Some Southern hospitality for the man behind "Hotel Rwanda"

I ran across two separate references to this man and his book today, one right after another, on nearly-unrelated sites. The first was posted on July 28th on a blog I just discovered the other day and have never really read until today...and the second in the entertainment column in the today's newspaper (see the blurb below). I try to avoid excessive mysticism or what my friend calls "God-superstition" but the remarkable coincidence got my attention and the talk on the 26th sounds interesting, so I'm going to try to go.

Although I've seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda" I have yet to read the book . Maybe this will be incentive to turn off the TV for a few hours...the additional cable channels that came with my new-to-me apt. are getting a little old anyway.

Blogger and fellow former student minister (not to compare my handful of years to his 30) Ircel Harrison had this to say:

The book is not only Rusesabagina’s life story, it is a brief history of the country of Rwanda, a discourse on good in the face of evil, and a political critique of those who allowed it to happen—Rwandans, the United Nations, the United States, and various European countries. This is a chilling and ultimately frustrating story, but it is a book that is hard to put down. We are left asking, “How could this have happened?’ We are also left with the message that it could happen again.

And from the Tennessean today:

Author and activist Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda, will speak to MTSU students on Aug. 26 at 2 p.m. in Murphy Center. He saved 1,268 people during a 100-day genocidal siege that claimed 1 million lives in 1994. His talk is free and open to the public. Info: 898-2919.

His autobiography, An Ordinary Man, was MTSU's 2007 Summer Reading Selection. He will sign copies of the book in Murfreesboro's Linebaugh Public Library, 105 W. Vine St., on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. Tickets: $10; info: 893-4131.