New York Post
Nothing could be more necessary or timely . . . a powerful first-hand account of the Darfur genocide.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Raw and disturbing, the descriptions evocative and heartbreaking. It is the story behind the story in the daily newspaper.
Deseret News
A seamy, horrendous account of massive killing with impunity . . . .The book is sobering and disturbing.
Indianapolis Star
[Steidle] recounts the brutality he watched unfold . . . prompting him to resign in frustration as the world turned a blind eye.
Publishers Weekly
Though Cummings seems younger and more naïve than the narrator of this appalling history, he does convey the growing disbelief and revulsion that former Marine Captain Steidle feels during his six months as an African Union observer of the Darfur genocide. In ever-rising tones, Cummings conveys Steidle's developing incredulity, frustration, horror and impotence as he witnesses and actually photographs the janjaweed arrive on horseback to systematically rape, torture, murder and mass slaughter 200,000 men, women and children, then loot and torch one village after another. Every day the unarmed AU observers interview the victims and the perpetrators, but their mandate is to observe and report on each infringement of the so-called cease-fire; they can in no way interfere-no matter how horrific the crime. What is hardest for Steidle (and listeners) to stomach is the utter complacency of the U.N., the U.S. and the world's other powers mutely observing what can only be called genocide. (On April 16, 2007, Sudan finally approved the deployment of attack helicopters and 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers.) Simultaneous release with the Public Affairs hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 26). (Apr.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Library Journal
You have certainly read about, heard about, and even seen the pictures from Darfur and wondered "Why?" This horrifying memoir, written by a boots-on-the-ground former marine who served in Darfur as an unarmed military observer for the African Union, grips you in the horrors of genocide and of international inaction. Encouraged by his sister (founder, Global Grassroots), to whom he sent emails, the author became a fiery, impassioned advocate for world action. The descriptions of atrocities perpetrated by the Janjaweed ("devils on horseback") in order to "cleanse" an entire people, where Arab Muslims kill African Muslims because the Africans are "too black" defy comprehension. Angered and repelled by the denials and the reluctance of the international community to become involved, Steidle steadfastly used his camera to record the horrors of what he witnessed. Finally, he left the mission to create a documentary and photo exhibit and to write this chilling account of a four-year war resulting in 300,000-plus deaths and the displacement of 2.5 million people. For its daily eyewitness account of the Darfur genocide, this is recommended for all libraries interested in current affairs or African history.
—Mary C. Allen
AUG/SEP 07 - AudioFile
Where is the horror? Where is the outrage, asks Brian Steidle, bewildered by the lack of international response to what is clearly the genocide of Darfur’s black population. As an ex-marine and member of the African Union’s monitoring team, he witnesses firsthand the government of Sudan’s attempt to systematically eliminate all but the Arab population. Echoing Steidle’s personal narrative, Jeff Cummings’s voice moves from naïve hope that something can be accomplished to anger at the senseless slaughter and surprise at its political complexity. Deeply frustrated at the inaction and even indifference of the rest of the world, his contract up, Steidle grabs his laptop, his notebooks, his camera, and heads for home, hoping to alert the public and awaken its moribund conscience. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
