An Ordinary Man: The True Story Behind 'Hotel Rwanda'

by Paul Rusesabagina (Author), Tom Zoellner (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.25

  Confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, flatter, and deception, Paul Rusesabagina managed to shelter more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus while homicidal mobs raged outside with machetes during the Rwandan genocide. His autobiography explores the inner life of the man in a way the film could not. Rusesabagina discusses the racial complexity within his own life - he is a Hutu married to a Tutsi - and his complete estrangement from the madness that surrounded him during the genocide. The book takes the reader inside the hotel during those 100 days, relates the anguish of those who saw loved ones hacked to pieces, and describes Rusesabagina's ambivalence at pouring the Scotch and lighting the cigars of killers in the Swimming Pool bar, even as he hid as many refugees as possible inside the guest rooms upstairs. Never-before-reported elements of the Rwandan genocide will be disclosed in this book, such as the lack of interest of the international community , and the disgraceful behavior of some of the UN peacekeeping troops, who purchased the cars of the Tutsis who had taken shelter inside the hotel. An Ordinary Man draws parallels between what happened in Rwanda with other genocides throughout history and asks the question: What causes an entire nation to go insane? It also offers an inside look at the problem of genocide and the responsibilities of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. It concludes with an exploration of the tremendous power of words to sow hatred, but also to bring life and hope.

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.65

  'I still don't understand why those men in the militias didn't just put a bullet in my head and execute every last person in the rooms upstairs but they didn't. I survived to tell the story, along with those I sheltered. There was nothing particularly heroic about it...' Paul Rusesabagina was an ordinary man - a quiet manager of a luxury hotel in Rwanda. But on 6 April 1994 mobs with machetes turned into cold-blooded murderers, and commenced a slaughter of 800,000 civilians in just 100 days. Rusesabagina, with incredible courage, saved the lives of 1,200 people. In this powerfully moving autobiography Rusesabagina tells his story and explores the complexity of Rwanda's history and the insanity that turned neighbours and friends into killers.