Book Alert / That The World May Know

That The World May Know -- Bearing Witness to Atrocity by James Dawes, Harvard UP '07, $19.95, 289 pages, ISBN #0-674-02623-3. Index, source notes, no bibliography or illustrations.

Bearing witness to atrocity is a tremendously important duty, particularly for the benefit of future generations. But as Macalester College English Prof. James Dawes writes, it's only half the battle. For the logical follow-up to witness is to devise mechanisms to prevent the reoccurrence of atrocity and to stop others in their tracks.

Dawes's study focuses on the horror of Rwanda as depicted brilliantly in the film Hotel Rwanda. "Who," he asks, "has the right to speak for the survivors and the dead, and how far does that right go? How are these stories used, and what does this tell us about our collective moral future?" He divides his narrative into four sections: Genocide, Interrogation, Burnout and Storytelling (interviews with those who have been there).