Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda - Softcover

Dallaire, Romeo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679311726 ISBN 13: 9780679311720

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2004

Synopsis

On the tenth anniversary of the date that UN peacekeepers landed in Rwanda, Random House Canada is proud to publish the unforgettable first-hand account of the genocide by the man who led the UN mission. Digging deep into shattering memories, General Dallaire has written a powerful story of betrayal, naïveté, racism and international politics. His message is simple and undeniable: “Never again.”

When Lt-Gen. Roméo Dallaire received the call to serve as force commander of the UN intervention in Rwanda in 1993, he thought he was heading off on a modest and straightforward peacekeeping mission. Thirteen months later he flew home from Africa, broken, disillusioned and suicidal, having witnessed the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in only a hundred days. In Shake Hands with the Devil, he takes the reader with him on a return voyage into the hell of Rwanda, vividly recreating the events the international community turned its back on. This book is an unsparing eyewitness account of the failure by humanity to stop the genocide, despite timely warnings.

Woven through the story of this disastrous mission is Dallaire’s own journey from confident Cold Warrior, to devastated UN commander, to retired general engaged in a painful struggle to find a measure of peace, reconciliation and hope. This book is General Dallaire’s personal account of his conversion from a man certain of his worth and secure in his assumptions to a man conscious of his own weaknesses and failures and critical of the institutions he’d relied on. It might not sit easily with standard ideas of military leadership, but understanding what happened to General Dallaire and his mission to Rwanda is crucial to understanding the moral minefields our peacekeepers are forced to negotiate when we ask them to step into the world’s dirty wars.

Excerpt from Shake Hands with the Devil
My story is not a strictly military account nor a clinical, academic study of the breakdown of Rwanda. It is not a simplistic indictment of the many failures of the UN as a force for peace in the world. It is not a story of heroes and villains, although such a work could easily be written. This book is a cri de coeur for the slaughtered thousands, a tribute to the souls hacked apart by machetes because of their supposed difference from those who sought to hang on to power. . . . This book is the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead, we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

Review:

"[Shake Hands with the Devil] is an affidavit for an indictment--an indictment of the murderers, the hamstrung, bureaucratized UN, and the self-absorbed developed world.... Romeo Dallaire emerges as our post-Cold War hero."

"Toronto Globe and Mail"
"Almost certainly the most important book published in Canada this year." "Quill & Quire"
"["Shake Hands with the Devil"] is an affidavit for an indictment--an indictment of the murderers, the hamstrung, bureaucratized UN, and the self-absorbed developed world. ... Romeo Dallaire emerges as our post-Cold War hero." Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent"It's stark and it's horrible, but it's fascinating and very moving."

"Toronto Globe and Mail"
Almost certainly the most important book published in Canada this year. "Quill & Quire"
["Shake Hands with the Devil"] is an affidavit for an indictment an indictment of the murderers, the hamstrung, bureaucratized UN, and the self-absorbed developed world. ... Romeo Dallaire emerges as our post Cold War hero. Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent It s stark and it s horrible, but it s fascinating and very moving. "

Toronto Globe and Mail
Almost certainly the most important book published in Canada this year. Quill & Quire
[Shake Hands with the Devil] is an affidavit for an indictment an indictment of the murderers, the hamstrung, bureaucratized UN, and the self-absorbed developed world. ... Romeo Dallaire emerges as our post Cold War hero. Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent It s stark and it s horrible, but it s fascinating and very moving. "

Toronto Globe and Mail
"Almost certainly the most important book published in Canada this year." Quill & Quire
"[Shake Hands with the Devil] is an affidavit for an indictment--an indictment of the murderers, the hamstrung, bureaucratized UN, and the self-absorbed developed world. ... Romeo Dallaire emerges as our post-Cold War hero." Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent"It's stark and it's horrible, but it's fascinating and very moving."

Book Description:

"I know there is a God because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him and I have touched him. I know the devil exists, and therefore I know there is a God."-Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0679311726
• ISBN 13: 9780679311720
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592