A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

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A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

4.27 of 5 stars 4.27 · rating details · 3,605 ratings · 301 reviews

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 pol...more

Paperback, 688 pages

Published September 18th 2007 by Harper Perennial (first published 2000)

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Dec 12, 2012 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Samantha Power's excellent history of American responses to genocide in the 20th-century is a very enlightening and very depressing story of moral failure. It follows the story of genocide from the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 through the Jewish Holocaust 30 years later, and on to the Khmer-Rouge sponsored killing fields in Cambodia in the late '70s, the mass murder of Iraqi Kurds by Saddam's government in the late '80s, the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides in the early and mid '90s and ending wi...more Samantha Power's excellent history of American responses to genocide in the 20th-century is a very enlightening and very depressing story of moral failure. It follows the story of genocide from the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 through the Jewish Holocaust 30 years later, and on to the Khmer-Rouge sponsored killing fields in Cambodia in the late '70s, the mass murder of Iraqi Kurds by Saddam's government in the late '80s, the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides in the early and mid '90s and ending with the massacre of Kosovar Albanians in the late '90s. In almost all cases, the American government sat on its ass and did virtually nothing, despite ample warnings of what was coming, alarm bells rung by observers and survivors about the crime in progress, and lackadaisical attempts to punish perpetrators in the aftermath.

This book is very well-documented and well-researched. It is also pretty depressing. We have put our faith in certain institutions of national and international government to keep the peace, and this book begs the question: when both the United States, and the international peace-keeping organization it helped create, the United Nations, fail to step in when men butcher hundreds of thousands or millions of each other like dogs, was our faith in these institutions well-placed?

The book exposes the litany of excuses that the US government and the UN trotted out for doing nothing, but it raises another question, not so much what could really be done to stop a genocide in progress, but what has to happen in the future to make genocide interdiction happen? What price must we pay to save the lives of our fellow men?

A friend of mine reccommended this book to me while I was doing research for an author who is writing about the feeble American response to the Holocaust going on in Nazi-occupied Europe. I saw with my own eyes State Department cables by the dozens full of excuses as to why we could nothing to rescue Jews from Nazi extermination. It struck me that one of the difficulties which governments have in making the decision to stop genocide is that the goal of governments in regards to the rest of the world is to further its own interests, not to further the interests of all mankind. This is precisely why the United Nations is so often paralyzed: because its individual member nations have a cacophony of clashing interests that rarely coincide.

This is a good thing to keep in mind when considering the problem of how to motivate governments to take steps to halt genocide.

I haven't finished reading it yet (I'm more than 3/4 through), but this is a good book well worth reading.

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Oct 07, 2008 Mr. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Samantha Power's 'A Problem from Hell' is a broad attempt to document the major acts of genocide/human rights violations of the 20th century paired with the international community's subsequent negligence in each case. She reports on the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and especially her major areas of research- Rwanda and Serbia.

However, Powers is content to simply recount major instances of crimes against humanity that the U.S. and other major Western powers simply ignored (a worthy histori...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Samantha Power has written a very well-researched book profiling cases of genocide in the 21st century (in Turkey, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Balkans, Srebrenica, and Kosovo). Powers descibed the crusade taken on by numerous heroic individuals to avert genocide (none of whom I had previously heard of), such as Raphael Lemkin, William Proxmire, Henry Morgenthau, and James Kenneth Galbraith.

Power not only describes the recognition and responses to genocide in each of the case studies p...more Samantha Power has written a very well-researched book profiling cases of genocide in the 21st century (in Turkey, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Balkans, Srebrenica, and Kosovo). Powers descibed the crusade taken on by numerous heroic individuals to avert genocide (none of whom I had previously heard of), such as Raphael Lemkin, William Proxmire, Henry Morgenthau, and James Kenneth Galbraith.

Power not only describes the recognition and responses to genocide in each of the case studies profiled, but she also describes the birth of the word genocide and the UN treaty that criminalized it. We take for granted the recognition and definition of the term "genocide", but at the time of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, the word did not even exist. We also take for granted the existence of a UN treaty condemning genocide, but it took 40 years after UN adoption for the US to even ratify the treaty, fearing that accusations of genocide might be brought against the US.

Power reveals many examples of the impotence of the United Nations (particularly the United States) in preventing or intervening in mass killings in the 20th century. Not until national interests were in jeopardy (and after genocide had already taken a heavy toll) did the United States and the international community act. For example, not until American oil interests in Kuwait were threatened did the United States intervene against Iraq in its extermination of the Kurds. The Anfal Campaign of 1988 carried out by Saddam Hussein killed ~150,000 Kurds and importantly was carried out with chemical weapons; yet, the US showed a range of reactions (that typify its response to the other atrocities as well): denial, blame of the victims, hope that perpetrators could be swayed, downplaying of the accusations, and simply inaction. In the end, there was insurmountable (with rare exceptions) inertia to even condemning acts of genocide.

Power is critical of previous American presidents (particularly hard on G. Bush I and Bill Clinton) for their inaction, but she is balanced in her lambast. She provides sufficient details on the political climate and internal debates in the various administrations that provides contexts in which the decisions to not intervene took place. She frequently concedes ground to counterpoints, such as the idea that action might actually exacerbate genocide. This adds depth to her book and gives her credibility as a realist rather than some hippie liberal.

The book does not get a 5/5 from me because of the lack of coverage of atrocities that the US contributed to. Powers asserts numerous times that the US was concerned that "rogue" states might bring up genocide charges against the US, but she did not elaborate on the validity of these claims. The US was complicit in and contributed to genocide carried out by Pinochet in Chile and the military in Guatemala, among others. Also, US treatment of Native Americans could also be counted as a genocide. None of these accounts were mentioned. These inconvenient aspects of our history is crucial in understanding why the United States dragged its feet on ratifying the UN treaty on genocide and why the US voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal to prosecute genocide and other crimes against humanity. These details are important int understanding why the United States has been so inept in responding to these human atrocities, but were not covered.

I would describe my political views as that of a pacifist, but this book has turned me towards the idea of the need for a truly independent international body (rather than the UN) that can and will intervene militarily to avert genocide.

All in all, this was a stellar piece of investigative work that taught me a lot about the history of genocide. The progress in making genocide history is painstakingly slow, but the progress is apparent and of course the hope that the world will be able to shake inertia toresponding to genocide in the future. (less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Hadrian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, the-evil-that-men-do, nonfiction, politics-and-foreign-policy, social-justice

A passionate, but incomplete look at the problems of genocide and intervention. Argues that political quagmires and mismanagement lead to a lack of intervention in times of humanitarian necessity, leading to disaster. Her own experience is with the Balkans and Rwanda, and these chapters are easily the best in the book.

It is one thing to recognize and stop evil. It is another to fight apathy, which the author fights with all her might.

The greatest omission, and one which is only too relevant, is...more

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Dec 26, 2008 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political-analysis

It's a well documented and informed review of all the genocides of the last century and the role the U.S. played in all of them, mostly as a silent witness turning a blind eye when it was happening. Even helping economically those who were commiting it. It's chilling to read what humans are capable of doing to other fellow beings. But it's more astonishing to see that the rest of the world didn't care at all! As Ortega y Gasset said, the worst crime is not commited by those who kill, but by thos...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Elizabeth Trundle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One piece of the picture: a bizarre and destructive mental state in which people are able to know, and at the same time not know, about something evil that is happening

An example: Power describes an official in the United States government. In 1942, this official had a face-to-face interview with Jan Karski, a Polish activist who had witnessed, firsthand, the crimes of the German state against Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Karski reported that he saw, for example, the murder of pregnant women, and...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Nebuchadnezzar rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, politics-and-political-philosophy

This book really consists of two parts. One is a documentation of the birth and evolution of the concept of "genocide" during the 20th century. Power's access to documentation and powerful players in international affairs gives her unique insight into the issue. The chapters on the Armenian genocide in Turkey are especially timely given the still ongoing denial of this historical atrocity.

However, this is all ultimately used in support of an insidious agenda dressed up in humanitarian language....more

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Sep 15, 2011 Sheri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an excellent book, one which I'm really glad I read, but felt pretty despondent about as its narrative unfolded. In this well-researched and painstakingly documented book, Power recounts the genocides that have occurred during the 20th century and the US responses to those ghastly episodes. Far from "never again" -- the response to the Holocaust we all have repeatedly heard -- the US response to these horrible events has almost entirely been "don't expect us to do anything." I was still...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Caroline rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: world-history, american-history

If there was ever a book I would make required reading for all heads of state and government leaders, this would be that book. Despite making much-vaunted claims of 'never again' when speaking of the Holocaust, Power shows that America and the West has indeed allowed genocide to occur, over and over again - in Iraq, in Bosnia, in Cambodia, in Rwanda. Only once has the West intervened to prevent genocide from occuring, in Kosovo, and then only largely because the world had already seen Milosevic...more

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May 02, 2010 Steve Kettmann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My review from the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002:

A call to action
Researcher examines U.S. role in the atrocities of the 20th century
Reviewed by Steve Kettmann

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in July 1995, Samantha Power learned a painful lesson in the limits of good intentions, enduring the sort of numbing disappointment that has turned many others toward moral paralysis and passivity.
Power was reporting from Bosnia for the Washington Post a...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: video game avatars, action movie heroes

Is there anything more morbidly real than Genocide? A people is targeted for destruction, and not only are countless lives taken, but also erased is the social substrate which gives their lives meaning. Yet time after time the world hesitates, misunderstands, and does nothing or acts too late.

Samantha Power doesn't waste time backing up the rather obvious assertion that Genocide is bad, and ought to be stopped. Instead, her focus is on the recurrent patterns in 20th-century responses to Genocide...more

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Nov 08, 2009 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

In "Dress to Kill", Eddie Izzard says:

But there were other mass murderers that got away with it! Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed, well done there; Pol Pot killed 1.7 million Cambodians, died under house arrest at age 72, well done indeed! And the reason we let them get away with it is because they killed their own people, and we're sort of fine with that. ... Hitler killed people next door... “Oh... stupid man!” After a couple of years, we won't stand for that, will we?

I thought of...more In "Dress to Kill", Eddie Izzard says:

But there were other mass murderers that got away with it! Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed, well done there; Pol Pot killed 1.7 million Cambodians, died under house arrest at age 72, well done indeed! And the reason we let them get away with it is because they killed their own people, and we're sort of fine with that. ... Hitler killed people next door... “Oh... stupid man!” After a couple of years, we won't stand for that, will we?

I thought of this line often while I was reading "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide because Izzard in his own way really nails the sad conclusion that you come to reading Power's book, which is that it's hard to get people to care about genocides, and, even if you do succeed in that, by the time you've proven your case, it's too late for many victims. Power analyzes the lackluster response of the United States to several post-WWII genocides, and concludes that our current system functions properly according to its own flawed purpose.

That goal is to involve the U.S. only when its own interests are threatened--or even to stand deliberately aside when the perpetrators of a genocide are the enemies of an opponent (the genocidal enemies of our enemies are our friends?). For example, Power shows how Iraq's stance against Iran prevented the U.S. from intervening when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds.

Power explains the history of the term "genocide" and how it grew up in the aftermath of the Holocaust; although that event inspired interest in and commitment to stopping genocide, it also gave people a very specific idea of what qualified as genocide. When later events didn't "measure up" to the Holocaust in terms of the percentage of the population killed or the means used (killing versus sterilization, for example), observers got tangled up in terminology and excused themselves from decisive action.

Before reading this book, I was familiar with Power's ideas from her articles in The Atlantic Monthly and elsewhere. I'm making the odd choice to give a Pulitzer Prize-winning and very well-reviewed book a not very good rating (for those who actually put any stock in my ratings...). The reason is that I felt this book was poorly edited: with the main text clocking in at over 500 pages, Power had a hard time strongly pulling her themes together under the weight of so much documentation and detail. I think that any nonexpert who isn't trying to marshal these specific facts would get her message better from one of her articles.

And the message isn't a very happy one. Indeed, when you consider the forces that Power describes, it seems even less likely to me that the U.S. would intervene in, say, Darfur, than it did before. The book is a history more t(less)

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May 27, 2009 Steven Salaita rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a darling of liberal elites, particularly those involved in some way in policy. Power's argument is more or less convincing, though not unimpeachable. Her book has countless methodological flaws, however. Its primary flaw is its selectivity in identifying sites of genocide: Power ignores the United States (indigenous peoples), Israel (Palestinians), Canada (indigenous peoples), Australia (aboriginal peoples), New Zealand (the Maori), and so forth.

The reason she ignores these sites...more

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Apr 17, 2009 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quite simply one of the most powerful books you could ever read. Power details the genocides of the 20th century - Armenian, Holocaust, Cambodia, Kurdish Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo - while also revealing the powerlessness that the international community has in trying to stop these sorts of actions.

The most recent genocide, in Darfur at the start of the 21st century - underlines her point, that there is not a lot that can be done... even if the will is there to do something in the first place...more

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May 12, 2010 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: recommend, pulitzer-prize, favorites

A well documented overview of the "official" genocides of the 20th century. As far as documenting the failures and occasionally successes of the international community with a specific focus on the United States, this is THE book. It's pretty clinical and doesn't really offer up any new ideas about the particular failures of the international community. I found the book to be actually rather light in its criticism especially when discussing the Rwandan genocide. But I suspect Power's point is to...more

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May 20, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The word that Lemkin settled upon was a hybrid that combined the Greek derivative geno, meaning 'race' or 'tribe,' together with the Latin derivative cide, from caedere, meaning 'killing.' 'Genocide' was short, it was novel, and it was not likely to be mispronounced. Because of the word's lasting association with Hitler's horrors, it would also send shudders down the spine of those who heard it."

"Article 2: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with inten...more

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Jul 21, 2010 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A sort of "Greatest Hits" of the many shining examples of the pusillanimity of American foreign policy. Exquisitely researched, vividly and passionately told, A Problem From Hell closely examines various 20th Century acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide and the response (or, more accurately, lack of response) by the US government. Powers compellingly shines a desperately needed floodlight on this important issue, arguing persuasively that inaction presents not only a humanitarian question, a na...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Laurie Garcia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In "A Problem From Hell," Samantha Power introduces readers to Raphael Lemkin and the creation of a word for a crime without a name- genocide. Power enthralls readers as she recounts Lemkin's life-long struggle to create a law forbidding the crime of genocide and his unrelenting battle against the international community for its passage. As the book continues, Power acquaints readers with the historical background leading up to several genocides in the 20th century and the progression of each ge...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Alden Mackie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After owning this book for nearly 9 years I was able to finish it. I had attempted to read this book no less than three times prior only to get bogged down in the depressing nature and overall frustration wrought with the "system". It's hard to recommend this book to others because it is so painstaking to read but at the same time the images of the events, the reactions of the supporters and dissenters toward action, and the results of action and-more commonly-inaction is so powerful that it wou...more After owning this book for nearly 9 years I was able to finish it. I had attempted to read this book no less than three times prior only to get bogged down in the depressing nature and overall frustration wrought with the "system". It's hard to recommend this book to others because it is so painstaking to read but at the same time the images of the events, the reactions of the supporters and dissenters toward action, and the results of action and-more commonly-inaction is so powerful that it would benefit every single human being to read it.

In every case of genocide in the 20th century there is no one reason why more often than not apathy was chosen over action. It was not a conservative or liberal agenda that prevented intervention as can be exemplified by Bob Dole pushing for US persons out stating "I don't think we have any national interest there. The Americans are out, and as far as I'm concerned, in Rwanda, that out to be end end of it." (more than 700,000 civilians were slaughtered AFTER that was stated) yet in the event of Srebrenica and Kosovo, Dole was one of the key protagonists for action to stop the genocide of the Muslim population by the Christian Serbs.

I think the crux of the issue Samantha Power raised with this book was that everyone, liberal and conservative, diplomacy, national interests, or military intervention oriented, from those dedicated to the military machine to those determined to see a world without guns - all have to drastically redirect their vision in the face of genocide. It is not a problem that goes away with inaction, it is not a problem that can often be fixed by lobbing ordinance at the perpetrators; it requires a consolidated effort of worldwide influence, often including military intervention consisting of troops on the ground and the acceptance that if we truly want to protect the lives of innocents, we have to be willing to risk our own.

We cannot continue the notion, as one state department official speculated when intervention in Rwanda was being mulled over, that one American casualty in the effort to stop genocide was only worth every 85,000 dead civilians in a country that we had no national interest in. Most importantly, we, as a world that stated over five decades ago that "never again" would we allow genocide to take place, have to start listening to the witnesses of such events when they first raise their concerns - as Power states in her conclusion "They were usually branded 'emotional,' 'irrational,' 'soft,' or 'naive.' Many of them saw their careers destroyed by the stands they took...how many of us who look back at the genocides of the twentieth century, including the Holocaust, do not believe that these people were right? How many of us do not believe that the presidents, senators, bureaucrats, journalists, and ordinary citizens who did nothing, choosing to look away rather than face hard choices and wrenching moral dilemmas, were wrong? How can it be that those who fight on behalf of these principles are the ones deemed unreasonable?"(less)

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Jan 09, 2010 Holly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this to be a very thought-provoking and, at times, frustrating read. Power begins by providing the reader with a history of the legal meaning of "genocide", coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1943, including the passage of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which came into effect in 1951. She then highlights several genocides of the 20th century, including the Turkish massacre of the Armenians, the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, Sadam Hussein's gassing of the...more I found this to be a very thought-provoking and, at times, frustrating read. Power begins by providing the reader with a history of the legal meaning of "genocide", coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1943, including the passage of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which came into effect in 1951. She then highlights several genocides of the 20th century, including the Turkish massacre of the Armenians, the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, Sadam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds, the Rwandan genocide, and the Serbian genocide.

Power is at her best when she discusses events of the 1990s, especially the Rwandan genocide, where the US did much worse than nothing, instead actively opposing an increased UN presence and allowing the wholesale slaughter of Tutsis to move forward, resulting in the quickest genocide recorded.

However, even here Power relies on the one argument that also makes her book incredibly frustrating to read--the fallback reliance on military deployment, specifically the deployment of US troops, as a solution for impending or ongoing acts of genocide. She avers that the Khmer Rouge could have been stopped if the US had but invaded, brushing aside arguments that the US was in no position to invade a Communist country next door to Vietnam immediately after our defeat there as "realpolitik". She also dismisses suggestions that the EU should have played a larger role in stopping the slaugher in Bosnia. I should note that the book was written in 2002; I would love to see an updated forward in light of the US military intervention in Iraq and the resulting disaster.

Where Power's argument has the most resonance is in the idea that genocidal regimes, if they are challenged, may well change their behavior. Though she was in no position to make the argument when the book was written, if Hussein had been challenged in the 1980s and early 1990s, might he have thought twice before invading Kuwait, and might our current imperial adventures look a bit different?

Overall, I did find this an interesting read, if frustrating for Power's reliance on "send in the Marines" as a solution for all situations, her insistence that the US should intervene unilaterally, and her willful blindness to the costs and consequences of unilateral military action.(less)

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Dec 11, 2008 Siria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, nonfiction, current-affairs

Fascinating, passionate, and damning in equal measure, A Problem from Hell is an indictment against the prevailing attitudes in the USA (and much of the west) towards genocide throughout the twentieth century. From the Turkish massacres of the Armenians, through to the Serbian butchery in Kosovo, Power examines the ways in which American politicians have paid lip-service to opposing genocide, while failing to act for reasons of political expediency. As Power writes: "No US President has ever mad...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Chris Dier added it · review of another edition

Power’s book is not just imperative for understanding the United States’ role in post-World War II genocides, but necessary. If you’re a flag waving nationalist who believes America lives up to the moral obligations in regards to foreign relations as it claims, do not read this book or your life will be crushed. With every page I turned, the frustration mounted. I was so intrigued about her coverage of American policy surrounding the Khmer Rouge that I did a paper over it for my Genocide and Hol...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political

A bit slow starting because the author had to lay out the background on the term "genocide". Genocide wasn't even used by countries before 1948 (even though Hitler's death camps had recently been liberated). Appalling summation of America's reluctance to step in when genocide is in progress because it must assure itself that doing so is "in the nation's interests". In other words...what's in it for us? Kosovo, Rwanda, Iraq...it all boils down to this: if you have something we want, we'll get inv...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I felt this book evaded the true problem from hell, which represents our inability to value all life equally. Our international justice system is a failure by prosecuting crimes only based on their magnitude and relative prominence. When a woman is raped, anywhere in the world, that should be followed by criminal prosecution. No soldier / person should be absolved from any horrific and inhumane action, even when under the fog of war. All people that commit a crime should be punished, not just th...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book put me had me in the "reading flow" big time. It's such a morale killer that numerous times I said "I get the point, we suck for doing absolutely nothing about genocide" and resolved to put it away. I know it's cheesy, but I kept going with it because I felt I owed it to all of the people who were murdered while we stood by and either half-assedly wagged our fingers or just talked a shit load about what we WEREN'T going to do to help. Incredibly interesting and disheartening, tirelessl...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Sean Watson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Samantha Power's stunning work on America's response to each genocide that has happened during our country's existence. I was shocked. America consistently clings to its own interests even to the extent of favoring genocidal regimes or resisting acknowledgement of those who resist such regimes. The vast majority of United States citizens simply do not care about the deaths of foreigners, so consequently it's naive to expect our leaders to. This book explains each crisis, documents the signals an...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Elaine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This book is obviously comprehensive about the very specific subject it seeks to treat -- American governmental reaction to the major genocides of the 20th century. The lens is simply that though -- it is not a history of any of these genocides that gives geographical or historical context, nor will you really understand teh timeline, method of execution or consequences of any of these genocides -- simply the State Dep't/UN delegation/Oval Office/congressional reaction to each of them. In this w...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Thea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction-addiction

Samantha Power provides an overview of the 20th century's bloody and recurring history of genocide starting with the massacre of 1 million Armenians in Turkey and ending with an account of the "thwarted" attempt at genocide in Kosovo. These accounts are brief, but spare no gory details and are used to set up her analysis of American policy responses to genocide. In short, Power is not impressed. She almost painstakingly chronicles how every excuse in the book was used by politicians of various l...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: groups-of-people, kind-of-depressing, leetle-boys, crime-and-punishment

I tend to get really depressed in the winter, and this year I just thought well.... why not?

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Oct 26, 2009 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: changing-my-world-view

This is an amazing and horrifying book. It's really depressing to see how people, especially the American government, think about issues of genocide - "it's not in the national interest", "these acts are alleged and can't be proved", "these divisions are centuries old", "military resources can't be used because they might be needed to fight wars on two fronts" etc etc. There is no moral calculus, which you'd think would be the first thought. Particularly appalling is when national interests lead...more

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About Samantha Power

Samantha Power is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, writer, and academic. She is affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School, holding the position of Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy.

A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, she moved to the United States from Ireland at the age of nine. From 1...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/692269.A_Problem_from_Hell?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347254892l/692269.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/692269.A_Problem_from_Hell?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power[/url]

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

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