An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography (Signed!) [B1267]

2006 signed HCDJ in excellent condition. The remarkable autobiography of the globally-recognized human rights champion whose heroism inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. As Rwanda was thrown into chaos during the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, turned the luxurious Hotel Milles Collines into a refuge for more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees, while fending off their would-be killers with a combination of diplomacy and deception. In An Ordinary Man, he tells the story of his childhood, retraces his accidental path to heroism, revisits the 100 days in which he was the only thing standing between his "guests" and a hideous death, and recounts his subsequent life as a refugee and activist.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "So often we hear the phrase 'Never Again', yet we keep seeing the horrific acts of genocide being committed almost every day across the world. Prior to this book, I was ignorant to the magnitude of the Rwandan genocide that happened in the 1990's. I just can't fathom how much darkness Rusesbagina faced yet still fought for the core belief that humanity had good worth fighting for. That people had good worth fighting for. He's a hero, and he's right that the phrase 'never again' is continuously abused and one of the world's greatest lies. We could all learn from history if we just paid attention to it."; "An incredibly well written cautionary tale about how evil can creep in before it is really apparent. Genocide doesn't begin with massive pogroms, it starts with the banality and antipathy of everyday citizens allowing some subsection of themselves to be dehumanized and scapegoated. Paul shows us that even ordinary people can make a tremendous difference, even if it results in just one person being helped."; "I will never understand how an entire race can come together to exterminate another. However, I can understand how people become monsters when they listen to hate. This is a powerful memoir."