|
The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur | 
 enlarge | Authors: Brian Steidle, Gretchen Steidle Wallace
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $3.36
You Save: $21.59 (87%)
New (29) Used (23) from $3.36
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 499418
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 264
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1586484745
Dewey Decimal Number: 962.4043
EAN: 9781586484743
ASIN: 1586484745
Publication Date: March 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: half of the back cover is cut off. Part of the front cover is also cut off. It is a paperback. Otherwise it is in good condition and clean. Immediate shipping with Free Delivery Confirmation.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000 photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this book with Brian, corresponded with him throughout his time in Darfur. Fired upon, taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed, frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate for the world to step in and stop this genocide.
The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic impact of an Arab government bent on destroying its black African citizens, the maddening complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a formerMarine turned humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Compelling First-Hand Descriptions of the Darfur Crisis May 10, 2007
John Uniack Davis (West Africa)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
Former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle signed on to go to Darfur on an African Union ceasefire monitoring mission, but standing idly by while "African" civilians were massacred, mutilated, and raped by predominantly "Arab" tormenters in the service of the Sudanese Government was not what he had bargained for. In his eyes, he gained a small measure of redemption by meticulously documenting everything he saw, heard, and experienced, and then trying to stir the world's conscience, though this was certainly not his initial intention.
This book's greatest strength comes from the vivid and detailed descriptions of the author's often-harrowing experiences. The Devil Came on Horseback pulls no punches in describing the slow-motion tsunami that the Khartoum regime is inflicting upon its people. Steidle provides great descriptions of events and sequences of events, and these are supported by a very good map of Darfur, which enables the reader to follow the evolution of events on the ground.
What is often lacking in the book is a detailed analysis of the complicated social, cultural, and political context of the Darfur conflict and genocide, though in Part Three ("Genocide") he provides more of this kind of information than he does earlier in the book. His outrage and passion are palpable, but analysis is often lacking. A novel aspect of this volume is that the author is a military observer, but he unfortunately does not look very deeply at the political constraints or other factors that hinder the effectiveness of African Union forces. Steidle's military background would have given him an interesting vantage point from which to examine the pros and cons of peacekeeping forces led by the African Union as opposed to the United Nations, for example, but he never goes into much detail on these important issues.
Nevertheless, Steidle's first-hand witnessing of actual events in the Darfur tragedy is a valuable addition to the existing emerging literature on Darfur. This book is a great companion volume to works that focus on the social, political, and historical context of the Darfur humanitarian crisis, such as Gerard Prunier's The Ambiguous Genocide or Julie Flint and Alex de Waal's A Short History of a Long War.
 A must read to understand Darfur May 3, 2007
M. H. Bixby (DC)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace is the story of Captain Steidle's year as an observer with the African Union Mission in Darfur. The book is an earnest account of attacks Steidle witnessed and investigated, and the photographs section is particularly powerful. It's a must-read to understand what life on the ground for Darfuri civilians was like during some of the worst of the genocide in 2004. There are some very disturbing descriptions of attacks but there are also heartwarming moments of international (and local) understanding that will someday help end the crisis.
Highly recommended June 5, 2007
Lisa Twede
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I just got The Devil Came on Horseback, Bearing witness to the genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace.
OH MY GAWD!!!
I read an article in the Calendar section about a documentary that was playing in Laemmle theaters either based on this book, or based on the same experiences that the book is based on. I followed a link or two on the internet and found this book. Basically, the author was assigned to Darfur to monitor a cease fire, and to document any violations (which were apparently rampant). I'm only 19 pages into the book so far, and
OH MY GAWD!!!
Well it's eye-opening. I've been listening to the news about Darfur, and was curious to know about what is behind the conflict (or who more particularly), and why is it persisting. I thought a first-hand account of someone who was actually there would be the best way to find out.
I have to give you a little snippet here that evoked the most emotion from me so far:
As far as I could tell, for women life was extremely difficult. Sudan was primarily a patriarchal society, yet the women were the laborers. They might walk five or six hours with huge bundles of firewood or five-gallon buckets on their heads to collect their daily water. Girls could be sold by their fathers into marriage for as little as two cows--roughly $400--and human trafficking was not uncommon. Women were stoned to death in some places if they cheated on their husbands, but men were legally allowed to take up to four wives. In almost all circumstances, men would not even stand next to a woman. The men would sit, and the women would stand behind them. I had heard that approsimately 90 percent of Sudanese women still undergo female genital mutilation, and I learned that there are two methods. The first removes only the clitoris, but the second procedure involves sewing the vagina closed, often using thorns.
I have certainly heard about the first form of mutilation, but not the second. I just think it is something no human should have to experience. And then a little later on the next page there is this little tidbit, "... there was a broadly believed myth that having sex with a virgin would cure you of AIDS." My goodness. No wonder AIDS is such an epidemic! Confronted with the same risks, I might want to sew up my vagina too. But I suppose it doesn't really stop the rapes.
I remember in school learning about things like the Holocaust and thinking, "Those were the olden days. The world is civilized now." Naive doesn't even begin to cover it.
No, I think atrocities like these will never really end unless and until we can confront the evils within ourselves. What can lead a human to do to another human such inhumane things?
 Hate to disagree but... August 16, 2007
R. Nair
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
While the topic is an absolute shocker and eye-opener for anyone, the book fails to deliver. I picked up the book to understand the conflict in Darfur. The book was more like a journal and I felt I was reading the same chapter over and over. I was looking for a better understanding of the steps that were taken to stop the conflict, the hurdles and the blockades. But I couldn't get that from this book. Probably has to do with the frustration I went through after chapter after chapter giving the brutality of the killings but The AU's lack of showing absolutely any progress than just making reports and taking pictures. Captain Brian has done a good job documenting all his research and findings but in my opinion this book is a very tunnel-eyed view of the conflict.
GENOCIDE IN PROGRESS... January 4, 2008
Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is an eyewitness account of the genocide in Darfur. In 2004, former marine, Brian Steidle, signed on with the Joint Military Commission (JMC) for a position as a Patrol Leader in the Sudan. The JMC was created to oversee conflict in central Sudan and monitor a ceasefire. His job was to consist of investigating ceasefire violations. Steidle accepted the position with the JMC totally ignorant of the area in which he would be working and its political issues and conflicts. By the time he arrived in the Sudan, a full blown genocide was in progress.
Steidle's role was that of reporting what he saw, and what he saw was a Sudanese government that stood idly by as innocent black African civilians, rather than rebel forces, were routinely killed and tortured by Arab civilians known as "Janjaweed" (the devil on horseback) with the seeming blessing of the Sudanese government based in Khartoum and the aid of its government troops. Frustrated by his watchdog role, Steidle carefully documented all that he saw in order to bear witness to this large scale genocide that was taking place and alert the world to it, as he was stationed where journalists were nowhere to be found.
His is a compelling birds-eye view of a regional conflict that degenerated into a full scale genocide of its native people. The shortcoming of the book is the author's ignorance of the area and its historical and political conflicts. Thus, nothing in the book is grounded into any particular context, causing it to be a somewhat one dimensional account. While the author's outrage is palpable, so is his ignorance. Still, it is a harrowing account of the suffering of the Sudan's black citizens and an indictment of the Sudanese government and the international community.
|
|
|
|
| |
