The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide

Prunier traces the political history behind the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, from colonial racial classification through independence, the 1959 revolution and the civil war that preceded the killing. Written soon after the events by a scholar of the region, it was among the first serious analytical histories to explain how the genocide was planned and carried out. The book became an early and widely used reference for scholars, journalists and policymakers seeking to understand the catastrophe's origins.

Its legacy. It remains a standard historical reference on the genocide.