The Shallow Graves of Rwanda

Book Description

This book is a unique account of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Rwanda in the mid 1990s. Shaharyar M. Khan's tenure began in the immediate aftermath of the downing of President Habarimana's plane on April 6, 1994 and the massacres that followed. Khan details his encounters with soldiers and politicians, victims and survivors, perpetrators of the massacres, and humanitarian relief efforts. This book reveals how the UN works on the ground and at headquarters. AUTHORBIO: SHAHARYAR M. KHAN is a distinguished international diplomat and currently Pakistan's Ambassador to France.

Customer Reviews:

"Another Failed Mission of the U.N.".......2007-03-09

"The Shallow Graves of Rwanda", Shaharyar Khan, 2000, I.B. Tauris, London, ISBN: 1-86064-616-6, HC 228 pgs., includes 1 map, 2 pgs. Acronyms, 16 Illust., 1 pg. Biblio., 8 pg. Index. 9 1/2" x 6 1/4"

Khan, retired Pakastani Muslim career deplomat, was give "onerous responsibility" to seek a peaceful settlement in Rwanda as Special Representative of UN Secretary-General after Tutsi Pres. Habyarimana's plane was shot down April 6, 1994. Arriving 3 mos. later, on July 4, 1994, the author learns a civil war &/or genocide had occurred with about 800,000-1,000,000 Rwandan's massacred, largely by Hutu majority wielding machetes in a planned mass-killing of the Tutsi minority. For reader's not familiar with Rwanda, the country is one of the smallest of the smallest countries in the world, less than the size of a small pea on a full Atlas-sized map page of Africa - it is surrounded on the W-N-E-S by Zaire, Uganda, Tanzania & Burundi.

Despite author's claim of his book as a diary, it is nothing of the sorts. He gives a brief synopsis of Rwandan's clash arising in the 1930's from colonists imposing Western values, intra-ethnic tensions, over-population, & that docile compliant mind-set of Rwandan peoples who are silently obedient to any authority. This is bizzare when put in context of the brutal killings which were barbaric, revengeful, & savagely carried out on men, Women, & children left to die slowly by hemorrhage, evisceration, limblessness, genitalia excisions, head bashings or smaller victims tossed into urinal pits to drown or suffocate in feces. It transcends by far anything reported in the Holocaust or Armenian Genocide.

The Author provides a list of 47 acronyms to distinguish & represent various Worldly, African, or United Nation offices, programs, organizations, plans, committees, missions, departments, coalitions, forces, etc. which are supposed to have helped Rwanda, but are herein documented to have been uniformly counter-productive, adversarial, overlapping & heavily endowed groups which spent millions if not billions of dollars in observing the situation, but not even pennies for rebuilding as roads, electric power, communications, etc. The author, despite his "onerous responsibility" was shown to have absolutely no power, & though he ussued decrees, demands, resolutions. suggestioons & reports, he discovered that no one really listened to him, or if they pretended to do so they readily changde their minds. We are informed that various organizations which should have been involved in peaceful measures were actually involved in the illegal & irrational importing of land mines, grenades, pistols, ammo & automatic weapons from Italy, Israel, Egypt, China, etc., instead of aid supplies.

We are informed about the insurgent military groups, RGF (Hutu) vs. the RPA (Tutsi) lead by 37-yr-old Tutsi leader Maj. Gen. Paul Kagame who quickly advanced from VP to Pres. of Rwanda. He was recently accused by French Magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere (Feb. 2007) as ordering the assassinations of April 6, 1944 & it was also alleged the U.S. and the U.N. quashed earlier inquiries since Paul Kagama was an ally of the U.S.

So, all in all, the book is not what it purports to be, is poorly written & poorly cllated,& it is highly repetitive of the miserable accountings of beastly killings that had already occurred before the impotent author had set foot in Kigali. If there was a "fall guy" for the U.N., it was the author. It is not a book about the Rwanda genocide, it is a book about power, politics, & money.

A first class case study of a UN operation.......2001-03-25

Although not quite perfect in its smallest detail, this is the most authoritative analysis yet available of the aid that the UN and the international community tried to provide to Rwanda after the genocide of 1994, concentrating on the period from the author's arrival in June of that year and tending to discuss UNAMIR's work at the operational rather than the tactical level - although it does cover, with dispassion and objectivity rather than overt emotion, a number of individual horror stories.

This must be regarded as a classic case study and, as one who worked under Ambassador Khan in Rwanda, I recommend it without reservation for students of the United Nations, those obliged to deal with this and other international organizations and, especially, those considering their resourcing.

The areas in which I would wish to assist Khan were he to revise his text for a future edition are: definition of the boundaries between Operation Homeward (which escapes mention under this name) and Operation Retour, and to give due credit due to Lt Col Tom Mullarkey for his formulation of Retour; Operation Hope and its role in the chronology of UNAMIR-RPF relations; Khan's somewhat rose-tinted view of UNAMIR's discipline and performance; and the captions of some photographs (Plate 5 is not of the medical centre in Kibeho but of a church somewhere else; Plate 6 is misdated - and definitely not of a scene in 1943; Plate 7 is of Kigali Prison rather than of Gikongoro's); amongst a full and mostly accurate coverage of the tragedy in Kibeho, correction of some minor flaws in the attribution of witness testimony.

In identifying these errors, this is not to say that I think this a poor book: I think it quite the opposite and believe that it deserves to be read very widely!

Average customer rating:

Was murder victim Stephanie Bryant, 1955's Polly Klaas?

An Interesting Look at the World of 40 Years Ago

Like a Stephen King Horror Story, Only True!

another page-turner from Harry Farrell

Shallow Grave in Trinity County

Shallow Grave in Trinity County
Harry Farrell
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Swift Justice: Murder & Vengeance In A California Town

Twilight Of Innocence: The Disappearance Of Beverly Potts (True Crime Series (Kent, Ohio).)

A Beautiful Child

ASIN: 0312206720

Amazon.com

Harry Farrell worked as a newspaper journalist for 40 years in San Jose, California. His first book, Swift Justice, about a 1930s kidnap-murder case that ended in a lynching of the perpetrators, won the Edgar Award for best fact crime of 1992. Shallow Grave in Trinity County is equally brilliant. In steady prose that is rich with details, Farrell describes how a weak-minded and repellent UC-Berkeley student was apprehended and convicted of the kidnap-murder of a 14-year-old girl, in the comparatively peaceful times of the 1950s. Shallow Grave is a model of how a true crime book should be written: the text is clear, chronological, compassionate, unembellished, and quietly gripping. Farrell not only gives readers all the facts of the case, both relevant and irrelevant, he also provides three maps of the region on which the exact sequence of the killer's actual movements (vs. those he alleged in his testimony) can be traced.

Book Description

1955. California, a postwar dream. Stephanie Bryan, a pretty fourteen-year-old from Berkeley, vanishes while walking home from school one day. Her parents search frantically; her disappearance makes the news; but nothing turns up...for three months.

Then, one summer night a few miles away in the town of Alameda, a young housewife discovers a burial ground of Stephanie Bryan's belongings in her basement, including bobby pins, schoolbooks, eyeglasses, and a wallet. The woman's husband, Burton Abbot, soon becomes the enigmatic center of the nine-month nightmare that follows. Abbot claims innocence, but Stephanie's body is soon found in a makeshift grave not far from Abbot's mountain cabin, hundreds of miles away. Despite the evidence, Abbot stubbornly maintains his innocence throughout the trial, provoking questions that linger four decades later. Through extensive interviews, original research, and an eye-opening review of long-forgotten police files, Harry Farrell has crafted a chilling re-creation of an unforgettable crime--and a dark parable of evil amid the suburban bliss of 1950s America.

Customer Reviews:

Was murder victim Stephanie Bryant, 1955's Polly Klaas?.......2007-08-09

Author Harry Farrell is an excellent historian, archivist and writer whose familiarity with California's bay area shines in one of the first widely publicized kidnapping/murder of a young girl. Gone missing on her walk home from school, 14-year old Stephanie Bryant's body is found, not by law enforcement or the FBI, but by two reporters from the San Francisco Examiner.

The young girl was taken on April 28, 1955 and Burton Abbott, convicted of her murder, was put to death on March 15, 1957, less then two years after her abduction. A stark contrast to 1993's Richard Allen Davis, the convicted murderer of Polly Klaas who remains on California's death row today.

Farrell expertly sketches the climate of pre-discovery, pre-Miranda justice. He also hauntingly underwrites the conclusion that paints Abbott the killer with enough doubt that the reader is left with questions about whether justice was truly served in the 1950's.

All in all, an excellent read, leaving only picky legal buffs, like this reader, wanting more details about the intricacies of the trial.

An Interesting Look at the World of 40 Years Ago.......2007-07-02

Harry Farrell, the author of SHALLOW GRAVE IN TRINITY COUNTY, is an excellent writer. This is the first book of his I've read, and he writes it as a journalist/newspaper reporter without injecting his personal opinions, always a positive in my view. Farrell's research is exhaustive and meticulous, and the material resulting from that research is presented coherently, intelligently, and highly professionally.
SHALLOW GRAVE is the story of the kidnapping and murder in 1955 of a 14 year old girl. The book is basically formatted in three sections: the description of the crime, the police investigation, and the trial. While I often find the courtroom/trial sections of true crime books to be opportunities for uninterested writers to pad their books with filler, I can happily report that Farrell is not guilty of this. He is clearly interested enough in his book that his report of the trial is as well written as the rest of the book.
However, while almost necessarily the case, the account of the trial repeats a lot of the information reported in the section on the police investigation, as the witnesses testify as to the same info. which Farrell has already presented in the section concerning the investigation.
This can get tedious, though it is certainly not a deal-breaker. I feel that this section would work better as a series of daily newspaper reports, which of course at the time it was, rather than having it consolidated into a section of a book.
The other disappointment I felt with SHALLOW GRAVE is that, while there was some, there was not ultimately not enough discussion of of the making of the personality of the sociopath Burton Abbott. However, I believe Farrell probably did the best he could with what he had, given that the case was about 45 years old when the book was written.
Another positive I should mention is that the pictures in the book are very good, and that they - along with both Farrell's fine descriptions of the U.S. of the 1950's and his ear for the speech of the time - provide a vivid and fascinating backdrop for the book.
I will certainly be checking out other of Harry Farrell's books.

Like a Stephen King Horror Story, Only True!.......2006-11-10

Harry Farrell's work is not only riveting, it is so well written it takes you to the time and place of the crime and its aftermath. Truly horrifying and disturbing and especially so to me as I grew up in the same general area where Stephanie Bryan was kidnapped. A lot of the landmarks and crime scenes in the book are very familiar to me as I used to work in Berkeley and drove the Tunnel Road and Ashby Avenue daily. It brought the horror home for me. The details of Stephanie's kidnap, sexual assault, and cruel, brutal, murder are heart wrenching and sad. This sweet girl was a highly intelligent honor student who avidly enjoyed reading and loved animals. I was truly aggrieved that such a beautiful human being had to die because of the despicable actions of a brutal sociopath who had no feelings or conscience. Burton Abbott's guilt is readily apparent to me and Mr. Farrell clearly and methodically illustrates this.

another page-turner from Harry Farrell.......2006-05-31

I read Farrell's "Swift Justice" a few years ago, and it haunted me for a long time afterward. When I came across this book, I expected that I would get just as involved with it, and I did. Farrell has a way of including details in a story that make it fascinating, even if you know the outcome (and I agree with the other reviewers who mentioned the give-away photo section). Some of the most interesting aspects of this book involve minor characters, such as the suspect who fears his co-workers' "sex vibrations", the mysterious eyewitness "Melody", and the teenage girl who became obsessed with the accused murderer. These people's own words, which Farrell diligently researched and quoted, give the reader a direct window onto the time period. The book is also full of the kind of scientific information that fans of CSI will enjoy.

[WARNING--SPOILERS FOLLOW] The kidnapping and murder described in the book are so horrible, that I was hoping for the kind of cathartic closure you might get from watching a killer convicted on TV. But Farrell doesn't let the reader off so easy. Though there was ample physical evidence pointing to Barton Abbot, a few little loose threads will leave me forever wondering. And of course, the eternal question of why anyone would commit such a crime is not answered.

As far as the victim's family goes, they are not painted as the sainted martyrs another reviewer complained about. In fact, one of the saddest aspects of the book for me was the parents' refusal to tell their other children what really happened to their sister. "We don't talk about it," the victim's mother said. Years later, her son admitted to Farrell the pain the situation caused him.

Farrell shows how notorious crimes can drag down innocent bystanders: witnesses lost their livelihoods; a mother had to move out of state and change her child's name.

All in all, Farrell has written a book that is not only a gripping true-crime story, but a valuable social history.

Shallow Grave in Trinity County.......2005-07-06

This book is a well written documentary of a fourteen year old girl who was abducted and murdered on her way home from school in Oakland , California in the mid 1950's. It tells of the police investigation and eventual apprehension and trial of the man believed to have been her killer.

The time, place and people in this true story all relate to my experience at that time period when I was living in Berkeley. Strange to say but even after reading the book, I don't remember reading or knowing about the event. I found the story facinating, especially the careflly related investigation and the trial. I was amazed at how the evidence was analized with the tools of the time to make a case against the suspect.

My recommendation is to read the book. It will make you think and wonder about the participants and their motives for a long time.

Jan M.
Now living in Trinity County

Average customer rating:

Great series

Shallow Graves
Jeremiah Healy
Manufacturer: Atria
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0671708112

Customer Reviews:

Great series.......1999-02-19

For all you P.I. readers who haven't discovered Healy, give him a chance. Read one, want them all.

The Third Bill Slider Omnibus: Shallow Grave and Blood Sinister (Bill Slider Mysteries)

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The Third Bill Slider Omnibus: Shallow Grave and Blood Sinister (Bill Slider Mysteries)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Book Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0751539481

Shallow Graves (A Location Scout Mystery Series)

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Simply Couldn't Read This One
Great suspense, dialogue
Awesome Book!
Shallow Graves
A VIEW OF THINGS TO COME

Shallow Graves (A Location Scout Mystery Series)
Jeffery Deaver
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0671047485
Release Date: 2000-08-29

Book Description

New York Times bestselling author

JEFFERY DEAVER

created the acclaimed blockbusters The Devil's Teardrop and The Coffin Dancer. Here he showcases his superb talent for "ticking-bomb suspense" (People) in this Edgar Award-nominated novel

SHALLOW GRAVES

Location scouting is to the film business what Switzerland is to war. John Pellam had been in the trenches of filmmaking, with a promising Hollywood career -- until a tragedy sidetracked him. Now he's a location scout, who travels the country in search of shooting sites for films. When he rides down Main Street, locals usually clamor for their chance at fifteen minutes of fame. But in a small town in upstate New York, Pellam experiences a very different reception -- his illusionary world is shattered by a savage murder, and Pellam is suddenly center stage in an unfolding drama of violence, lust, and conspiracy, which have a stranglehold on this less-than-picture-perfect locale.

Download Description

John Pelham had a promising career in Hollywood until his drinking got in the way. Now, as he tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered career, he finds himself in the small town of Cleary, New York, looking for a new location for an upcoming film. But the town's inhabitants are less than excited. When his friend is murdered and the crime is covered up by the local police, John realizes just how far the town will go to keep its secrets hidden.

Customer Reviews:

Simply Couldn't Read This One.......2005-09-26

I've read a lot of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels and like them and I thought The Devil's Teardrop which had a different protagonist was excellent. So when I saw this one in the bookstore, I snapped it up. Big waste of money! I couldn't even finish the book, and that is not something that I do very often. At the very beginning I didn't like the main character at all because he didn't seem the least bit sympathetic to me, although I realize that's simply a matter of personal taste and not something that you can give a bad review for. More serious was the total "no thought" stereotyping of "bad cops" and local townspeople. Still not enough to deep eighty-six it, but it was starting to get there at that point. No, the thing that made me toss this book is that while it is supposed to take place in upstate rural New York, Deaver tried to write this using colloquial English. Not a problem if he'd used the colloquial speech for the area. He didn't. He used the speech of rural areas of Virginia and other areas to the south of NYS. As a life long resident of upstate rural NY, I felt it insulting to get something that basic wrong and it opened up the whole suspician that nothing else in the book could be right, either, if that's the amount of research he put into it. It's incredibly lazy writing, and I don't have time to read poor writing. Too many other really good books out there to waste on a disaster like this one. Save your money and pass it by, or at least get it used if you feel you must read it.

Great suspense, dialogue.......2004-01-21

I just love Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books and began reading some of his other books. This one was easy to get into and very heart-jerking when character John Pellam's friend is blown up in a van and accused post-mortem of being involved in drugs. As seems a bit unusual, the death causes Pellam to be fired from his film producing job, but that's OK because it gives him time to solve his friend and co-worker's death. He's certain it's murder, and he's right. He also gets a taste of small town life in the process. Highly recommended!

Awesome Book!.......2003-04-18

This book was amazing, it took me a matter of days to finish it because I could not put it down. I strongly recomend it! Its entertaining from start to finish!

Shallow Graves.......2002-07-03

Shallow Graves is a story in a small country village. The main character John Pellam is shooting site for films here, until all the trouble starts to begin. He get's involved in a shooting involving drugs. The local police isn't supporting and he is even been trown in jail. It's my first read of J. Deaver and I expected more from him. I hope the other book I got from him will be better, called: The coffin dancer.

A VIEW OF THINGS TO COME.......2001-04-13

John Pellam is a film location scout who thinks he has found the perfect setting for a new flick. The problem is that there are some key town players who dont want the Hollywood big wigs disturbing their small town environment.....or are their reasons more sinister. What seems to be a series of warnings turns into a deadly game and Pellam must deal with wanna be movie stars, crooked cops, and even a romance or two to find out who is out to get him.

The pretense of the book has possibilites but the dedicated Deaver fan will be left a little gloomy from the shallow plot of SHALLOW GRAVES. The roller coaster thrill ride that usually marks a good Deaver novel is nowhere to be found. The character development is almost non existant and the subjects remain....shallow. There is one sudden flip at the end of the book that gives you a glimpse of the master suspense writer that Deaver was destined to become.

Book Description

beautiful, moving novel of a love triangle

Customer Reviews:

TWO STEPS PAST THE TWILIGHT ZONE.......2002-03-05

James Purdy is the best kept secret of American literature. Most people I know have never even heard of him. After reading two of his works I have come to the understanding that he is very special and unique. There is something vaguely Russian about him, I mean in the depth of his work that reminds me of Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. To me, much as the Beatles cranked out classic song after song lasting rougly 2 minutes, so Purdy puts out short books that nevertheless contain all the power of a 600 page epic poem.

IN A SHALLOW GRAVE is the story of Garnet Montrose, a WWII vet who was horribly disfigured in an explosion while serving as a soldier. Most of his friends were killed so he suffers the usual guilt complex over why he survived and others did not. His ugliness alienates him to such an extent that he is hardly able to find a nurse to help him with his medical concerns at his home. It's a pretty horrible comment on society that noone wants to look him in the face. Even those that act like they can handle it seem to lose their nerve and run away. It really reminded me a lot of Frankenstein of all things. Here again is the plot of the deformed man with a heart of gold searching for a friend to open his heart to.

At this point we are introduced to Quintus Pearch, a young black boy whose mother is dying but still feels some bond with Garnet. You almost feel as though it's some weird form of vestigial slavery that calls to him and makes him stay with Garnet.

The primary duty of all his hired boys is to deliver letters from Garnet to Widow Rance, a childhood sweetheart. He writes her letter after letter filled with love but never has the nerve to call on her in person. He feels too ashamed of his looks.

Enter the character of Daventry, a fugitive from the law seeking a place to rest. He is hired and the rest of the book is mostly about the relationship between the three men. We come to find there are all kinds of love, both carnal and godly. That's what I found so amazing about the book. There is a lot of spirituality lurking under the surface of it.

Purdy writes his books in such a way that it seems like a story told you in your dreams. At times this novel seems surreal, at others transcendant, and sometimes realistic. Purdy's grasp of dialogue is one of the best I have ever read. Read a book by Purdy. You won't regret it.

In a Shallow Grave.......2000-07-29

Darkly beautiful, inventive, compelling, deeply moving and mesmerizing on so many levels. James is more than an artist of the word, he is an emancipator of the human heart. I honestly have not been so moved by a book for a very long time. I'm still thinking about "shallow grave" weeks after reading it.

One of the best books I've ever read.......2000-07-22

A strange novel with a special atmosphere : a young man comes back from the Pacific War, huggly face-wounded, and tries to survive lonely in his familial farm on the East Cost, nearby the ocean and its murmur, with his ancient love for a young widow. The most interesting is his ambiguous relations to the boys who enter to his service for little farm works.

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Shallow Graves

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Mistress of Justice

ASIN: 0739415824

Product Description

Location scouting is to the film business what Switzerland is to war. John Pellam had been in the trenches of film-making, with a tragedy sidetracked him. Now he's a location scout, who travels the country in search of shooting sites for films. When he rides down Main Street, Locals usually clamor for their chance at fifteen minutes of fame. But in a small town in upstate New York, Pellam experiences a very different reception---his illusionary world is shattered by a savage murder, and Pellam is suddenly center stage in an unfolding drama of violence, lust, and conspiracy, which have a stranglehold on this less-than-perfect locale.

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Trainspotting

Manufacturer: Minerva
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ENRLGY

Product Description

A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends

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Shallow Grave (Faber Reel Classics)
John Hodge
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0571202942

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