Genocide: The Basics

The Basics

by Paul R. Bartrop

The Basics is an engaging introduction to the study of a controversial and widely debated topic. This concise and comprehensive book explores key questions such as; how successful have efforts been in the prevention of genocide? How prevalent has genocide been throughout history? and how has the concept been defined? Real world case studies address significant issues With suggestions for further reading, discussion questions at the end of each chapter and a glossary of key terms, The Basics is the ideal starting point for students approaching the topic for the first time.

Genres: Politics, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Destiny M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I teach a High School English class, and this book as been a great resource for my World Genocide & Holocaust unit. It quickly and clearly shows the progression of genocide throughout history; it also gives concise background so you feel like you have a solid understanding of the build up to the actual event, and then the international response afterward.

[Bisan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genocidal evil – a human, not a natural, phenomenon – is not an unstoppable force, and we are not helpless in the face of it.

This book can be summed by these two quotes:
"Genocide still exists, despite the legal processes that have been instituted against it." and "the promise of “never again” rang hollow."

I liked this book, it was very informative and interesting. One thing that made me raise an eyebrow is that for a book that talks in such a detailed and in depth manner about genocide and crimes against humanity, Palestine was only mentioned as the jews’ ancestral homeland while disregarding the mass murders, rapes, destruction and forced evacuation with clear intent to replace the natives and remove them from the land (all strategies previously mentioned as genocidal tactics by the author himself who is a professor of history).
I'm not saying the author is biased, im saying certain ideological choices were definitely made when writing this book.

[Marko Beljac · Rating 1 out of 5]

An appalling book, written by an appalling human being. Paul Bartrop - Professor of History and Director of the Centre for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University - is noted for not using “genocide” as a descriptor for Gaza. Bartrop has stated that the concept should be used judiciously, especially in cases of what he calls counterinsurgency. Such cases must be studied carefully and dispassionately in the most agonisingly forensic manner. This does not prevent Bartrop, however, from using the concept liberally in this book where political points are to be had - Saddam Hussein’s al Anfal campaign, a counterinsurgency campaign the same of which cannot be said for Gaza - and to be summarily denied again when points are to be had, the Iraq sanctions regime, for instance. No careful, forensic, judicious analyses to be had here. Maybe in the case of al Anfal the descriptor is appropriate, but the ready acceptance of genocide in this case and the denial for Gaza, even though al Anfal exhibited the features of counterinsurgency far greater than Gaza, should alarm the reader. This is a book to be read by someone interested in how people like Bartrop have rendered genocide into an ideology. Stop and think about how depraved that exercise is. It is the most depraved of contemporary intellectual life. This book should not be read as an introduction into the concept and practice of genocide, as it purports to be. The book concludes as follows. “We might even find ourselves approaching the ultimate question: ‘how should I have behaved in the same situation?’ - a question that carries much greater weight than the unanswerable, hit-or-miss, and highly irrelevant ‘how would I have behaved?’” For Bartrop, the question is actually quite relevant. Gaza is the first live streamed genocide in history, one approved and facilitated by the United States. The US always had and continues to have the power to stop it. Denying genocide in a democratic society facilitating it and possessed of the power to stop it means the question for many - certainly for Bartrop - becomes most relevant. In Bartrop’s case, we know the answer.

[cinlin]

Read chapters 1 "Introduction: defining genocide", 2 "Colonial genocides", 9 "The dilemmas of prevention and intervention", 10 "International justice," and 11 "The future" for Joshua and Genocide.