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Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship
The author of the acclaimed Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo now moves on to Rwanda for a gripping look at a country caught still in political and social unrest, years after the genocide that shocked the world.
Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame’s regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual—the evidence of one's own experience—is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power.
A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame’s regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual—the evidence of one's own experience—is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power.
A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 2016
29 people are currently reading
1646 people want to read
About the author
Anjan Sundaram
10 books72 followersAnjan Sundaram is the author of Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship and Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo. An award-winning journalist, he has reported from central Africa for the New York Times and the Associated Press. His writing has also appeared in Granta, The Guardian, Observer, Foreign Policy, Telegraph and The Washington Post. His war correspondence from the Central African Republic won a Frontline Club award in 2015, and his reporting on Pygmy tribes in Congo's rainforest won a Reuters prize in 2006. His work has also been shortlisted for the Prix Bayeux and the Kurt Schork award. Stringer was a Royal African Society Book of the Year in 2014. Anjan graduated from Yale University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
January 16, 2016
A whole slew of words can be used to describe how I felt on the completion of this book: appalled, angry, misled, misinformed and uninformed and just generally devastated. Hired to run a class in Rwanda for journalists, the author whom had reported on the situation in the Congo, finds journalists who are afraid for their lives. Seems things are not a democratically rosy in the Kagome regime as have been reported. After the genocide rocked the country, Kagame seized power and has ruled by intimidation, threats, fear and murder. Journalists must use word games timescale the attention of this regime because criticism carries grave consequences not only for the journalist but for his family. And many countries, including my own, give this government millions of dollars in aid and hold his country up as the epitome of reform. Seriously? How screwed up is that? What is the matter with this world?
Reading this book one learns not only the problems of the journalists but of regular people swept away by what is going on and just trying to survive. The memorials of those victims of the genocide are run by the regime and used more as a fear factor than a dedication. The United Nations is an ineffective body that generally looks the other way or chooses to not see so they do not have to confront the truth. A small book in pages but large in content, written clearly and concisely. Eventually the author's program is shut down because there are no more journalists to train. The right of reporting and the need for intensive reporting can not be overstated but is often the first thing to be threatened and taken away in these dictatorships. The appendix lists the reporters whom have been killed, threatened or who have left, naming them and what happened to them. An important book, I think but a devastating one.
Reading this book one learns not only the problems of the journalists but of regular people swept away by what is going on and just trying to survive. The memorials of those victims of the genocide are run by the regime and used more as a fear factor than a dedication. The United Nations is an ineffective body that generally looks the other way or chooses to not see so they do not have to confront the truth. A small book in pages but large in content, written clearly and concisely. Eventually the author's program is shut down because there are no more journalists to train. The right of reporting and the need for intensive reporting can not be overstated but is often the first thing to be threatened and taken away in these dictatorships. The appendix lists the reporters whom have been killed, threatened or who have left, naming them and what happened to them. An important book, I think but a devastating one.
January 4, 2022
Temat w sumie ciekawy, o którym nie mówi się zbyt wiele, ale nie jest to mój typ książki. Bardziej niż reportaż na temat samego zjawiska są to wspomnienia autora i opis jego doświadczeń- spodziewałem się czegoś złożonego, może dodatkowych analiz, listy źródeł i tekstów uzupełniających, ale niestety tego nie dotrzymałem. Za to jak na opis konkretnych wydarzeń jest tu trochę zbyt ogólnie, brak opisów miejsc, ludzi, a umiejscowienie w czasie zajęło mi chwilę. Plus jest taki, że czytało się dobrze, ale to chyba nie wystarczyło.
July 9, 2016
The further I got into this book, the more annoyed I became. For a person who clearly upholds a fairly narrow and Western view of "good" journalism, the author follows surprisingly few of those norms in presenting this tale of Rwandan journalists. Hardly any sources are identified by full names. Hardly any locations are identified by proper nouns; locations are instead labeled things like "a pizzeria in the city center ... popular among families" or a conference room in "one of the city's best hotels." Few dates are given, and the brief appendices only list organizations and governments that have supported the Rwandan government, and journalists who (the author claims) have faced "difficulties" after criticizing the Rwandan government. There may be good reason for these omissions, but the author gives no justification or explanation. In short, the narrative is full of factual gaps that make it difficult for the reader to feel confident in the author's expertise and knowledge.
The book also falls short in the narrative department. It is ostensibly about journalists facing extreme censorship in Rwanda, but the constant thread in the story is Sundaram himself, who is in Rwanda hosting journalism training seminars for an (as far as I can remember) unnamed NGO. The book is laced with the arrogance of an outsider who thinks he can enter this complicated community and make it better by introducing stronger Western norms, and a narrow idea of "proper journalism" as "the process of conceiving a story on one's own, investigating it independently, developing the ideas, and working to a conclusion that one had been unaware of at the beginning" (69). (Side note: By this definition, most of the work I and my professional journalist friends have done doesn't count as "proper journalism.") The writing style is not particularly distracting but is also not particularly evocative of the place and culture of Kigali and the journalists Sundaram interacts with.
The book also falls short in the narrative department. It is ostensibly about journalists facing extreme censorship in Rwanda, but the constant thread in the story is Sundaram himself, who is in Rwanda hosting journalism training seminars for an (as far as I can remember) unnamed NGO. The book is laced with the arrogance of an outsider who thinks he can enter this complicated community and make it better by introducing stronger Western norms, and a narrow idea of "proper journalism" as "the process of conceiving a story on one's own, investigating it independently, developing the ideas, and working to a conclusion that one had been unaware of at the beginning" (69). (Side note: By this definition, most of the work I and my professional journalist friends have done doesn't count as "proper journalism.") The writing style is not particularly distracting but is also not particularly evocative of the place and culture of Kigali and the journalists Sundaram interacts with.
September 8, 2015
An excellent read. A real page turner. In Bad News, Anjan deftly conveys the world of whispers, half truths, lies, gossip, fear and the ever present creeping sense of paranoia felt by many of us who worked as journalists in Rwanda during the 2009 - 2013 period. However, this isn't just a book for those interested in journalism, free speech and life under a repressive government. It's a suspense story with a twist or two in the tail. Disclaimer: I received a galley review copy from the publisher. The author is a friend and a photograph I took at a political rally in Rwanda appears on the U.S./Can cover.
July 8, 2023
I live in Rwanda (this year, in Peace Corps Response) and had hoped to gain some understanding of governance since the 1994 genocide. Instead I forced myself to wade through the author's descriptions of his emotional state and the sensations and motivations of others, apparently derived from mind-reading. I'm happy to accept that the emotions are real, but the frequent offering of angst as if that was evidence brought this reader to wonder whether paranoia was at least part of the explanation of his experiences. The actual events described are vague, dateless, and set in perhaps intentionally imprecise locations, like "in the south." I came away with many questions about the events, but very little certainty of the author's thesis.
Perhaps it's a matter of style, but for me credibility is undermined when the author paints individuals as all good or all evil. It's never that simple, and for me a need still remains for a book to clarify the workings of Rwandan governance and politics in recent years.
Perhaps it's a matter of style, but for me credibility is undermined when the author paints individuals as all good or all evil. It's never that simple, and for me a need still remains for a book to clarify the workings of Rwandan governance and politics in recent years.
January 31, 2016
This book is chilling, well-written and should be required reading for anyone who cares about Rwanda or U.S. policy in Africa. Sundaram lead a school for Rwandan journalists in Kigali for a time, and watched as his students were imprisoned, tortured and harassed into absolute submission. This book is like reading 1984> in the real world. The cult-like police state makes Rwanda an open prison that is invisible to even the Westerners who visit and work there if they are not looking in the right places.
August 23, 2017
Muszę najpierw przetrawić tę książkę, zanim ją ocenię, bo mam bardzo mieszane uczucia...
Przetrawiłam. Po tytule spodziewałam się analizy sytuacji rwandyjskich dziennikarzy niezależnych. Że Rwanda jest krajem cenzury i zamordyzmu, to wiem – w końcu tu mieszkam i widzę to na co dzień. Że Zachód przymyka oko na wiele zupełnie niedemokratycznych działań władzy, to też wiem, i po niedawnych wyborach prezydenckich wie to już chyba cały świat (i dalej przymyka oko). Jednak Sundaram wcale nie skupia się na wyjaśnieniu w sposób rzetelny i bezstronny, jak wygląda praca lokalnych dziennikarzy, którzy kontestują władzę.
Więcej na blogu: https://mariannainafricapl.wordpress....
Przetrawiłam. Po tytule spodziewałam się analizy sytuacji rwandyjskich dziennikarzy niezależnych. Że Rwanda jest krajem cenzury i zamordyzmu, to wiem – w końcu tu mieszkam i widzę to na co dzień. Że Zachód przymyka oko na wiele zupełnie niedemokratycznych działań władzy, to też wiem, i po niedawnych wyborach prezydenckich wie to już chyba cały świat (i dalej przymyka oko). Jednak Sundaram wcale nie skupia się na wyjaśnieniu w sposób rzetelny i bezstronny, jak wygląda praca lokalnych dziennikarzy, którzy kontestują władzę.
Więcej na blogu: https://mariannainafricapl.wordpress....
April 9, 2016
I felt a little stymied by some of the editorial choices Sundaram makes in this compelling but highly subjective book. His suspicion of the Rwanadan government prevents him from citing numbers, figures, or official reports about the state of the country, relying instead largely on his eyes and ears. I respect that approach, but it has some distinct drawbacks: Namely, it's never fully apparent what's actually going on and what's a by-product of his own anxiety and paranoia or the spin of opposition activists (which, I guess, is sort of the point-- but it was still frustrating). Finally, things are not told entirely chronologically, so it becomes tricky to suss out what caused what and why. Still, this is a very eye-opening, powerful book.
August 18, 2017
Very compelling and hard to put down. Chronicles life in a dictatorship in the 21st century.
Paul Kagame's personality cult is so in control that one of the only ways to criticize him is to offer outlandish praise.
Maybe not as brutal as what you hear in similar stories out of North Korea (though there is the practice of kufaniya, the killing of child soldiers so you can't be prosecuted for using them) but it's all the more chilling because the international aid community is completely aware of what's happening, and propping the system up.
Paul Kagame's personality cult is so in control that one of the only ways to criticize him is to offer outlandish praise.
Maybe not as brutal as what you hear in similar stories out of North Korea (though there is the practice of kufaniya, the killing of child soldiers so you can't be prosecuted for using them) but it's all the more chilling because the international aid community is completely aware of what's happening, and propping the system up.
March 3, 2016
Having volunteered in Rwanda and wanting a bright future for the country, this book makes clear that despite the gains and the international accolades attributed to the country's leadership it has come at a cost of personal freedom and is maintained on the surface by fear and intimidation of it's citizens. This does not bode well and that is heart breaking.
March 15, 2016
I finished this book feeling paranoid and dazed. I am ashamed to say... I had no idea. This book is eye opening, terrifying and leaves you believing whole heartedly in the freedom of the press.
May 31, 2016
I really was looking forward to reading this book – let me explain why. I had read the author’s previous book, ‘Stringer’ and thought it a kind of new wave, existentialist, stream of consciousness tale about ‘becoming a journalist’ in – of all places – the DRC (Congo). It was engaging in an unstructured way. Then I learned (somewhere) that he was about to produce the latest book – Bad News. It was set in Rwanda, so I was hooked from the start.
Like 99.8% of the Western World (I suspect) I had little more than a passing interest in Rwanda until I went there on a volunteering trip in mid 2015. I blogged a bit about the experience at the time, but I realised that to some degree I was only scratching the surface and, most likely, all was not what it seemed. Plus the language barrier was an impediment. But since I came back from Rwanda I have been reading more and more about the country, and while I’m still no expert I can see that the black and white picture I originally formed is really one that is many shades of murky gray. Which is where this book comes in.
So the author seems to have obtained some global funding to set up a journalists training course in Kigali, Rwanda. However what quickly became evident was that some (probably most) subjects were taboo, and this rapidly became an issue. The surprise for me, in a way, was his labelling of Rwanda as a dictatorship, but having initially felt this was ‘over the top’ the book made a pretty compelling case that it’s the truth. The recent spontaneous upsurge in support in Rwanda for a referendum to allow the ‘democratically elected’ Paul Kagame stand for a third term fits neatly into Sundaram’s theorem, and I have to wonder at a country where the ruling party routinely gets 95% of the vote.
But I don’t want to go on about Rwanda at length – I think the question really is, is the book any good? I think it is, actually, despite a somewhat (again) unstructured approach. You get a real sense of the hopelessness of being an independent voice in a repressive environment, and of the ways in which influence is brought to bear to silence free speech (in any country). It’s well written, focused on individual cases, and you share the frustration (and fear) inherent in the challenge of keeping the program going.
I suspect that control of the press is a depressingly common scenario in developing countries. But the fascination here is that a) Rwanda has a genocide in it’s recent history, b) It’s using that to garner aid (I have no issue with that btw), c) It’s portraying itself as a ‘thought leader’ in Africa – and I do actually think there are some benefits in strong, consistent leadership in certain contexts, but finally d) there are ominous reasons why Kigali is pristine, poverty is elusive to the public eye, and that’s the pity. The catalogue of journalists ‘silenced’ at the end of the book is a testimony to the power of the regime. I think that this book is relevant to anyone who wonders about the preponderance of ‘good news’ in any third world or developing country, and it’s a powerful tale that deserves to be widely read.
Like 99.8% of the Western World (I suspect) I had little more than a passing interest in Rwanda until I went there on a volunteering trip in mid 2015. I blogged a bit about the experience at the time, but I realised that to some degree I was only scratching the surface and, most likely, all was not what it seemed. Plus the language barrier was an impediment. But since I came back from Rwanda I have been reading more and more about the country, and while I’m still no expert I can see that the black and white picture I originally formed is really one that is many shades of murky gray. Which is where this book comes in.
So the author seems to have obtained some global funding to set up a journalists training course in Kigali, Rwanda. However what quickly became evident was that some (probably most) subjects were taboo, and this rapidly became an issue. The surprise for me, in a way, was his labelling of Rwanda as a dictatorship, but having initially felt this was ‘over the top’ the book made a pretty compelling case that it’s the truth. The recent spontaneous upsurge in support in Rwanda for a referendum to allow the ‘democratically elected’ Paul Kagame stand for a third term fits neatly into Sundaram’s theorem, and I have to wonder at a country where the ruling party routinely gets 95% of the vote.
But I don’t want to go on about Rwanda at length – I think the question really is, is the book any good? I think it is, actually, despite a somewhat (again) unstructured approach. You get a real sense of the hopelessness of being an independent voice in a repressive environment, and of the ways in which influence is brought to bear to silence free speech (in any country). It’s well written, focused on individual cases, and you share the frustration (and fear) inherent in the challenge of keeping the program going.
I suspect that control of the press is a depressingly common scenario in developing countries. But the fascination here is that a) Rwanda has a genocide in it’s recent history, b) It’s using that to garner aid (I have no issue with that btw), c) It’s portraying itself as a ‘thought leader’ in Africa – and I do actually think there are some benefits in strong, consistent leadership in certain contexts, but finally d) there are ominous reasons why Kigali is pristine, poverty is elusive to the public eye, and that’s the pity. The catalogue of journalists ‘silenced’ at the end of the book is a testimony to the power of the regime. I think that this book is relevant to anyone who wonders about the preponderance of ‘good news’ in any third world or developing country, and it’s a powerful tale that deserves to be widely read.
February 10, 2018
Bad News is the 21st century 1984, only it's non-fiction and all the stories powerfully told in the book actually happened to real people in a real country, post-genocide Rwanda.
What fear of a tyrannical ruler has done to Rwanda ranges from comical and absurd to chilling and harrowing, to finally heartbreaking. At the end of the book my heart was broken for the Rwandan journalists and Rwandan people.
Bad News has its Winston in the bright, young journalist Gibson whose life and career embodies the struggle for freedom in his country. The story of this struggle reveals much beyond hopelessness of journalism in a totalitarian state.
It says much about the human spirit that under a certain circumstance in which people's sense of reality has become so warped, tortured and destroyed by fear of absolute power and fear of retribution, freedom dies, hope dies, and the human spirit is broken.
When people start to even doubt their own sense of reality, it's as though they no longer exist. Their own minds become ghostlike shadows which haunt the bodies they occupy. I had thought such extreme level of mind control of the entire population only happens in North Korea.
A very powerful and tragic but important book. A must read, especially for people working in international diplomacy and international development. There is much to reckon on the role of international aid in a country under the rule of a sociopathic, ruthless autocrat. Is it enough to be well-meaning? What if what you do also wittingly or unwittingly aid in the tyrannical oppression of a people you aim to help?
What fear of a tyrannical ruler has done to Rwanda ranges from comical and absurd to chilling and harrowing, to finally heartbreaking. At the end of the book my heart was broken for the Rwandan journalists and Rwandan people.
Bad News has its Winston in the bright, young journalist Gibson whose life and career embodies the struggle for freedom in his country. The story of this struggle reveals much beyond hopelessness of journalism in a totalitarian state.
It says much about the human spirit that under a certain circumstance in which people's sense of reality has become so warped, tortured and destroyed by fear of absolute power and fear of retribution, freedom dies, hope dies, and the human spirit is broken.
When people start to even doubt their own sense of reality, it's as though they no longer exist. Their own minds become ghostlike shadows which haunt the bodies they occupy. I had thought such extreme level of mind control of the entire population only happens in North Korea.
A very powerful and tragic but important book. A must read, especially for people working in international diplomacy and international development. There is much to reckon on the role of international aid in a country under the rule of a sociopathic, ruthless autocrat. Is it enough to be well-meaning? What if what you do also wittingly or unwittingly aid in the tyrannical oppression of a people you aim to help?
February 20, 2016
This book is a beautifully written piece of journalism about the death of free speech in modern Rwanda. If anyone believes the lie that reconciliation or progress of any kind is happening in Rwanda, you need to read this.
March 2, 2016
Sundaram is a real writer's writer, vividly describing a unique situation - he is trying to train journalists in a tyranny. It doesn't work. And in the process, he reveals something of how a tyranny works, operating out in the open, supported by donors who also know what is happening.
March 31, 2016
Shocking. Makes you think about all that you take for granted in a new light.
September 23, 2019
I have to say, I thought this was an awful, awful book. It's clear from the outset the Author has an ulterior motive in writing this book. The style of writing is completely disjointed, the locations he describes are incredibly vague ( some big hotel, a large city etc) The chapter where he talks about the people in the villages destroying their own huts because the Government ordered them to, but no one would believe him and thought he was dreaming it as there was absolutely no proof of it ever happening, is faintly ridiculous. It seriously made me question the Authors mental health. Some of his conspiracy theories about the Government were bizzare to say the least. Also, his homo erotic obsession with Gibson, was slightly disturbing where everything that happens to him reminds him of Gibson.
I don't doubt for a minute that Paul Kagame is not the heroic saviour alot of people, particularly in the West, believe. However, this certainly wouldn't be a book that would influence my thing negatively towards the "New Rwanda" or against Paul Kagame.
I don't doubt for a minute that Paul Kagame is not the heroic saviour alot of people, particularly in the West, believe. However, this certainly wouldn't be a book that would influence my thing negatively towards the "New Rwanda" or against Paul Kagame.
May 22, 2025
“if one dies, it should at least be for the truth. one has to feel that one’s life was lived in truth.”
this book was a quick read, but it lingers with you. Sundaram, as the coordinator of a journalism development program in Rwanda, details how the repressive government silences the people and press in multiple ways (physical and psychological). yet the people cheer for their president and the global stage views Rwanda as a country of progress.
i think the most terrifying part of this book is how Sundaram describes the government manipulating the tragedy of the genocide to strengthen his cause and turn people against one another. the rallies and election sections are very harrowing.
unfortunately, there’s no happy ending. there are repeated attempts to continue reporting the truth and speak to people, but it literally destroys and threatens lives. even Sundaram is paralyzed with fear to a certain extent. very important book!
this book was a quick read, but it lingers with you. Sundaram, as the coordinator of a journalism development program in Rwanda, details how the repressive government silences the people and press in multiple ways (physical and psychological). yet the people cheer for their president and the global stage views Rwanda as a country of progress.
i think the most terrifying part of this book is how Sundaram describes the government manipulating the tragedy of the genocide to strengthen his cause and turn people against one another. the rallies and election sections are very harrowing.
unfortunately, there’s no happy ending. there are repeated attempts to continue reporting the truth and speak to people, but it literally destroys and threatens lives. even Sundaram is paralyzed with fear to a certain extent. very important book!
February 28, 2017
The book is a highly informative, well written, at times chilling, condemnation of the oppressive Kagame regime and the Western governments and NGOs that sustain it.
April 11, 2016
The movie "Hotel Rwanda" had been popular long before I watched it. The horror it depicted haunts me still. Ever since then I've hoped that those who suffered, yet survived, the genocide were living in a society that respected freedom and could learn from their mistakes. From the ending of the film I thought this might be possible; but I wondered how difficult it was going to be for the people, so scarred by terror, to get beyond it. Were the bases for the war still under the surface? What determines the nature of that surface?
My public library recently showcased "Bad News, Last Journalists in a Dictatorship" on the shelves for new books. It was an obvious means for me to learn what has happened since and I grabbed it. News I'd heard about Africa over the past couple of decades never included Rwanda, and the lack of information worried me. I borrowed the book and immersed myself in how it happens that a totally dominated people is completely enveloped in lies and Orwellian newspeak even in this day of instant communication, enabled by international monied interests that prefer their own visions at all costs.
I kept waiting for the author to feel the full weight of what he was asking of his journalism students. They would be made to suffer consequences for bravery beyond belief or capability. The only alternative was to become part of the national machine. Minds as well as bodies were broken at will, even with the help of terrified families and friends. Sundaram finally realized how entrenched the Stalinist tactics were when a former Hutu soldier explained what must come first: an understanding of true human rights. “Young man,” he said, “maybe you didn't understand what I meant by human rights. What I mean is that in this kind of country we don't know where the state ends and where we begin” (p. 93). It was a stunning revelation to the author and to me as a reader. There's really no way to sum up this book except that it shouldn't be missed.
My public library recently showcased "Bad News, Last Journalists in a Dictatorship" on the shelves for new books. It was an obvious means for me to learn what has happened since and I grabbed it. News I'd heard about Africa over the past couple of decades never included Rwanda, and the lack of information worried me. I borrowed the book and immersed myself in how it happens that a totally dominated people is completely enveloped in lies and Orwellian newspeak even in this day of instant communication, enabled by international monied interests that prefer their own visions at all costs.
I kept waiting for the author to feel the full weight of what he was asking of his journalism students. They would be made to suffer consequences for bravery beyond belief or capability. The only alternative was to become part of the national machine. Minds as well as bodies were broken at will, even with the help of terrified families and friends. Sundaram finally realized how entrenched the Stalinist tactics were when a former Hutu soldier explained what must come first: an understanding of true human rights. “Young man,” he said, “maybe you didn't understand what I meant by human rights. What I mean is that in this kind of country we don't know where the state ends and where we begin” (p. 93). It was a stunning revelation to the author and to me as a reader. There's really no way to sum up this book except that it shouldn't be missed.
March 31, 2024
I appreciate the authors intent, and in parts he has sharp observations about a society and its behavior under a dictatorship, e.g. the dictators emotions trickle down and become the peoples emotions or the paranoia one may fall prey to. Some of his impressions also resonate with my own from the time I spent in Rwanda (I have family there), for instance the silence and the city lights.
However, the book stays vague and the lack of references and clear descriptors raises strong doubts about its factuality. Most of the information he presents is hearsay. As for the people he introduces, I assume he changed their names to protect their identity (at least i would hope so), but there is little to no background info on them and their ideological beliefs beyond freedom of speech. Which would have been possible and would have made the story more convincing.
Sundaram lacks nuance in his judgements as well as understanding of the geopolitical and historical context Rwanda is in. If I read it correctly, he implies that Kagame was the instigator of the 1994 genocide while fully ignoring, for instance, the role of the Belgian colonization and the political system they installed which directly led to decades of conflict, culminating in 1994. He paints Kagame as the ultimate enemy and fails to see or mention what the country has achieved through him since then. His tone is patronizing, the type of Yale-educated arrogance that reeks of self appointed moral superiority. His criticism stays one-sided, shallow and just that - criticism without actionable solution. Rebuilding a country after one part of the population massacred the other is not simple. Sundaram makes it seem like it is.
However, the book stays vague and the lack of references and clear descriptors raises strong doubts about its factuality. Most of the information he presents is hearsay. As for the people he introduces, I assume he changed their names to protect their identity (at least i would hope so), but there is little to no background info on them and their ideological beliefs beyond freedom of speech. Which would have been possible and would have made the story more convincing.
Sundaram lacks nuance in his judgements as well as understanding of the geopolitical and historical context Rwanda is in. If I read it correctly, he implies that Kagame was the instigator of the 1994 genocide while fully ignoring, for instance, the role of the Belgian colonization and the political system they installed which directly led to decades of conflict, culminating in 1994. He paints Kagame as the ultimate enemy and fails to see or mention what the country has achieved through him since then. His tone is patronizing, the type of Yale-educated arrogance that reeks of self appointed moral superiority. His criticism stays one-sided, shallow and just that - criticism without actionable solution. Rebuilding a country after one part of the population massacred the other is not simple. Sundaram makes it seem like it is.
April 27, 2016
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This book was a story about author Anjan Sundaram's time in Rwanda, where he ran a journalism school some time after the genocide that occurred there. He helped trained young Rwandans to become skilled journalists. This was rather difficult as, unbeknownst to most,that the leader of the country has oppressed the free press since he has been in power. Many journalists that are not paid by the government are targeted. Even if a journalists readership is very small, the government would target them.
This is something I had no idea about. I thought that Rwanda was more free since the genocides, especially with so much Western aide entering the country. This book taught me a lot.
The reason I gave this three stars out of five is because of the authors writing. I liked the content, but how he wrote kind of annoyed me. He tended to use the word "one" too much. In one paragraph in the book,it comes up about five times. I would have liked to see some more diversity in word choice. Also, some parts seemed random. Like he introduce something, but it would lead nowhere. I would think, "why was that included at all". But other than that, the book was good.
This book was a story about author Anjan Sundaram's time in Rwanda, where he ran a journalism school some time after the genocide that occurred there. He helped trained young Rwandans to become skilled journalists. This was rather difficult as, unbeknownst to most,that the leader of the country has oppressed the free press since he has been in power. Many journalists that are not paid by the government are targeted. Even if a journalists readership is very small, the government would target them.
This is something I had no idea about. I thought that Rwanda was more free since the genocides, especially with so much Western aide entering the country. This book taught me a lot.
The reason I gave this three stars out of five is because of the authors writing. I liked the content, but how he wrote kind of annoyed me. He tended to use the word "one" too much. In one paragraph in the book,it comes up about five times. I would have liked to see some more diversity in word choice. Also, some parts seemed random. Like he introduce something, but it would lead nowhere. I would think, "why was that included at all". But other than that, the book was good.
October 11, 2020
This book is best read as a series of vignettes rather than as an actual story. The through line is that dissent is slowly crushed and that the election is the final straw before all non-governmental views are snuffed out. Sundaram might have been occasionally in genuine danger, but his "feelings" and the endless number of times he oscillated between hope and despair, anger and resignation, frustration and pride in his journalists wasn't compelling. And I didn't really care how often Sundaram worried about Gibson. Gibson's devolution would have been just as devastating without the near constant allusion in absentia.
What was compelling however was an opening story about a performative genocide remembrance, a visit to an open prison camp, the mothers who'd denounced their own sons, an opposition "candidate", and the shivering villagers who'd destroyed their own houses. True power is the mind control achieved by Kagame. When Sundaram locks in, the vignettes are vivid and chilling. My thoughts of Rwanda as a success story have been upended, and its disheartening to see the complicity of all Western government. A worthwhile, but deeply flawed book.
What was compelling however was an opening story about a performative genocide remembrance, a visit to an open prison camp, the mothers who'd denounced their own sons, an opposition "candidate", and the shivering villagers who'd destroyed their own houses. True power is the mind control achieved by Kagame. When Sundaram locks in, the vignettes are vivid and chilling. My thoughts of Rwanda as a success story have been upended, and its disheartening to see the complicity of all Western government. A worthwhile, but deeply flawed book.
May 13, 2017
Engaging but ultimately unsatisfying account of the author's time running a training program for journalists in Rwanda. At times the book seems oddly disjointed (in one instance the class turned a corner with the addition of a new student, but a couple of pages later we find out that the student never really had a chance to get involved), but my biggest problems are with the lack of specificity. I can understand why Sundaram wouldn't use the full names of the people he encountered, given the dictatorship and all. I'm not particularly bothered that places aren't named, because it's not a tour guide and I can't tell one random Rwandan town from another regardless. But the fact that he doesn't name the corporations and governments involved is inexplicable, and it makes it hard to read when I'm wondering why he's not telling me which embassy he's at or who is stringing him along.
March 1, 2016
I knew that the stories of the so-called miracle of a prosperous peaceful post-genocide Rwanda were nothing but a crock of kool-aid being lapped up by the credulous. A feel-good story to obviate the international community's guilt over standing to the side and watching while 800,000 Rwandans were butchered by their countrymen. I just didn't know how much. Kagame is a monster and a Mugabe in the making. Anyone who believes otherwise should do some homework, and this book is a pretty good place to start.
March 28, 2020
Anjan Sundaram takes a close look at how Paul Kagame maintains Rwanda as a sort of Zombie state. This is a must read for those who care about state control and the strangling of human rights and free speech. Rwanda is still seen as the poster child of many western donors - much in the same way Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe, just after independence , could do no wrong. The Zimbabwe shine wore off years ago. Kagame is having to pay a lot of PR money and use strong arm tactics at home and abroad, in his attempt to maintain the perception of a happy and supportive populace.
March 9, 2016
Intelligent, worthwhile and eye-opening. I've read about the genocide in Rwanda, but not too much about the political position of the country today. Horrifying and sad, really. Not sure that I'll ever visit, despite wanting to see the gorillas in their natural environment. What a mess. I'm glad to have read this book.
April 7, 2016
Amazing. Infuriating. Courageous.
June 2, 2016
What's happened in Rwanda since the end of the genocide? Dictatorship, press censorship and murder funded by major governments - ours included. Disturbing read.
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