personal narratives

In the space of a hundred days, a million Tutsi in Rwanda were slaughtered by their Hutu neighbors. At the height of the genocide, as men with bloody machetes ransacked her home, Denise Uwimana gave birth to her third son. With the unlikely help of Hutu Good Samaritans, she and her children survived. Her husband and other family members were not as lucky. If this were only a memoir of those chilling days and the long, hard road to personal healing and freedom from her past, it would be remarkable enough. But Uwimana didn?t stop there. Leaving a secure job in business, she devoted the rest of her life to restoring her country by empowering other genocide widows to band together, tell their stories, find healing, and rebuild their lives. The stories she has uncovered through her work and recounted here illustrate the complex and unfinished work of truth-telling, recovery, and reconciliation that may be Rwanda?s lasting legacy. Rising above their nation?s past, Rwanda?s genocide survivors are teaching the world the secret to healing the wound of war and ethnic conflict.

"One of the first unaccompanied refugee children to enter the United States in 2000, after South Sudan's second civil war took the lives of most of her family, Rebecca's story begins in the late 1980s when, at the age of four, her village was attacked and she had to escape. [This boo k] is the account of that . . . journey"--Amazon.

The author presents a comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001, using interviews with government officials, first responders, survivors, friends, and family members.

Uses a detailed letter written by Union lieutenant Frank A. Haskell to his brother in July 1863 and further eyewitness accounts by Union and Confederate soldiers to frame several of the engagements in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Provides a detailed account of the 1865 sinking of the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River, a preventable disaster that was fueled by greed and haste, and which left more than 1,500 dead.

Tells the story of the hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, who has been credited to saving lives in Rwanda but may have been exploiting the situation.

Tells the story of author Azad Cudi, a journalist from Kurdistan who volunteered as a sniper in the fight against ISIS.

Excerpts from the diary of Carrie Berry, describing her family's life in the Confederate south in 1864. Supplemented by sidebars, activities, and a timeline of the era.

Draws on interviews and focus groups with child soldiers to examine how they were initiated into the civil war in Sierra Leone and the challenges they faced after the war.

Describes the life of Mariatu Kamara, focusing on her experiences as a child during the civil war in Sierra Leone where she was raped, tortured, and had her hands cut off by juvenile rebel soldiers; and discusses her experiences after the war.