A Problem from Hell

"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.

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. Power also points out that 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

Power begins with an outline of the international response to the Armenian Genocide (Chapter 1), and then describes Raphael Lemkin's efforts to lobby for American action against Nazi atrocities in Europe (Chapter 2). Then she describes further the difficulties of individuals' efforts to convince Americans and other members of the Allied Powers to recognize the Holocaust, which she explains were compounded by the focus on World War II and anti-Semitic indifference (Chapter 3). She continues in Chapter 4 to describe 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 describes Lemkin's mounting disappointments and multiplying adversaries until his death in 1959, whereupon Senator William Proxmire and others picked up the torch. She shows how Senator Proxmire and President Ronald Reagan worked to gain support for the ratification of the Genocide Convention (Chapter 7). In the rest of the book, she mainly focuses on individual genocides and the U.S. response in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Kosovo.