A Problem from Hell: Difference between revisions

A Problem from Hell
Author	Samantha Power
Subject	Genocide, U.S. foreign policy
Genre	Nonfiction
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	February 20, 2002
Publication place	United States
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	640
ISBN	978-0465061501
Followed by	Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World

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"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide (2002) is a book by American Samantha Power, at that time Professor of Human Rights Practice at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which explores the United States's understanding of, response to, and inaction on genocides in the 20th century, from the Armenian genocide to the "ethnic cleansings" of the Kosovo War. It won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2003.

Power observes that American policymakers have been consistently reluctant to condemn mass atrocities as genocide or to take responsibility for leading an international military intervention. She argues that without significant pressure from the American public, policymakers have avoided the term "genocide" altogether, which came into more widespread use after the Holocaust of World War II. Instead, they appeal to the priority of national interests or argue that a U.S. response would be futile and accelerate violence, as a justification for inaction. She thinks such justifications are usually ill-founded.^[1]

Summary

Power begins with an outline of the international response to the Armenian genocide (Chapter 1). She next describes Raphael Lemkin's efforts to lobby for American action against Nazi atrocities in Europe (Chapter 2). She expands on the difficulties encountered by individuals who tried to convince US representatives and other members of the Allied Powers to recognize the Holocaust. She says this difficulty was compounded by the Allies focus on World War II and suggests that much indifference was based in anti-Semitic attitudes (Chapter 3).

She recounts how Lemkin brought genocide to the forefront of foreign policy issues after the war, leading to the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Lemkin had mounting disappointments and multiplying adversaries until his death in 1959. Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) and others took over fighting for preventing genocides and encouraging US leadership on this issue. Senator Proxmire and Republican President Ronald Reagan worked to gain support during his administration for the ratification of the Genocide Convention (Chapter 7). In the rest of the book, she focuses on genocides in individual nations and the U.S. response to such crises in Algeria, Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo.

Reception

Reviews

Martin Woollacott reviewed the book, along with We Did Nothing by Linda Polman, for The Guardian. He concluded:

"We have yet to work out properly how the post-twin towers interventions relate to those that went before. But there is obvious irony in the fact that while previously, as these books illustrate so clearly, determination was often lacking to deal with crises that most people agreed were serious, there was no shortage of it when the Bush administration moved to deal with a crisis on which there was no global consensus at all."^[2]

Stephen Holmes reviewed the book, along with War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals by David Halberstam, for the 'London Review of Books. Holmes wrote:

"Putting an end to atrocities is a moral victory. But if the intervening force is incapable of keeping domestic support back home for the next phase, for reconstructing what it has shattered, the morality of its intervention is ephemeral at best. If political stability could be achieved by toppling a rotten dictator or if nations could be built at gunpoint, this problem would not be so pressing. Human rights cannot be reliably protected unless a locally sustained political authority is in place."^[3]

Charles V. Peña, then affiliated with the Cato Institute, reviewed the book for Reason, concluding:

"That is exactly the point of Power’s compelling narrative: The horror and tragedy of genocide is a moral issue that transcends national interest. But to prevent another Rwanda, the United States must also have the wisdom to avoid another Somalia."^[4]

Laura Secor reviewed the book for The New York Times.^[5] The book was also reviewed in Publishers Weekly.^[6]

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Book Award
J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction
Raphael Lemkin Award (Institute for the Study of Genocide)

References

^ Power, Samantha. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. pp. xvii-xviii. Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-06150-8
^ Woollacott, Martin (July 4, 2003). "Too little, too late. From Rwanda to the Balkans, the 90s was the decade of botched interventions. Martin Woollacott on two studies of the west's failure to confront genocide from Samantha Power and Linda Polman". Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ Holmes, Stephen (November 14, 2002). "Looking Away". London Review of Books. 24 (22). Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ Peña, Charles V. (November 6, 2002). "Murder Most Foul: To stop genocide, the U.S. must learn to intervene more carefully". Cato Institute (originally published in Reason. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ Secor, Laura (April 14, 2002). "Turning a Blind Eye". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ ""A PROBLEM FROM HELL": America and the Age of Genocide". Publishers Weekly. February 25, 2002. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

External links

[book-1] Power, Samantha. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. pp. xvii-xviii. Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-06150-8

[2] Woollacott, Martin (July 4, 2003). "Too little, too late. From Rwanda to the Balkans, the 90s was the decade of botched interventions. Martin Woollacott on two studies of the west's failure to confront genocide from Samantha Power and Linda Polman". Retrieved June 11, 2014.

[3] Holmes, Stephen (November 14, 2002). "Looking Away". London Review of Books. 24 (22). Retrieved June 11, 2014.

[4] Peña, Charles V. (November 6, 2002). "Murder Most Foul: To stop genocide, the U.S. must learn to intervene more carefully". Cato Institute (originally published in Reason. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

[5] Secor, Laura (April 14, 2002). "Turning a Blind Eye". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

[6] ""A PROBLEM FROM HELL": America and the Age of Genocide". Publishers Weekly. February 25, 2002. Retrieved June 11, 2014.

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+{{short description|Book by Samantha Power}}
-'''''"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide''''' (Basic Books, 2003, ISBN 0060541644) is a book by [[Samantha Power]], Professor of Human Rights Practice at Harvard's [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]], which explores America's understanding of, response to, and inaction on genocides in the 20th century from the [[Armenian genocide]] to the "ethnic cleansings" of the [[Kosovo War]].  It won the [[Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction]] in 2003.
+{{Infobox book
+| name = A Problem from Hell
+| image = A Problem from Hell (book cover).jpg
+| author = [[Samantha Power]]
+| country = United States
+| subject = [[Genocide]], [[U.S. foreign policy]]
+| genre = Nonfiction
+| publisher = [[Basic Books]]
+| pub_date = February 20, 2002
+| media_type = Hardcover
+| pages = 640
+| isbn = 978-0465061501
+| followed_by = Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
+}}
+'''''"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide''''' (2002) is a book by American [[Samantha Power]], at that time Professor of Human Rights Practice at Harvard's [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]], which explores the United States's understanding of, response to, and inaction on [[genocide]]s in the 20th century, from the [[Armenian genocide]] to the "[[ethnic cleansing]]s" of the [[Kosovo War]]. It won the [[J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize]] and the [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]] in 2003.
-== Summary ==
-====Preface====
+Power observes that American policymakers have been consistently reluctant to condemn mass atrocities as genocide or to take responsibility for leading an international military intervention. She argues that without significant pressure from the American public, policymakers have avoided the term "genocide" altogether, which came into more widespread use after the [[Holocaust]] of [[World War II]]. Instead, they appeal to the priority of national interests or argue that a U.S. response would be futile and accelerate violence, as a justification for inaction. She thinks such justifications are usually ill-founded.<ref name="book">Power, Samantha. ''A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide''. pp. xvii-xviii. Basic Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-465-06150-8}}</ref>
-A Problem from Hell argues that American citizens, journalists, and policymakers traditionally refuse to imagine that genocides can take place, and once atrocities begin, expect that ordinary citizens will avoid persecution.  Power argues that Americans would rather negotiate, use traditional diplomacy, urge ceasefires, and donate humanitarian aid than condemn, advocate, or use military action.  The book details how American policymakers fail to take the lead on these conflicts, especially since not enough pressure from the public creates risks for inaction.  When genocide occurs, policymakers tend to avoid the word "genocide" and argue that national interests trump interest in foreign conflicts, that U.S. response is futile, or that U.S response would amplify atrocities. (xvii-xviii)
+==Summary==
-====Chapter 1: "Race Murder"====
+Power begins with an outline of the international response to the [[Armenian genocide]] (Chapter 1). She next  describes [[Raphael Lemkin]]'s efforts to lobby for American action against [[Nazi]] atrocities in Europe (Chapter 2). She expands on the difficulties encountered by individuals who tried to convince US representatives and other members of the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]] to recognize the [[Holocaust]]. She says this difficulty was compounded by the Allies focus on [[World War II]] and suggests that much indifference was based in anti-Semitic attitudes (Chapter 3).
-This chapter outlines the [[Armenian Genocide]] and international indifference.
-====Chapter 2: "A Crime Without a Name"====
-Chapter 2 describes [[Raphael Lemkin]]'s efforts to lobby for American action against [[Nazi]] atrocities in Europe.
-====Chapter 3: The Crime ''with'' a Name====
-Power describes further the difficulties of individuals' efforts to convince Americans and other members of the [[Allied Powers]] to recognize the [[Holocaust]], compounded by the focus on [[World War II]] and anti-Semitic indifference.  Lemkin coins the word "[[genocide]]."
-====Chapter 4: Lemkin's Law====
-Power describes how Lemkin brought genocide to the forefront of foreign policy issues, leading to the 1948 U.N. [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]].
-====Chapter 5: "A Most Lethal Pair of Foes"====
-This chapter focuses on Lemkin's mounting disappointments and multiplying adversaries until his death in 1959.  Senator [[William Proxmire]] and others picked up the torch.
-====Chapter 6: Cambodia: "Helpless Giant"====
-The U.S.'s inaction in response to the [[Khmer Rouge]]'s genocide in [[Cambodia]].
-====Chapter 7: Speaking Loudly and Looking for a Big Stick====
-Power shows how Senator Proxmire and President [[Ronald Reagan]] worked to gain support for the ratification of the [[Genocide Convention]].
-====Chapter 8: Iraq: "Human Rights and Chemical Weapons Use Aside"====
-Chapter 8 looks at the U.S.'s response to [[Saddam Hussein]]'s crimes against the [[Kurds]].
-====Chapter 9: Bosnia: "No More than Witnesses at a Funeral"====
-Power explores America's reaction to [[Serbia]]'s "[[ethnic cleansing]]" in [[Bosnia]].
-====Chapter 10: Rwanda: "Mostly in a Listening Mode"====
-Chapter 10 focuses on why President [[Bill Clinton]] and other American policymakers responded too late to the [[Hutu]] massacre of the [[Tutsi]] tribe in [[Rwanda]].
-====Chapter 11: Srebenrica: "Getting Creamed"====
-This chapter focuses on the genocide in [[Srebenrica]] and the U.S.'s response.
-====Chapter 12: Kosovo: A Dog and a Fight====
-Power looks at the [[Kosovo]] genocide and the U.S.'s response.
-====Chapter 13: Lemkin's Courtroom Legacy====
+She recounts how Lemkin brought genocide to the forefront of foreign policy issues after the war, leading to the 1948 U.N. [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]]. Lemkin had mounting disappointments and multiplying adversaries until his death in 1959. Senator [[William Proxmire]] (D-Wisconsin) and others took over fighting for preventing genocides and encouraging US leadership on this issue.  Senator Proxmire and Republican President [[Ronald Reagan]] worked to gain support during his administration for the ratification of the [[Genocide Convention]] (Chapter 7). In the rest of the book, she focuses on genocides in individual nations and the U.S. response to such crises in Algeria, Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo.
-====Conclusion====
+==Reception==
+===Reviews===
+Martin Woollacott reviewed the book, along with ''[[We Did Nothing]]'' by [[Linda Polman]], for ''[[The Guardian]]''. He concluded:
-== Awards ==
+<blockquote>"We have yet to work out properly how the post-twin towers interventions relate to those that went before. But there is obvious irony in the fact that while previously, as these books illustrate so clearly, determination was often lacking to deal with crises that most people agreed were serious, there was no shortage of it when the Bush administration moved to deal with a crisis on which there was no global consensus at all."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jul/05/highereducation.news|title = Too little, too late. From Rwanda to the Balkans, the 90s was the decade of botched interventions. Martin Woollacott on two studies of the west's failure to confront genocide from Samantha Power and Linda Polman|last = Woollacott|first = Martin|date = July 4, 2003|access-date = June 11, 2014}}</ref></blockquote>
-*[[Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction]]
-*[[Robert F. Kennedy]] Book Award
+[[Stephen Holmes (academic)|Stephen Holmes]] reviewed the book, along with ''[[War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals]]'' by [[David Halberstam]], for the '''[[London Review of Books]]''. Holmes wrote: <blockquote>"Putting an end to atrocities is a moral victory. But if the intervening force is incapable of keeping domestic support back home for the next phase, for reconstructing what it has shattered, the morality of its intervention is ephemeral at best. If political stability could be achieved by toppling a rotten dictator or if nations could be built at gunpoint, this problem would not be so pressing. Human rights cannot be reliably protected unless a locally sustained political authority is in place."<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n22/stephen-holmes/looking-away|title = Looking Away|last = Holmes|first = Stephen|journal = London Review of Books|author-link = Stephen Holmes (academic)|date = November 14, 2002|volume = 24|issue = 22|access-date = June 11, 2014}}</ref></blockquote>
+Charles V. Peña, then affiliated with the [[Cato Institute]], reviewed the book for ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'', concluding:
+<blockquote>"That is exactly the point of Power’s compelling narrative: The horror and tragedy of genocide is a moral issue that transcends national interest. But to prevent another [[Rwandan genocide|Rwanda]], the United States must also have the wisdom to avoid another [[Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Somalia]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/murder-most-foul-stop-genocide-us-must-learn-intervene-more-carefully|title = Murder Most Foul: To stop genocide, the U.S. must learn to intervene more carefully.|last = Peña|first = Charles V.|date = November 6, 2002|access-date = June 11, 2014|publisher = [[Cato Institute]] (originally published in [[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]}}</ref></blockquote>
+[[Laura Secor]] reviewed the book for ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/books/turning-a-blind-eye.html|title = Turning a Blind Eye|last = Secor|first = Laura|date = April 14, 2002|access-date = June 11, 2014|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]}}</ref> <!-- And, her conclusion? -->The book was also reviewed in ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-465-06150-1|title = "A PROBLEM FROM HELL": America and the Age of Genocide|magazine = [[Publishers Weekly]]|date = February 25, 2002|access-date = June 11, 2014}}</ref><!-- And, conclusion? -->
+===Awards===
+*[[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]]
+*[[Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights]] Book Award
+*[[J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize]]
 *[[National Book Critics Circle]] Award for General Nonfiction
 *[[Raphael Lemkin]] Award ([[Institute for the Study of Genocide]])
+==References==
-'''
+{{reflist}}
-== External links ==
-'''
+==External links==
-*[http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ghistory/powers.htm Reviews of "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide]
+* {{OL work}}
+*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?170542-1/problem-hell ''Booknotes'' interview with Power on ''A Problem From Hell'', June 16, 2002.]
+{{Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction}}
-== References ==
+{{Works about the Armenian Genocide}}
-*Samantha Power: "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide.  Harper Perennial, 2003.  ISBN 9780060541644
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Problem From Hell, A}}
-{{nonfiction-book-stub}}
+[[Category:2002 non-fiction books]]
+[[Category:21st-century history books]]
+[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction–winning works]]
+[[Category:National Book Critics Circle Award–winning works]]
+[[Category:International law literature]]
+[[Category:History books about genocide]]
+[[Category:Basic Books books]]
+[[Category:History books about the United States]]

v t e Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
1962–1975	The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore White (1962) The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (1963) Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter (1964) O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones (1965) Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale (1966) The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis (1967) Rousseau and Revolution, vol. 10 of The Story of Civilization, by Will and Ariel Durant (1968) So Human an Animal by René Dubos / The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer (1969) Gandhi's Truth by Erik Erikson (1970) The Rising Sun by John Toland (1971) Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 by Barbara W. Tuchman (1972) Fire in the Lake by Frances FitzGerald / Children of Crisis vols. 2 and 3 by Robert Coles (1973) The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (1974) Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1975)
1976–2000	Why Survive? by Robert N. Butler (1976) Beautiful Swimmers by William W. Warner (1977) The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan (1978) On Human Nature by E. O. Wilson (1979) Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (1980) Fin-de-siècle Vienna by Carl Emil Schorske (1981) The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1982) Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan (1983) The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr (1984) The Good War by Studs Terkel (1985) Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas / Move Your Shadow by Joseph Lelyveld (1986) Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler (1987) The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (1988) A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (1989) And Their Children After Them by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson (1990) The Ants by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson (1991) The Prize by Daniel Yergin (1992) Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills (1993) Lenin's Tomb by David Remnick (1994) The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner (1995) The Haunted Land by Tina Rosenberg (1996) Ashes to Ashes by Richard Kluger (1997) Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (1998) Annals of the Former World by John McPhee (1999) Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower (2000)
2001–2025	Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix (2001) Carry Me Home by Diane McWhorter (2002) "A Problem from Hell" by Samantha Power (2003) Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum (2004) Ghost Wars by Steve Coll (2005) Imperial Reckoning by Caroline Elkins (2006) The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (2007) The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedländer (2008) Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon (2009) The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman (2010) The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2011) The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (2012) Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King (2013) Toms River by Dan Fagin (2014) The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (2015) Black Flags by Joby Warrick (2016) Evicted by Matthew Desmond (2017) Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr. (2018) Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold (2019) The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin / The Undying by Anne Boyer (2020) Wilmington's Lie by David Zucchino (2021) Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott (2022) His Name Is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa (2023) A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall (2024)