Neighboring the Butcher's Knife

Auprès des Machettes: La Trilogie du Genocide Rwandais

★ A classic work on the Rwandan genocide, numerous international awards and critical acclaim ★ Fourteen years of field research, focusing on the genocide and its aftermath ★ Compiled from dozens of oral accounts, capturing the voices of victims and perpetrators ★ Restores the unvarnished truth and confronts the subtleties of human nature. The genocide in the Rwandan town of Nyamata began at 11:00 AM on April 11, 1994, and continued until 2:00 PM on May 14. Every day, from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Hutu militiamen and civilians massacred Tutsis on the hills of Nyamata. Of the estimated 60,000 Tutsis in the area, nearly 50,000 perished.
In this massacre, the killers and the killed were no strangers. They lived on the same land, were neighbors, coworkers, friends, lovers, even family. Some Hutus had drunk and chatted with their Tutsi friends the day before, but overnight, they took up their knives and systematically massacred all Tutsis. Some Tutsis retreated into swamps, woods, and mountains, fleeing like prey from hunters, eating raw food and drinking dew during the day and sleeping in the mud at night, barely surviving until the massacre was over. However, when they returned to town, they discovered that the executioners had not received the punishment they deserved, and they were forced to continue living with these Hutus as before...
What exactly happened during the genocide? Why did the Hutus massacre the Tutsis in this way? How did they continue to live after the genocide? With these questions in mind, Hartsfield traveled to Rwanda, lived among the locals, and, over fourteen years of research and interviewing numerous survivors and perpetrators, sought to uncover the truth about the genocide from multiple perspectives and understand this human catastrophe of our time.
Recommended by experts
Hartsfield's unique voices force us to confront the unthinkable and the unthinkable. Uncovering what really happened in Rwanda is a formidable task, but we have no right to avoid it; it's our responsibility as ethical adults. Everyone should read Hartsfield's book.
--Susan Sontag Hartsfeld records the voices of the executioners of the Rwandan genocide in this book, which is heartbreaking to read and reminds us once again that human beings are fully capable of doing inhumane things.
—Philippe Gourevitch, author of "Tomorrow My Family Will Be Killed," Jean Hartzfield's Rwandan Genocide trilogy meticulously observes and documents the memories and lives of survivors and perpetrators of the genocide in a small town in southeastern Rwanda. Hartzfield is arguably one of the greatest French writers of our time. Though his presence is rarely seen in books, his writing reveals the vastness of his soul. This work, with its subtle language and the seemingly ancient and primal method of oral history, strips away all veneer of human nature, revealing its innermost and darkest corners.
—The New Yorker
Each account is equally poignant, each voice unique. In other hands, these stories might just be a collection of scattered stories, but Hartsfield brings them together and gives them a power that compels people to respond positively to the genocide of our time.
—Publishers Weekly

2022-03-01

北京日报出版社

Ideal Country

592

9787547741719