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A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It |  | Author: Stephen Kinzer
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 181051
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0470120150
Dewey Decimal Number: 967.571043
EAN: 9780470120156
ASIN: 0470120150
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, June 2008: Fourteen years after the 1994 genocide that claimed 800,000 lives in 100 days, Rwandans continue the daily work of rebuilding their shattered country. In light of recent reports that one in four people suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder--which Rwandans aptly describe as ihahamuka or "breathless with fear"--how is recovery even possible? In search of answers, foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer traveled extensively throughout Rwanda where he observed an astonishing economic and political transformation based surprisingly on Asian models, and the implementation of unconventional reconciliation efforts. The author also conducted extensive interviews with Rwanda's enigmatic president, Paul Kagame. The result of Kinzer's quest is A Thousand Hills, a page-turning story of a society desperately trying to regain its breath, and an ambitious and autocratic leader's unrelenting efforts to breathe life into its future. This is essential reading, even if you've read earlier accounts by Canadian general Roméo Dallaire, journalists Phillip Gourevitch and Samantha Power, and the heroic Paul Rusesabagina immortalized in the film Hotel Rwanda. --Lauren Nemroff
Product Description
A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It is the story of Paul Kagame, a refugee who, after a generation of exile, found his way home. Learn about President Kagame, who strives to make Rwanda the first middle-income country in Africa, in a single generation. In this adventurous tale, learn about Kagameâs early fascination with Che Guevara and James Bond, his years as an intelligence agent, his training in Cuba and the United States, the way he built his secret rebel army, his bloody rebellion, and his outsized ambitions for Rwanda.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Publisher's weekly is right: a hagiographic account of Paul Kagame April 1, 2010
Daily Inquirer
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having recently visited Rwanda I was eager to learn more about how Rwandan society recovered from the unimaginable horrors of the 1994 genocide. My sense before reading this book was that more than international aid groups, World Bank loans and foreign investment were at work, since many countries in Africa have all these and are still mired in poverty, lawlessness, and corruption. So I was looking for a more complete explanation of the recovery, which gave due credit to Paul Kagame, the leader who successfully overthrew the genocidal regime and whose government restored law, order and sanity to Rwanda.
Unfortunately, the book is mostly about Paul Kagame, offering frequent quotations from him, and is more or less an unofficial biography. While Kagame deserves much credit, I am sure he did not do it all himself and that relief agencies, the UN, the World Bank, foreign investment and foreign aid also played a role in the remarkable economic success story represented by Rwanda today. So I wish Kinzer had written a better book, showing more of the mechanics of the Rwandan renaissance. I am also curious about Rwanda's continuing involvement in the eastern Congo (DRC) and whether wealth from the Congo was used to help build Rwanda, something Kinzer only hints at briefly.
That said, it is an interesting book to read, telling the story of what happened in Rwanda from Kagame's point of view. But the definitive account of the rebuilding has yet to be written.
 An intensely moving and engaging book February 27, 2010
John Gibbs (Melbourne, Australia)
Rwanda became big news in the mid-1990s when we saw on our television sets millions of refugees who had streamed into neighbouring countries Zaire and Tanzania to escape "inter-ethnic conflict". But in this book Stephen Kinzer points out that what we were told was largely a sanitised lie. The "conflict" was actually a government-planned genocide of a minority ethnic group, the Tutsi, and the "refugees" were predominantly the perpetrators of the genocide.
Shamefully, Kofi Annan and the UN instructed the UN peacekeeping force to stand by and do nothing while the Tutsi were being butchered at the rate of one every ten seconds over a period of 100 days. The slaughtering did not stop until the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forces invaded and took over the country. Assisted by French "peacekeeping" forces, the murderous government regime escaped to the "refugee" camps in Zaire along with their weapons, so that they could carry on the war from outside the country for a further decade, resulting in another 5 million deaths.
The book tells the story of Paul Kagame's leadership of the RPF, and the extraordinary challenges he has subsequently faced as president of Rwanda, an exceptionally difficult task given the complexity of seeking to reconcile murderers and victims, the ever-present threat of re-ignition of hostilities, and the depth of poverty faced by most of the citizens of the country.
I found this to be an intensely moving and engaging book. I was occasionally irritated by some of the author's opinions, such as the way he criticised Kagame for failing to embrace a UNDP report recommending that the government focus its efforts on agriculture rather than private enterprise, infrastructure and IT. Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems like a really dumb idea for a tiny land-locked overpopulated country to place its hopes for economic development in agriculture. In spite of these minor flaws, this is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
 thoughtful review of Rwanda's recent and extraordinary history July 20, 2009
David M. Birks (Australia)
The author provides a fine story of Rwanda and its compelling leader Paul Kagame. The book covers the background to the notorious genocide with a particular focus on Kagame's upbringing and education as an exile in neighbouring Uganda.
There seems little doubt that Kagame qualifies as an exceptional leader at several levels and can be considered the reason Rwanda has emerged from its devastation with great promise. Notwithstanding these attributes the author does not refrain from detailing criticisms of Kagame and his regime.
A Thousand Hills is highly recommended for all those whose interest in Rwanda extends beyond mountain gorillas.
Great story, amazing history, but somewhat biased... but I loved it anyway! July 1, 2009
pc
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this after reading All the Shah's Men, also by Kinzer, and both great books. He doesn't hide his opinion, which I would guess some people might not like. Personally, I didn't mind it because I thought he separated the facts from his opinion, and the book was so well-researched and so well-written, and most importantly, such an interesting story. I'm not too into books that are dry history, but this is exactly the type of book that I like to read. I hope he writes some more!
The book is about Rwanda's genocide, and about the leader that Kinzer believes will bring them past it. As a story, it's amazing. As history, it's appalling. The facts are presented in such a way that you can draw your own conclusions about whether you agree or disagree with how the situation was handled, but, at the end, Kinzer does kind of hit you over the head with his opinion. It didn't detract from my opinion of the book at all, though.
Also recommended: All the Shah's Men, by Stephen Kinzer
Bravo! March 23, 2009
Mr. Malone (Washington DC)
This is the best book I have ever read about Rwanda! The author is so colorful and knowledgable that I simply could not put the book down. I even took the book to work and read the book outside on my lunch breaks! Mr. Kinzer gives you a complete look into the past, present, and future of Rwanda! In addition, he tells the story of Mr. Kagame (something that most of the press did not cover). This book is so good that should be a movie made. Bravo Stephen! Well done!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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