The autobiography of the man whose natural courage was made famous by Oscar-nominated Don Cheadle in the film Hotel Rwanda.
Confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, flattery, and deception, Paul Rusesabagina managed to shelter more than 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the Hotel Des Milles Collines, of which he was manager, while homicidal mobs raged outside with machetes during the Rwandan genocide.
His autobiography will bring the reader inside the hotel during those 100 days, relate the anguish of those who saw loved ones hacked to pieces, and describe Rusesabagina's ambivalence at pouring the Scotch and lighting the cigars of killers in the Swimming Pool bar, even as he was trying to cram as many refugees as possible inside the guest rooms upstairs. The book will explore Rusesabagina's inner life as he discusses the racial complexity within his own life (he is a Hutu married to a Tutsi) and his complete enstrangement from the madness that surrounded him during the genocide. 'An Ordinary Man' will ask the question: what causes an entire nation to go insane? Rusesabagina will also discuss the responsibilities of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events and explore the tremendous power of words to sow hatred, but also to bring life and hope.
