An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography - Softcover

Rusesabagina, Paul; Zoellner, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143038605 ISBN 13: 9780143038603

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2007

Synopsis

A remarkable account of the amazing life story of the man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda

Readers who were moved and horrified by Hotel Rwanda will respond even more intensely to Paul Rusesabagina's unforgettable autobiography. As Rwanda was thrown into chaos during the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, turned the luxurious Hotel Milles Collines into a refuge for more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees, while fending off their would-be killers with a combination of diplomacy and deception. In An Ordinary Man, he tells the story of his childhood, retraces his accidental path to heroism, revisits the 100 days in which he was the only thing standing between his "guests" and a hideous death, and recounts his subsequent life as a refugee and activist.

About this title

Review:

Rusesabagina . . . weaves his country's history with his personal history into a rich narrative that attempts to explain the unexplainable. . . . The book's emotional power comes from his understatement and humility. (The Boston Globe)

An extraordinary cautionary tale. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rusesabagina's story of survival amid manic slaughter is as awful as it is gripping. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Read this book. It will humble and inspire you. (Sunday Telegraph, London)

Extraordinary--horrific and tragic, but also inspiring, because Rusesabagina refuses to give up his belief in the basic decency of humanity. (The Times, London)

From the Publisher:

An Ordinary Man will aim to become a classic of tolerance
literature, on the level of Schindler's List and Long Walk to Freedom by
Nelson Mandela

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0143038605
• ISBN 13: 9780143038603
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224