Linda Melvern has written a compelling description of the most dramatic aspects of the genocide.

...Melvern offers a vivid picture of the role of Western nations in abetting, ignoring and allowing Rwanda's genocide.

Your book is really a huge consolation. I agree with you we've been betrayed! Thanks indeed writing a book on us, we are not alone.

Let me begin by telling you how both touched and overwhelmed I was reading your extraordinary book 'A People Betrayed'.

I think your book is easily the best reporting on the Rwandan Genocide and one of the best non fiction works I have read in many years. I have said that at lectures throughout my travels associated with Hotel Rwanda.

...the best general overview of the West's role in the Rwandan catastrophe. It is briskly written, and includes enough information on the causes and course of the genocide to ground readers unfamiliar with the events. Clearly, so long as the world's most powerful countries and international organizations are ruled by considerations of expediency and image-making, effective intervention in most cases of genocidal killing is unlikely.

There is enough shame to cover the world map, and Melvern documents it all, including behind-closed-doors meetings of the Security Council whose permanent members characterized the conflict as a civil war so they could rationalize not taking action to stop the genocide. It should be absolutely required reading for anyone who has anything to do with foreign policy or international institutions.

What happened in Rwanda is one of the most appalling and heartbreaking tragedies that the world has known. Why did it occur? And what more could have been done to prevent it? Melvern's book attempts to answer those questions. It is a brave and compelling account of the lies, deceit, and neglect that led to the Rwanda genocide. A powerful and important book that vital provides lessons for the future.