Samuel Totten, Genocide by Attrition: The Nuba Mountains of Sudan (Transaction Publishers, 2012)
Most of the authors I\u2019ve interviewed for this show have addressed episodes in the past, campaigns of mass violence that occurred long ago, often well-before the author was born.\n\nToday\u2019s show is different.\n\nIn his book\xa0Genocide by Attrition: The Nuba Mountains of Sudan\xa0(Transaction Publishers, 2012),\xa0Samuel Totten\xa0addresses the violence against the people of the Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. \xa0This violence was part of a broader civil war and unrest in the Sudan in the 1980s and 90s. \xa0Totten makes a convincing case that, in the Nuba, it reached a level reasonably labeled genocidal. \xa0To demonstrate this, Totten provides a succinct but thorough history of the conflict. But the heart of the book is a series of interviews with victims of the tragedy. \xa0Totten collected the interviews himself and uses them to demonstrate the nature and consequences of the conflict.\n\nOur interview won\u2019t stop with the book, however, for conflict has recently broken out again in the region. \xa0Scholars differ about how to label the new violence (Totten himself prefers to avoid calling the new fighting genocidal). \xa0But there\u2019s no question many of the human tragedies of the 80s and 90s have reemerged. \xa0Totten has written extensively about this new conflict. \xa0We\u2019ll use of one these articles, from the recent issue of\xa0Genocide Studies International, as the basis for our discussion of current events.\n\nTotten has been active in the field of genocide studies since its inception and brings an enormous wealth of information and passion to the subject. \xa0I trust the interview will convey his commitment to his discipline and to the victims of the violence he studies.\n\nAlso. \xa0I talked with Sam this week and he tells me he\u2019s just finished a major revision of the book we discussed in this interview, almost doubling its length. \xa0The second edition will presumably be out soon.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies