In Praise of Blood

The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front

By: Judi Rever

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

A FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE: A stunning work of investigative reporting by a Canadian journalist who has risked her own life to bring us a deeply disturbing history of the Rwandan genocide that takes the true measure of Rwandan head of state Paul Kagame.

Through unparalleled interviews with RPF defectors, former soldiers and atrocity survivors, supported by documents leaked from a UN court, Judi Rever brings us the complete history of the Rwandan genocide. Considered by the international community to be the saviours who ended the Hutu slaughter of innocent Tutsis, Kagame and his rebel forces were also killing, in quiet and in the dark, as ruthlessly as the Hutu genocidaire were killing in daylight. The reason why the larger world community hasn't recognized this truth? Kagame and his top commanders effectively covered their tracks and, post-genocide, rallied world guilt and played the heroes in order to attract funds to rebuild Rwanda and to maintain and extend the Tutsi sphere of influence in the region.
Judi Rever, who has followed the story since 1997, has marshalled irrefutable evidence to show that Kagame's own troops shot down the presidential plane on April 6, 1994--the act that put the match to the genocidal flame. And she proves, without a shadow of doubt, that as Kagame and his forces slowly advanced on the capital of Kigali, they were ethnically cleansing the country of Hutu men, women and children in order that returning Tutsi settlers, displaced since the early '60s, would have homes and land. This book is heartbreaking, chilling and necessary.

It is amazing to hear a different prospective!

A great book. It is amazing the research and risk the author took into making this book. The book presents a different side to the war that the majority of people are unaware of. Thank you Judi for caring enough about the Rwandan conflict to present us with this gem in 2018!

It is up to the reader to take the information presented in this book as fact or false. Nonetheless, this is a book that makes you understand that the Rwandan conflict is more complex than what the main media leads us to believe!

A complete paradigm shift.

This beautiful body of work provides a comprehensive paradigm shift on the official narrative. A must read for all Africans.

Genocide

Well put together, I wish more writers took on this undertold story. I don't even think the movie that is out tells half of what was written on this book. well done

Too self absorbed

I approached In Place of Blood with a desire to better understand the Rwandan civil war through clear, compelling storytelling and historical insight. Unfortunately, what I found was a disjointed collection of anecdotes, often more centered on the author herself than on the broader, complex tapestry of the Rwandan conflict.

At times, the book is weighed down by unnecessary detail minutiae that distract rather than illuminate. Paradoxically, when depth and clarity were most needed particularly around pivotal events or nuanced historical context those details were either glossed over or absent altogether.

The narrative lacked cohesion, and I often felt I was chasing threads that never quite came together. Rever’s personal journey and the investigative lens she brings are ambitious, but they sometimes overshadow the heart of the story: the people of Rwanda and the historical forces that shaped their tragedy.

This wasn’t the balanced, immersive account I hoped for. I was disappointed…