Book Review: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch

 

Book Review: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch

I recently finished reading We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, a haunting account of the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s. The book sheds light on one of the most horrifying chapters of human history, where the majority Hutus carried out the mass extermination of the minority Tutsis in the tiny central African nation of Rwanda.

The killings were systematic and terrifyingly efficient. Neighbors killed neighbors, teachers murdered their Tutsi students, pastors betrayed their followers, and friends turned on friends. Gourevitch captures not just the scale of the violence but also the chilling normalcy with which it was carried out. It was a genocide that decimated nearly three times as many lives as the Holocaust proportionately, and in ways more intimate and brutal than the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The book explains how decades of colonial manipulation laid the groundwork for this tragedy. European powers, through the Hamitic hypothesis, portrayed the Tutsis as “noble” rulers and the Hutus as subordinates. Belgium and France deepened these divisions, granting Tutsis privileges in government and society, which bred resentment. Propaganda through radio and newspapers further fueled hatred, making genocide appear justified in the eyes of many Hutus.

Equally striking is Gourevitch’s critique of the international community. The United Nations, despite having soldiers on the ground with modern weapons, failed to stop the slaughter. They distributed food and medicine but left civilians unprotected. The world stood by as mute spectators, and even after the genocide, attempts at justice were thwarted by external pressures.

What makes this book powerful is not just its historical detail but its warning. Gourevitch reminds us that genocide is not confined to Rwanda. It can happen anywhere if hatred, propaganda, and indifference are allowed to grow unchecked. As I read, I couldn’t help but see echoes in today’s world—where massacres continue, and silence often prevails.

This book is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one. It forces us to confront humanity’s darkest capacities and to recognize the danger of looking away. If it happened once, it can happen again.