An Ordinary Man (Broché)

The autobiography of the man whose exceptional courage inspired the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda. `The killer would not look at me. In that one small turn of the face, I saw that there might be some room for me to manoeuvre. I saw that I had a small chance to save the lives of thirty-two of my neighbours who were huddled in the cars behind me. All I needed to do was find the right words. Everything now depended on my words...' Confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, flattery, and deception, Paul Rusesabagina managed to shelter more than twelve hundred Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the Hotel des Mille Collines, of which he was general manager, while homicidal mobs raged outside with machetes during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. His autobiography takes the reader inside the hotel during those hundred days and relates the anguish of those who saw loved ones murdered in cold blood. He describes how he felt when pouring the Scotch and lighting the cigars of killers in the hotel's poolside bar, even as he was trying to hide as many refugees as possible in the guest rooms upstairs, and the betrayal he felt at the international community's refusal to help. An Ordinary Man reveals Rusesabagina's inner world as he discusses the racial complexity of his own life (a Hutu married to a Tutsi) and the strength he drew from his father's example and Rwanda's traditional hospitality. He asks the question: What causes an entire nation to go insane? and goes on to consider the responsibilities of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events, exploring the tremendous power of words to sow hatred, but also to bring life and hope. An Ordinary Man is above all an extraordinary tale of courage, modesty and the resilience of the human spirit.