Author(s): Paul Rusesabagina

Biography/Memoir

Confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, flattery, and deception, Paul Rusesabagina managed to shelter more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, while homicidal mobs raged outside with machetes during the Rwandan genocide. His autobiography will explore the inner life of the man in a way the film could not. Rusesabagina will discuss the racial complexity within his own life - he is a Hutu married to a Tutsi - and his complete estrangement from the madness that surrounded him during the genocide. The book will bring the reader inside the hotel during those 100 days, relate the anguish of those who saw loved ones hacked to pieces, and describe Rusesabagina's ambivalence at pouring the Scotch and lighting the cigars of killers in the Swimming Pool bar, even as he was trying to cram as many refugees as possible inside the guest rooms upstairs. Never-before-reported elements of the Rwandan genocide will be disclosed in this book, such as the disgraceful behavior of some of the UN peacekeeping troops, who purchased the cars of the Tutsis who had taken shelter inside the hotel. An Ordinary Man will draw parallels between what happened in Rwanda with other genocides throughout history, and will ask the question: what causes an entire nation to go insane? It will also offer an inside look at the problem of genocide and the responsibilities of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. It concludes with a exploration of the tremendous power of words to sow hatred, but also to bring life and hope.
First published 2006.