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"'Weaving in concise background detail to the massacre, his writing never strays into cheap polemic. The matter-of-fact detail of the slayings threaded into the cadence and minutiae of a normal day in the life of the killers is sufficient to empower this chilling reportage' Herald 'Hatzfeld transcends cultural divides to provide and insightful exposition of human morality and emotion... Highly insightful reads, which will leave you with an overwhelming sense of guilt for what cannot be undone, and a suspicion for your fellow man' Big Issue 'Chilling work of oral history' Irish Independent"
Herald
`Weaving in concise background detail to the massacre, his writing never strays into cheap polemic. The matter-of-fact detail of the slayings threaded into the cadence and minutiae of a normal day in the life of the killers is sufficient to empower this chilling reportage'
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In April the nocturnal rains often leave in their wake black clouds that mask the first rays of the sun. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In April the nocturnal rains often leave in their wake black clouds that mask the first rays of the sun. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On April 7th, 1994, the small, Central African Republic of Rwanda was enveloped by the fastest genocide of the twentieth century, claiming the lives of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within one hundred days. The world looked on, first in denial, then with incredulity, and finally, with condemnation - far too late to be of any use to the victims.
Comparisons were drawn with the Holocaust and the killing fields of Cambodia. Yet what set Rwanda apart even from these genocides was that so much of the killing was done not by agents of the state, but by ordinary men - farmers, labourers and shopkeepers - with the machete their weapon of choice.
Jean Hatzfeld, a French journalist, gained access to a group of Hutu friends who were willing to speak to him from prison, without danger of self-incrimination. Ostensibly modest in scale, A Time for Machetes records their reflections about the genocide as it unfolded in Nyamata, a district in southern Rwanda. As a result, the book succeeds brilliantly in explaining how the genocide came to pass.
The conversations are relayed directly, in the words of the killers themselves. Chapters are split up to cover different themes: for example, were they coerced to kill, or did they do so willingly? How did the first kill feel? What was the role of women? Did they profit from the killings? Did they maintain their religious observance during the genocide?
The result is one of the most important books I have ever read. For in letting the killers speak with their own words, the author shines a light on their humanity. And if we can learn anything from history, it runs through the reflections of these ordinary men: how the capacity for the deepest inhumanity is so very, very human.
Comparisons were drawn with the Holocaust and the killing fields of Cambodia. Yet what set Rwanda apart even from these genocides was that so much of the killing was done not by agents of the state, but by ordinary men - farmers, labourers and shopkeepers - with the machete their weapon of choice.
Jean Hatzfeld, a French journalist, gained access to a group of Hutu friends who were willing to speak to him from prison, without danger of self-incrimination. Ostensibly modest in scale, A Time for Machetes records their reflections about the genocide as it unfolded in Nyamata, a district in southern Rwanda. As a result, the book succeeds brilliantly in explaining how the genocide came to pass.
The conversations are relayed directly, in the words of the killers themselves. Chapters are split up to cover different themes: for example, were they coerced to kill, or did they do so willingly? How did the first kill feel? What was the role of women? Did they profit from the killings? Did they maintain their religious observance during the genocide?
The result is one of the most important books I have ever read. For in letting the killers speak with their own words, the author shines a light on their humanity. And if we can learn anything from history, it runs through the reflections of these ordinary men: how the capacity for the deepest inhumanity is so very, very human.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"A Time for Machetes" is a harrowing book. It is six years after the genocide in Rwanda and the journalist Jean Hatzfeld manages to persuade a group of imprisoned killers to speak to him. The interviews cover questions like how it was the first time they killed, how the killings were organized and conducted and if forgiveness is possible.
The accounts of the killers are interspersed by Hatzfeld's observations which give additional insights. Sometimes, however, he seems as perplexed as the reader by what he hears.The ten men speak of their unspeakable crimes so impassively, with so little remorse that I often found it a struggle to turn the page.
Once ordinary farmers these men take up their machetes to go "hunting" for Tutsis in the marshes, they "cut" them down and would have finished "the job" if it had not been for the advance of the rebel army. The words they use to describe their actions are chilling. Reflection on what suffering they inflicted is rare. They report no nightmares, seem not particularly distressed by what they did.
"A Time for Machetes" is an important book on the Rwandan genocide - and in its implications a very frightening one.
The accounts of the killers are interspersed by Hatzfeld's observations which give additional insights. Sometimes, however, he seems as perplexed as the reader by what he hears.The ten men speak of their unspeakable crimes so impassively, with so little remorse that I often found it a struggle to turn the page.
Once ordinary farmers these men take up their machetes to go "hunting" for Tutsis in the marshes, they "cut" them down and would have finished "the job" if it had not been for the advance of the rebel army. The words they use to describe their actions are chilling. Reflection on what suffering they inflicted is rare. They report no nightmares, seem not particularly distressed by what they did.
"A Time for Machetes" is an important book on the Rwandan genocide - and in its implications a very frightening one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was not a tale to be told, it was just too bad for man to be killing one another with machette, I think it showed the level of cruelty in the world today.
I find out the killers that killed their neigbours still justify their action simply because of etnicity.
Human being can never learn from history, I pray it never happen again but history is always repeating itself.
I find out the killers that killed their neigbours still justify their action simply because of etnicity.
Human being can never learn from history, I pray it never happen again but history is always repeating itself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The defining book on the Rwandan genocide
Jean Hatzfeld's "A Time for Machetes", along with its sequel "Into the Quick of Life", are in my opinion the two best works discussing the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mark Stokle
Excellent
A very good, if not a little disturbing account of a group of friends who were told to go and kill their neighbours, and did so.
Interesting and compelling.
Interesting and compelling.
Published 12 months ago by Jo
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