Maw Books Blog

Genocide.

Don’t you just hate that word?

Don’t you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders when you sound that word out?

It makes me shudder.

I’ve really been thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve been preparing a post about book recommendations to learn more about Darfur and I realized that I would like to make a series out of this topic.

Morbid, I know.

But this is the type of history (as well as current events) that for some unfathomable reason I am completely fascinated by. So for the next 10-12 weeks I will be posting once a week on book recommendations for a particular genocide. I’ll be working my way backwards. I’ll be covering the following conflicts: Darfur, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Nazi Holocaust, Rape of Naking, Stalin’s forced famine in Ukraine, and the Armenian’s in Turkey. I was trying to list the major ones, but I’m sure that I’m missing quite a few, so let me know of one that I didn’t catch and I’ll add it in.

And at the end of this 8-10 weeks, I will be completely depressed and pulling you down with me. But I’ll have a good book list for myself.

In the meantime, I thought I would get started with some book recommendations about genocide in general. This list is by no means exhaustive.

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Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur by Ben Kiernan

For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book—the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times—is among his most important achievements.

Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

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Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction by Adam Jones

From the publisher: An invaluable introduction to the subject of genocide, explaining its history from pre-modern times to the present day, with a wide variety of case studies.

Recent events in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor and Iraq have demonstrated with appalling clarity that the threat of genocide is still a major issue within world politics. The book examines the differing interpretations of genocide from psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science and analyzes the influence of race, ethnicity, nationalism and gender on genocides. In the final section, the author examines how we punish those responsible for waging genocide and how the international community can prevent further bloodshed.

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A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Powers

From the publisher: In her award-winning interrogation of the last century of American history, Samantha Power—a former Balkan war correspondent and founding executive director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy—asks the haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow “never again” repeatedly fail to stop genocide? Drawing upon exclusive interviews with Washington’s top policy makers, access to newly declassified documents, and her own reporting from the modern killing fields, Power provides the answer in “A Problem from Hell,” a groundbreaking work that tells the stories of the courageous Americans who risked their careers and lives in an effort to get the United States to act.

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Genocide by Jane Springer

From the publisher: Some view the systematic killing, rape, and destruction of homes in Darfur as a grave humanitarian crisis. For others, it’s a clear example of the ultimate crime against humanity — genocide. Who is right? What is genocide? Who are the endangered human beings in today’s world? What is the impact on humanity of wiping out entire groups of people? This thoughtful book helps young readers understand these and other difficult questions. Providing an overview of the history of genocide worldwide, the book explores the paradox that while a person who murders another person can be tried and even executed for the crime, a person who murders hundreds or thousands of people usually goes free. Using case studies of acts of genocide throughout history, the book points out the unique character of each while at the same time establishing important links between them. Most importantly, the book answers the question, What can be done to prevent genocide from happening in the future? Categorized as Young Adult.

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The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective by Robert Gellately (editor)

From the publisher: Focusing on the twentieth century, this collection of essays by leading international experts offers an up-to-date, comprehensive history and analysis of multiple cases of genocide and genocidal acts. The book contains studies of the Armenian genocide; the victims of Stalinist terror; the Holocaust; and Imperial Japan. Contributors explore colonialism and address the fate of the indigenous peoples in Africa, North America, and Australia. In addition, extensive coverage of the post-1945 period includes the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, Bali, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, East Timor, and Guatemala.

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A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present by Ward Churchill

From the publisher: Ward Churchill has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues in North America. Here, he explores the history of holocaust and denial in this hemisphere, beginning with the arrival of Columbus and continuing on into the present.

He frames the matter by examining both “revisionist” denial of the nazi-perpatrated Holocaust and the opposing claim of its exclusive “uniqueness,” using the full scope of what happened in Europe as a backdrop against which to demonstrate that genocide is precisely what has been-and still is-carried out against the American Indians.

Churchill lays bare the means by which many of these realities have remained hidden, how public understanding of this most monstrous of crimes has been subverted not only by its perpetrators and their beneficiaries but by the institutions and individuals who perceive advantages in the confusion. In particular, he outlines the reasons underlying the United States’s 40-year refusal to ratify the Genocide Convention, as well as the implications of the attempt to exempt itself from compliance when it finally offered its “endorsement.”
In conclusion, Churchill proposes a more adequate and coherent definition of the crime as a basis for identifying, punishing, and preventing genocidal practices, wherever and whenever they occur.

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Genocide by W. D. Rubinstein

Synopsis: Genocide is the grimmest and most relevant of modern tragedies. This work provides a definitive account of genocide, setting out to clarify the issues. It makes the important argument that each instance of genocide is best understood within a particular historical framework.

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I’ll be posting these book recommendations on or close to Monday’s. Watch for the first post in this new series this Monday. We will be taking a closer look at the current conflict in Darfur.  Many thanks.