The Key to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda

by Elizabeth Neuffer

Book Overview

Examining competing notions of justice in Bosnia and Rwanda, award-winning Boston Globe correspondent Elizabeth Neuffer convinces readers that crimes against humanity cannot be resolved by talk of forgiveness, or through the more common recourse to forgetfulness As genocidal warfare engulfed the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the international community acted too late to prevent unconscionable violations of human rights in both countries. As these...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312302827
• ISBN13: 9780312302825
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A GREAT COMPANION

Neuffer has written a great companion to the works of Gourevitch and Samantha Power. A Key... is somewhat more intense, powerful reading. It is a primary source compilation of the horror stories that were Bosnia and Rwanda. Keeping track of all the players and respective groups is a little difficult, but it is for anyone covering the former Yugoslav episode. What is lacking there, is more than compensated for, with the emotionally wracking first hand accounts of the suffering. Neuffer takes you in the heart of the fracas, and I guarantee, you wont return unmoved. This is an exceptional work, by an exceptional person. Her recent passing leaves all of us a little poorer.

The Most Honest Book Yet

I just finished The Key To My Neighbor's House. Being a survivor of the Bosnian war of 1992, this book really brought some sense of justice and understanding for me. I've read many books about the war in Bosnia, but none were as accurate as The Key To My Neighbor's House. Most of the books I've read about the war in Bosnia mostly focus on the political side of the war. The Key To My Neigbor's House tells the real,true story behind the Bosnian war of 1992. Elizabeth Neuffer got the real story from the real people. Most authors would've gotten their information from the political figures or some sort of high ranking officials, but not Elizabeth Neuffer. I've learned a lot from this book, even though I went through the whole war experience, but there was a lot I didn't know. I would like to thank Elizabeth Neuffer for risking her life to write this book. I really appreciate all of her hard work. I would recomend this book to anyone wanting to learn the real sory behind the war in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Needed justice and the hope and healing it can bring.

Hope - this book is about needed justice and the hope and healing it can bring.My journey to Rwanda this year prompted me to delve into the tyrannical torture and terror that swept this small, poor nation in 1994. In 1994, over a period 100 days, over one million people were butchered. It is such a staggering number that it is hard to comprehend. Just to write the first names of the murdered down would take you 2 ½ years, writing six names a minute for eight hours a day. Although Elizabeth Neuffer's book is about the pursuit of justice and the delivery of justice, it is also about the grim and gruesome reality of killers, rapists and victims. Her clear, straight forward journalistic writing style is engaging. Of the books I have read on Rwanda's genocide (I highly recommend both Scott Peterson's 'Me Against My Brother' and Philip Gourvitch's 'We wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families') Neuffer is the only one that covers rape. She has dedicated chapters to the rape, and it need to be judged as a war crime. She exposes the effect that has on the victims. Her sensitivity and willing to disclose this little discussed topic is needed, refreshing and laudable. Kudos.Rwanda now has 130,000 incarcerated, waiting for their genocide trials to begin. But, justice is extremely slow in coming. One case alone took 1.5 years. In three years Rwanda's courts have handed down 2,500 vertics. At that rate it will take the Rwandan courts 150 years to clear the dockets. "Perhaps what you end up with in a post-genocide society is not justice at all" Gerald Gahima, Rwanda's previous deputy minister of justice, stated. "Maybe we should think of another word for it."In her book Bosnia get the lion share of her writing (400 plus pages) but her short sections dealing with Rwanda is alone worth the price of the purchase. This is an outstanding book, worth of any library and to be read by anyone interested in these topics. Highly Recommended.

Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda

The book is outstanding! Neuffer follows individuals' experiences of the events, which makes the story more human for the reader. And at the same time she demonstrates a very sophisticated understanding of even some of the most esoteric legal issues involved. I also appreciate the fact that the bibliography and endnotes are exhaustive, which makes the book invaluable to anyone doing research on the topics involved.

Poignant Testament to the Power of Bearing Witness

Elizabeth Neuffer has written a poignant testament to the power of bearing witness, the responsibility of the individual to bear witness, and the healing power of bearing witness. Her book is also an examination into why so many refused to bear witness when it was in their power, and most certainly their responsibility, to do so.By writing this book, Ms. Neuffer makes us witnesses too; not only to the genocide that took place in Rwanda and Bosnia, but also to the shameful conduct of our own American leaders, the Dutch, the United Nations, and many others; others who had the power to intervene, to save, to heal -- and, failing any of the preceding -- to bear witness themselves (rather than claiming ignorance, despite all documentation to the contrary).When I was growing up, I heard over and over that genocide could never happen again (because, as the theory went, the world would not stand by to allow it). Well, the world did stand by. It stood by and failed the citizens of Rwanda and the citizens of Bosnia. But thanks to the courage of writers such as Elizabeth Neuffer and Philip Gourevitch (author of "We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families"); we readers must now be counted among the witnesses, and thus among those responsible to further their efforts by sharing these books with our friends in order to shed light; to stand accountable; to bear witness.