Having read two other accounts of the atrocities in Rwanada (We Did Nothing and Shake Hands With the Devil), I wasn’t sure how excited I was about reading one more.  Best-selling author and CBC personality Carol Off’s book The Lion, the Fox and the Eagle is slightly different. 

In relating her account of the Rwanadan and Bosnian genocides, Ms. Off focuses on the personalities involved in the conflicts and their challenges before, during and afterwards.  While the book does not offer the same historical account that Shake Hands does, it certainly offers an interesting view into one of Canada’s most tragic heroes: Senator Dallaire.  Alternatively, if you weren’t a fan of the straight talking bravado of Gen. Lewis Mackenzie before, this book will do nothing to change your mind about him. 

If Ms. Off’s portrayal of Gen. MacKenzie is less that complimentary, her view on the UN is even less so.  While this view is shared by a host of other writers, pundits and politicians, it is important to realize that the UN is not an island to itself.  It’s failings are the failings of the member states that make up the security council.  I cannot imagine the burden that UN personnel directly involved in these conflicts must bear.

In a nutshell, the book is well written and engaging even though it deals with some of the worst acts humans have inflicted upon each other in the last 200 years (barring Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin).  Worth the read if you can deal with the concepts of genocide and the descriptions of these terrible acts.