonization that generated the hostilities between people who defined themselves as "Hutu" and people who called themselves "Tutsi." Second, there is the personal history of this amazing man who, in his capacity as hotel manager, was able to save so many people from the horrific genocide in 1994 Rwanda. Finally, there is throughout the book, and more so in the last chapter, a discussion of why people might do such things, and really a compassionate view of people, even the worst, as a mixture of good and bad (hard and soft, as he says), and how he tried to reach the soft in each of the murderous thugs with whom he had to deal. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it absolutely and without reservation. I wish it were a bestseller!