2009

An Ordinary Man:  An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina

The summer reading assignment for all incoming students is An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina. This Book will be used in your First Year Experience course this fall.  Additionally, the author will be giving a lecture on campus on November 5, 2009.

As Rwanda was thrown into chaos during the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, turned the luxurious Hotel Milles Collines into a refuge for more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees, while fending off their would-be killers with a combination of diplomacy and deception. In An Ordinary Man, he tells the story of his childhood, retraces his accidental path to heroism, revisits the 100 days in which he was the only thing standing between his "guests" and a hideous death, and recounts his subsequent life as a refugee and activist.

Listen to an interview with the author on NPR.