The Bone Woman
Published on 2. January 2014
368 pages
978-1-78239-453-2 (ISBN)
Description
In the Spring of 1994, Rwanda was the scene of the first acts since the Second World War to be legally defined as genocide. Two years later, Clea Koff, a twenty-three-year-old forensic anthropologist, was one of sixteen scientists chosen by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal to go to Rwanda to unearth physical evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Bone Woman is Koff's riveting, intimate account of that mission and six subsequent missions she undertook to Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo on behalf of the UN. It is, ultimately, a story filled with hope, humanity and justice.
The Bone Woman is Koff's riveting, intimate account of that mission and six subsequent missions she undertook to Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo on behalf of the UN. It is, ultimately, a story filled with hope, humanity and justice.
Reviews / Votes
It may be that this is the ultimate memoir of the post-Cold War decade... a hugely important book -- Alec Russell * Daily Telegraph * Clea Koff has given some of the best years of her life to digging up mutilated bodies and coping with the inevitable emotional toll of such intimacy with death. ... The Bone Woman eschews the outrage to which she would have been entitled, and is the more powerful for it. -- Giles Whittell * The Times * Offers a fascinating insight into the role of forensic anthropology in investigating human rights abuses... despite the extraordinary depravity of the crimes detailed in its pages, The Bone Woman is a humane, hopeful and involving book -- Phil Whitaker * Guardian * That what Clea Koff does is necessary and excellent is not in need of saying: it is impossible to reach the end of The Bone Woman without great admiration for her tenacity and stoicism. -- Caroline Moorehead * Independent *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
File size
3,46 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-78239-453-2 (9781782394532)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Clea Koff is a forensic anthropologist and author. Born in 1972, she was a member of the first international forensic team brought together by the United Nations to investigate evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, commencing in Rwanda in 1996 when she was 23 years old - the youngest member of the very first team to arrive in Kiguye. She subsequently participated in missions in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. The Bone Woman has been translated into eleven languages and her novel Freezing was published in 2011.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Dedication
- Before
- PART I: Rwanda: Kibuye 6 January-27 February 1996
- The Blood's Long Gone
- 'They Killed Him as if They Didn't Know Him'
- The Grave
- The Man with the Prosthetic Leg
- 'Thank You Very Much for Your Work'
- After-life
- PART II: Rwanda: Kigali 3 June-24 June 1996
- 'Everyone Knows a Genocide Happened Here'
- The Hospital for the Dead People
- Rwanda, Live
- PART III: Bosnia 4 July-29 August 1996
- Almost Picnic
- I'm Just a Worker Here
- The Morgue
- Double Vision
- PART IV: Croatia 30 August-30 September 1996
- Seekers of the Living
- The Translator
- Voices of the Dead
- The Mothers
- PART V: Kosovo 2 April-3 June 2000 and 3 July-23 July 2000
- 'What's Ick-tee?'
- The Grandfather
- The Boy with the Marbles
- The Swede at the Morgue
- Spiritual Sustenance
- The Old Man's Third Bullet
- After
- Appendix: Tribunal Results
- Acknowledgments
