Centuries of Genocide

Reviews / Votes

"In this deeply humane book, fired by the passion of the editors and authors to understand the roots of genocides so that we can prevent this scourge of humanity, eminent experts give up-to-date accounts of 15 genocides. The scholarship of the authors is outstanding, the chapters in the book highly readable and compelling. While most of the chapters are about genocides in the 20th century, the book now contains chapters about genocides in the 19th century and the first genocide in the 21st Century. The personal accounts included truly reach the heart."

-Ervin Staub, author of Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict and Terrorism, Founding Director of the Doctoral program in Psychology of Violence and Peace, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

"A welcome new edition to an already influential series, Centuries of Genocide adds new cases spanning the nineteenth to the twenty-first century and the four corners of the globe. Each chapter offers up-to-date research and analysis by some of the leading scholars in the field on the causes, processes, and aftermath of genocide, along with searing first-person eyewitness accounts that starkly illustrate the human experience, and tragic cost, of genocidal violence. A key text for scholars and students alike interested in understanding and preventing the 'crime of crimes.'"

-Maureen Hiebert, University of Calgary

"This book is outstanding because its scale enables us to start to compare genocides by the testimony of the eyewitness. These testimonies show us that genocide is not just a word: the data presented here narrates about the people who became victims. In this book we hear their cries, their bewilderment, their whispers, their groans, and their words. They come to us from many regions and periods. The book will make one aware that genocide is of all times: to listen to these voices and to read these pages is crucial for understanding and teaching genocide."

-Selma Leydesdorff, University of Amsterdam

"Survivors of genocide can shed light on the realities of genocidal violence in ways that no other sources can illuminate. This new edition of Centuries of Genocide throws the voices of victims from more than a dozen episodes of genocide into sharp relief, providing searing witness to the on-going inhumanity of man to men, women and children."
-Craig Etcheson, Genocide Investigator

"Authored by an impressive array of the most respected and knowledgeable practitioners in the field, this book is an indispensable tool for the study of how genocide actually happens and for the formidable challenge of preventing it. Its editors required from the authors a uniform methodology applied to broadly different case studies. The result allows for rigorous comparative analysis; lessons from each catastrophe thus become clearer and - hopefully - can be applied more effectively in future scenarios. The effort is all the more commendable because editors and authors have covered every one of the most significant episodes in the recent past."

-Juan E Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Visiting Professor, Washington College of Law