Welcome to Litsy!

The book is insightful but too dry. However, it has interesting information about Ralph Lemkin and his contributions to the Genocide Convention

As one former senior U.S. intelligence official put it, “It‘s one thing to say, ‘Hey, take a look, if you don‘t mind.‘ It‘s another thing entirely to say, ‘God damn it, these men are in danger and may even be dead. Let‘s find out immediately! I mean now!”

“Going to a refugee camp might help,” National Security Adviser Anthony Lake notes. “But not having gone to a refugee camp is not an excuse for not having an imagination.”

As one senior U.S. official remembers, “The first response to trouble is, ‘Let‘s yank the peacekeepers.‘ But that is like believing that when children are misbehaving the proper response is, ‘Let‘s send the babysitter home,‘ so the house gets burned down.”

Before it begins, genocide is not easy to wrap one‘s mind around. A genocidal regime‘s intent to destroy a group is so hideous and the scale of its atrocities so enormous that outsiders who know enough to forecast brutality can rarely bring themselves to imagine genocide.

#25inFive

Part of what makes this subject so difficult is that the sheer numbers of people lost can become abstract. (Hundreds of thousands? Millions? How do you comprehend that much death?) Then I see a photo like this and suddenly that's my son. That. Could. Be. My. Son.

One State Department official met a junior official‘s appeal for action by asking, “Do you know of any official whose career has been advanced because he spoke out for human rights?”

. . . a $27,000 project to determine why inmates want to escape from prison . . . 🤣

I initially regretted making this my phone read due to the heavy subject matter, but reading it in 10-15 minute chunks has made it more digestible and I find myself giving it the processing it truly deserves.

History, he liked to say, was “much wiser than lawyers and statesmen.”

Unsurprisingly, not an easy book. But an excellent one. Just shy of 18 hours for me for #24in48 which is actually better than I thought I‘d do. And I never thought I‘d finish five books either. Maybe six? *fingers crossed*

Up to almost 10 hours of reading now for #24in48 The last 7 of those have been spent on this. As excellent as this book is, I need to switch to something lighter for the rest of the evening.

In my top ten of nonfiction of all time. This book was a game changer for me. I couldn't put it down. It read like fiction. Gripping.