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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Peterson files this report from the front lines of three of Africa's most virulent wars of the 1990s. It has the immediacy and vividness of eyewitness testimony, because Peterson, who was reporting from Africa for London's Daily Telegraph, was present at the scenes of battle, recording his impressions as the carnage went forward. His reporting is visceral and close to the ground: "in the dust and the sweat, and the laughter mixed with misery that permeates the flavor of war in Africa." In Somalia, he observed how clan hatreds, combined with grossly excessive arms shipments from the developed nations, resulted in an explosion of anarchy and violence. The U.S. comes in for a substantial share of blame for its ill-considered, violent and ultimately disastrous intervention. In the Sudan, Peterson witnessed what he calls an apocalyptic civil war in which neither side was strong enough to win or weak enough to lose. Rwanda was even worse; at the height of the Hutu war of extermination against the Tutsis, one murder took place about every two seconds for an entire month. In his firsthand account of these genocidal conflicts, Peterson neither flinches from the appalling bloodshed nor closes his mind to the many scenes of generosity and honorable conduct he also witnessed. The author's purpose is made clear in the book's introduction: the catastrophic wars of Africa, "largely unrecorded, ...require exploring for what they tell us about the human capacity to conduct evil, and also to survive it." With tribal, ethnic and religious conflicts now so pervasive, the lessons Peterson communicates about Africa should claim the attention of everyone trying to make sense of today's world. 16 pages of color photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Most journalists will witness perhaps one major crisis and report it in detail. Peterson, currently Middle East correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, experienced three major catastrophes in as many countries between 1992 and 1994. This affecting book provides an inside look at the crises in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. Peterson spends half of the book detailing the failed mission in famine-stricken Somalia, where the U.S. military failed to unarm the warlords, favoring instead a "plucking the bird" strategyDthat is, taking one feather at a time until the unsuspecting bird finds that it can't fly. Unfortunately, this strategy drew the U.S. military into a battle it could not win. Peterson covered the battles and nearly got killed by a mob that wanted revenge on an American. In the Sudan, he had the rare privilege of visiting both sides of the religious holy war to see how the people lived and how the fighters are recruited. And he also reported the genocide that occurred in Rwanda; he not only describes the tragedy that led to the mass killings but provides some thoughtful analysis. For African history or journalism collections.DMichael Sawyer, Northwestern Regional Lib., Elkin, NC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Peterson files this report from the front lines of three of Africa's most virulent wars of the 1990s. It has the immediacy and vividness of eyewitness testimony, because Peterson, who was reporting from Africa for London's Daily Telegraph, was present at the scenes of battle, recording his impressions as the carnage went forward. His reporting is visceral and close to the ground: "in the dust and the sweat, and the laughter mixed with misery that permeates the flavor of war in Africa." In Somalia, he observed how clan hatreds, combined with grossly excessive arms shipments from the developed nations, resulted in an explosion of anarchy and violence. The U.S. comes in for a substantial share of blame for its ill-considered, violent and ultimately disastrous intervention. In the Sudan, Peterson witnessed what he calls an apocalyptic civil war in which neither side was strong enough to win or weak enough to lose. Rwanda was even worse; at the height of the Hutu war of extermination against the Tutsis, one murder took place about every two seconds for an entire month. In his firsthand account of these genocidal conflicts, Peterson neither flinches from the appalling bloodshed nor closes his mind to the many scenes of generosity and honorable conduct he also witnessed. The author's purpose is made clear in the book's introduction: the catastrophic wars of Africa, "largely unrecorded, ...require exploring for what they tell us about the human capacity to conduct evil, and also to survive it." With tribal, ethnic and religious conflicts now so pervasive, the lessons Peterson communicates about Africa should claim the attention of everyone trying to make sense of today's world. 16 pages of color photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Most journalists will witness perhaps one major crisis and report it in detail. Peterson, currently Middle East correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, experienced three major catastrophes in as many countries between 1992 and 1994. This affecting book provides an inside look at the crises in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. Peterson spends half of the book detailing the failed mission in famine-stricken Somalia, where the U.S. military failed to unarm the warlords, favoring instead a "plucking the bird" strategyDthat is, taking one feather at a time until the unsuspecting bird finds that it can't fly. Unfortunately, this strategy drew the U.S. military into a battle it could not win. Peterson covered the battles and nearly got killed by a mob that wanted revenge on an American. In the Sudan, he had the rare privilege of visiting both sides of the religious holy war to see how the people lived and how the fighters are recruited. And he also reported the genocide that occurred in Rwanda; he not only describes the tragedy that led to the mass killings but provides some thoughtful analysis. For African history or journalism collections.DMichael Sawyer, Northwestern Regional Lib., Elkin, NC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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