PUBLICATIONs
Defeat is the Only Bad News: Rwanda under Musinga, 1898-1931 (Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2011). Published posthumously, edited and with an Introduction by David Newbury.
Leave None to Tell the Story (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999), published simultaneously in French translation, Aucun Témoin Ne Doit Survivre (Paris: Karthala, 1999); German translation, Kein Zeuge darf überleben, Der Genozid in Rwanda (Hamburg: Hamburg Edition, 2002); Kinyarwanda translation, “Ntihazasigare n’uwo kubara inkuru”: Itsembabwoko mu Rwanda (Trenton, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press, 2014).
“The Ideology of Genocide,” Issue: A Journal of Opinion, African Studies Association, vol. 23(2), 1995, 44-47.
“Rwanda," in Human Rights Watch, Human Rights and Communal Violence (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995).
“Face au génocide: Une réponse désastreuse des Etats-Unis et des Nations Unies,” in André Guichaoua, Les Crises Politiques au Burundi et au Rwanda (Paris: Karthala et Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 1995), pp. 455-464.
Rwanda: A New Catastrophe (New York: Human Rights Watch, December 1994).
The Aftermath of Genocide in Rwanda (New York: Human Rights Watch, September 1994).
Rapport Final de la Commission Internationale d’Enquête sur les Violations des Droits de l’Homme au Burundi Depuis le 21 Octobre 1993 (editor), Paris: Human Rights Watch, Federation Internationale des Droits de l’Homme, et al., July 1994).
Genocide in Rwanda, April-May 1994 (New York: Human Rights Watch/Africa, vol. 6, no. 4, May 1994).
“Burundi: Failed Coup or Creeping Coup?,” Current History, 93: 583 (May 1994), pp. 203-207.
“Rwanda,” in Human Rights Watch World Report 1994 (New York: Human Rights Watch, December 1993), pp. 33-40.
Beyond the Rhetoric: Continuing Human Rights Abuses in Rwanda, Africa Watch Report, June 1993, pp. 1-29.
Rapport Final de la Commission Internationale d’Enquête sur les Violations des droits de l’homme au Rwanda (editor), Paris, March 1993.
Rwanda: Talking Peace and Waging War, Africa Watch Report, February 1992.
“The Drum is Greater than the Shout: the 1912 Rebellion in Northern Rwanda,” in Donald Crummey, ed., Bandity, Rebellion and Social Protest in Africa (Portsmouth, N.H.: Heniemann, 1985), pp. 311-332.
“Lectures on Selected Topics of African History” given at Beijing University, published in Chinese in China, 1984.
“Kings Without Crowns: the White Fathers in Rwanda,” in Daniel McCall, Norman Bennett, and Jeffrey Butler, eds. Eastern African History (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1969).
More of Alison’s publications are available from databases, such as the JSTOR digital library, where a search for “Alison Des Forges” gives access to a few more publications, together with reviews of her books, and other materials that may be of interest.
BookS
Leave none to tell the story
This study, based on Rwandan government records, dissects the deceptive discourse of genocide and shows how ordinary administrative structures and practices were turned into mechanisms of murder. It describes opposition to the killing campaign and how it was broken. Using the words of survivors, the book relates how they resisted and escaped. Using diplomatic and court documents, the study details the transformation of international indifference into tardy criticism. Read the full text here.
Defeat is the only bad News
A Rwandan proverb says “Defeat is the only bad news.” For Rwandans living under colonial rule, winning called not only for armed confrontation, but also for a battle of wits—and not only with foreigners, but also with each other. In Defeat Is the Only Bad News, Alison Des Forges recounts the ambitions, strategies, and intrigues of an African royal court under Yuhi Musinga, the Rwandan ruler from 1896 to 1931. Read the full text here.