Darfur Reading List

In Utne Reader’s Jan.-Feb. 2009 issue, the New Republic‘s Richard Just sifted through a plethora of books, documentaries, and news reports about Darfur and came to a sobering conclusion: “In Darfur, ignorance has never been possible. But the genocide continues. We document what we do not stop. The truth does not set anybody free.”

Just’s assessment is not a condemnation of the works themselves, but rather a critical examination of how activists, politicians, and citizens of the world have chosen to act–or not act–given the horrifying tales this body of literature chronicles. To learn more about the works Just reviewed for his piece, check out the books below. 

The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur
by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace
(PublicAffairs) 

War in Darfur and the Search for Peace
Edited by Alex de Waal
(Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University and Justice Africa)

Darfur’s Sorrow: A History of Destruction and Genocide
by M.W. Daly
(Cambridge University Press)

Darfur: The Long Road to Disaster
by J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins
(Markus Wiener Publishers)

The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur
by Daoud Hari, as told to Dennis Michael Burke and Megan M. McKenna
(Random House)

Heart of Darfur
by Lisa French Blaker
(Hodder & Stoughton)

Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival
by Jen Marlowe with Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro
(Nation Books)

Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond
by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast
(Hyperion)

A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide
by Eric Reeves
(The Key Publishing House)

A Billion Lives: An Eyewitness Report from the Frontlines of Humanity
by Jan Egeland
(Simon & Schuster)

  • Published on Dec 16, 2008
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