In 1994, the Hutu majority of Rwanda brutally murdered at least 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days. One year after the genocide, Philip Gourevitch travels to Rwanda to report and understand the state of the Rwandan people. He recounts a conversation with a self-declared Pygmy. While not Hutu or Tutsi, Pygmies were both enlisted to kill and victimized during the genocide. Although the genocide itself is not specifically mentioned, the conversation, like most conversations in Rwanda at the time, was about it. The Pygmy considers Africa to be “sick” and claims that its only hope is to unite in the struggle against nature. When Gourevitch points out that humans are a part of nature, the Pygmy agrees: “That is exactly the problem” (9). Gourevitch highlights this exchange to stress the significance of “how people imagine themselves and one another” (6). This exchange is critical to understanding why Hutu extremists believed the murder of the Tutsi minority would improve the world.

In eastern Rwanda, Gourevitch visits Nyarubuye—one of its churches being where many Tutsis were murdered. 13 months later, their bodies remain as a memorial.