A review by ebenezeer_swett
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

Ok reading this book took me several months because it was simultaneously so good that I wanted to read every word and also such a bummer (sorry) that I couldn’t read too much at a time. I think everyone working for the government should read this book. Summary: the United States government consistently fails to intervene in genocide, often cites not knowing it’s going on (always a lie, it’s more about not wanting to believe that the facts we hear are true) and the cost is hundreds of thousands of lives. The United States is uniquely situated to intervene in genocide given both our fabulous resources and our standing in the global community (we can easily influence European allies to take action). Yet we consistently fail to take even the most minimal steps. We understandably balk at the idea of sending in ground troops, but throw our hands in the air and declare we can do nothing, which is patently false (we could have employed radio jamming technology in the Rwandan genocide, for example, or obeyed the Geneva convention and intervened when Saddam gassed his own people) and ignores the vast options available to us, the most minuscule of which have meaning (we routinely refuse to call genocide what it is.) These policies are unlikely to change without immense pressure from citizens and actual consequences for those who shirk their duty and do nothing when innocents are being slaughtered in scores out of respect for state sovereignty (ie we stop fucking voting for them). A demoralizing and critical book. Read it.