A year after the publication of this magnificent book in hardback, it is still lamentably common to hear African violence described as the result of primeval forces of chaos and darkness. If only: for the story Philip Gourevitch has to tell is far more terrifying. The state-sponsored killing of over 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994, Gourevitch writes, "was the product of order, authoritarianism, decades of modern political theorising and indoctrination, and one of the most meticulously administered states in history". The international relief mission managed, incredibly, to make things even worse. In prose of uncommon grace, Gourevitch develops a searing political analysis from the stories of ordinary Rwandans. A classic of reportage.