BEWARE... By Sarah P.

By Sarah P

    Keane was sent to Rwanda as part of a BBC television crew to shoot a documentary film. It is made that much more credible by the fact that Keane traveled around the country while it was deep in crisis, traveled with participants in the war from both sides, spoke with both the killers and the few massacre victims to survive, and saw first hand the devastation that was wrought. Although the book is fairly short and much less in depth than a more scholarly work on the subject, it is a gripping and engaging account of what Keane saw and heard along the way. The Rwandan genocide was triggered when the plane carrying Rwandan President Habyarimana and Cyprian Ntaryamira, president of Burundi, was shot down and crashed into the grounds of the presidential palace, killing them both. Keane spends some time in the beginning of the book reviewing Rwandan history in order to put the genocide in some sort of context.

    Keane then goes on to describe his time in Rwanda in great detail. He and his party started out in Uganda and crossed into RPF controlled territory in northern Rwanda. When they cross into Rwanda they are met by their RPF guide. Keane meets some of the countless thousands of orphaned children and describes their conditions. Children were apart of the killings, they didn't not kill them because they were children.

    Season of Blood is a gripping first hand account of the situation in Rwanda in the midst of a genocide. Aside from the opening chapters that give a brief history leading up to 1994, most of the book describes only a small slice of time in 1994, and so the reader must look elsewhere for information on what came immediately before and after, and for events.

    I would suggest this book to people who are into the aggressive stuff and are interested in some history. The story really pulls you in and keeps you wanting to read more.