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A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Kinzer
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $11.38
You Save: $14.57 (56%)
New (49) Used (12) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 14931
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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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 Romeo 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 Kagame’s 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: Read 2 more reviews...
An excellent account of a fascinating country January 8, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kinzer's eloquently and highly readable account of Paul Kagame's road to presidency in Rwanda is an intriguing read for anyone interested in African affairs or, in particular, the astonishing story of a country's road to perdition and back. In a journalistic way easy-to-read, Kinzer covers most aspects of Rwanda's modern history and the country's laid out path for the future as it attempts to become a middle-income country. A gripping and interesting story of a president's attempt to bring his country back on track. I look forward to reading a Kinzer follow-up on Kagame's ambitious plans in 10-15 years.
Let's go see what is happening in Rwanda January 4, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Summary: A Thousand Hills by Stephen Kinzer/Rwanda's rebirth and the man who dreamed it
This is an awful and a beautiful story of Rwanda, pre and post-genocide, a gripping story like you have never read before. It is a book about a country that was forgotten and how in this globalized world, that is not possible to do anymore without grave consequences. It is also an important story of a country that has come back from the brink of hell to a totally different future. It is a story that is taking place right now.
It is also the story of Paul Kagame, almost murdered at the age of two years along with his family by a death squad in the "practice genocide" of 1959, a refugee in Uganda most of his early life, a visionary guerilla leader with a simple dream to return to his homeland and now the President of Rwanda trying to bring this future into reality. This is a story of leadership and the script is being written now.
Stephen Kinzer, an award-winning writer that has worked in more than 50 countries, has written a compelling, incredible book. It is history from a different perspective that I had not read about before. It is a book that many political leaders from Europe, the USA and most of all the UN will be upset about regarding the colonial period and specifically the genocide of 1994. When individuals and countries had the power to do something, most did little if nothing. Rwanda is a small, landlocked country with few resources. This was an African issue, tribes fighting tribes, colonial powers protecting their age-old self-interests. So most did nothing. That is the awfulness of a "A Thousand Hills" where the darkest part of the human soul came out with all of its hate and prejudice. Some wonder whether it will happen again.
However, this is not just another book about the genocide. It is a book about a audacious vision of turning Rwanda into a different place by 2020. It is about a leader with a dream of a secure and free Rwanda, reducing poverty, providing clean water, electricity and education in Rwanda and creating jobs, business, good governance and ending corruption to mention a few. There are incredible stories of what is taking place in Rwanda to make this dream a reality.
There are also serious criticisms. One of the most stinging criticism lies at the door of the United Nations in 1994 and their failed peace-keeping efforts under the direction of Kofi Annan, their mis and/or failed-communication to the countries in the Security Council of what was actually taking place on the ground in Rwanda and their lack of taking any responsibility of that failure after the genocide. There are also criticism of the leadership of President Paul Kagame.
After reading this book, I want to know more. I want to go to Rwanda and see the changes and see what is happening. If radical change can happen like this in Rwanda, it can happen in any country. I highly recommend this book. Get your tickets......
book historical December 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent, my husband could not put this book down, written well, good understanding of the conditons and history of Rowanda.
Rwanda forgivness on the road to recovery October 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A well written, captivating history of the recent war and current recovery in Rwanda. The concept of people giving forgiveness following mass killing is an integral part of healing of this country.
 Understanding Paul Kagame July 31, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
President Paul Kagame is a man who inspires a wide range of emotions in those who meet him. Some like me admire him...Others hate him. Certainly many in French diplomatic circles see him as the devil clothed in Anglophone robes. In the Africanist analytical world, he is either Rwanda's greatest hope or its mortal danger. Certainly his enemies have reason to fear him even as his friends love him. Both enemy and friend know that the wise respect him.
I first met then Vice President and Defense Minister Major General Paul Kagame in the fall of 1994 when he was struggling to put the shattered country of Rwanda back together. Some were want to describe him as a "war lord" even as one could buy T-shirts with his picture on them with the phrase "Free at Last!" at Kigali's international airport. General Kagame was serious, determined, and it was clear that he was a strong man. What remained to be seen was whether he would become another "Big Man" in African politics or rise above that label to be a truly great African leader.
Like no other author so far, Stephen Kinzer offered us a peak inside the complexity named Paul Kagame. Kinzer enjoyed unprecedented access to the President of Rwanda and provided a colorful and insightful biography of the man. Like any good interlocutor, Kinzer understands that listening is best technique for the interviewer. He offers Kagame's own words to the reader allowing the subject of this biography to speak on his own behalf. That is not only fair, it is probably critical to understand this man who spent much of his life fighting the status quo--and ultimately winning.
According to Kinzer, Kagame's early life as a refugee in Uganda hardened him into the typical angry young man found in a life surrounded by poverty. Early on in his youth he became friends with Fred Rwigyema. Together they later would become co-founders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. But first they would join Museveni's 40-man National Resistance Army in Uganda and overthrow Obote. When Rwigyema fell in the first few days of the RPF's 1990 invasion of Rwanda, Kagame resigned from the US Army Command and General Staff College to take command and reorganize the RPF. He and the RPF went on to win a military victory they did not really desire, sparking a genocide for which they could not be blamed.
Despite Kagame's military prowess, I found Kinzer's chapters on the post-war period from 2000 on to be the most illuminating because they concentrate on Kagame's role as President of Rwanda. At the same time, they provide great hope for the country's future and portents of possible disaster. President Kagame is indeed Rwanda's greatest hope. At the same time, he is his own greatest nemesis...
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Africa, small wars, reconciliation, and development. Kinzer's prose is easy to read and entertaining. His narrative is insightful. The Paul Kagame I knew came to life when I read this book.
The full review is posted on Small Wars Journal Blog at http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/07/book-review-a-thousand-hills-r/
Thomas (Tom) P. Odom
LTC US Army (ret)
Author, Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda
Journey Into Darkness: Genocide In Rwanda (Texas a & M University Military History Series)
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