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"A Problem from Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide Samantha Power

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"A Problem From Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide Samantha Power Online Information For the online version of BookRags' "A Problem From Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide Premium Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-a-problem-from-hell/ Copyright Information ©2000-2007 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources. ©1998-2002; ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design® and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". © 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". © 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham. All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copywritten by BookRags, Inc. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution or information storage retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher. Table of Contents Plot Summary................................................................................................................1 Preface............................................................................................................................3 Chapter 1.......................................................................................................................5 Chapter 2.......................................................................................................................8 Chapter 3.....................................................................................................................10 Chapter 4.....................................................................................................................13 Chapter 5.....................................................................................................................15 Chapter 6.....................................................................................................................17 Chapter 7.....................................................................................................................21 Chapter 8.....................................................................................................................24 Chapter 9.....................................................................................................................29 Chapter 10...................................................................................................................35 Chapter 11...................................................................................................................40 Chapter 12...................................................................................................................44 i Table of Contents Chapter 13...................................................................................................................48 Chapter 14...................................................................................................................52 Characters....................................................................................................................55 Raphael Lemkin..................................................................................................55 Major General Romeo Dallaire..........................................................................56 Bob Dole.............................................................................................................57 William Proxmire...............................................................................................57 Slobodan Milosevic............................................................................................58 Pol Pot.................................................................................................................58 Saddam Hussein..................................................................................................58 Adolph Hitler......................................................................................................58 Mehmed Talaat...................................................................................................58 Objects/Places..............................................................................................................59 Turkey.................................................................................................................59 United Nations....................................................................................................59 Germany.............................................................................................................59 Cambodia............................................................................................................59 Iraq......................................................................................................................60 Bosnia.................................................................................................................60 Rwanda...............................................................................................................60 Srebrenica...........................................................................................................60 Kosovo................................................................................................................61 Themes.........................................................................................................................62 Atrocity/Genocide...............................................................................................62 Denial..................................................................................................................63 ii Table of Contents Themes Inaction...............................................................................................................64 Style..............................................................................................................................65 Points of View....................................................................................................65 Setting.................................................................................................................65 Language and Meaning.......................................................................................66 Structure..............................................................................................................66 Quotes...........................................................................................................................67 Topics for Discussion..................................................................................................70 iii Plot Summary "A Problem from Hell:" American and the Age of Genocide focuses on the instances of twentieth century genocide and examines how the United States reacted to these situations. Power discusses the genocides that occurred in Turkey, Germany, Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Kosovo. She also discusses the development of international laws against genocide and the dedication of activists, such as Lemkin, Proxmire, Dole, and others, who attempted to compel the United States to ratify the Genocide Convention which would have compelled them to intervene when genocides occurred. Power makes several claims in the book. First, she argues that the United States has been very slow to act in the face of genocidal situations. Although violence in some regions was a distinct possibility, both policymakers and the public assumed that such violence could not occur. The policymakers doubted accounts from survivors and refugees and dismissed them as too sensational to be true. Policymakers trusted the reassurances of the very governments committing acts of atrocity. For example, Power demonstrates that the United States continued to believe and accept the promises of Milosevic even after he had already orchestrated two genocides in the former Yugoslavia. The UN and Western powers have continually relied on traditional diplomacy and attempts to broker cease-fires as means to settle international incidents. Power argues that U.S. officials altered the language of accounts of genocide in order to produce doubts about the nature of the violence. Often, U.S. officials labeled the violence which occurred as civil war, rather than genocide, as they did in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. The U.S officials also, at times, argued that the conflicts were inevitable.
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