The Bone Woman
A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo
Random House Publishing Group · Print & ebook · February 8, 2005
In 1994, Rwanda was the scene of the first acts since World War II to be legally defined as genocide.
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- Who it’s for
- A forensic anthropologist’s account joins rigorous investigation to the human stakes of justice.
- Themes
- Forensic anthropology, Genocide investigations, Human rights and justice
- Genres
- Forensics, Genocide & War Crimes, Cultural Anthropology
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In 1994, Rwanda was the scene of the first acts since World War II to be legally defined as genocide. Two years later, Clea Koff, a twenty-three-year-old forensic anthropologist, left the safe confines of a lab in Berkeley, California, to serve as one of sixteen scientists chosen by the United Nations to unearth the physical evidence of the Rwandan genocide.
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Over the next four years, Koff’s grueling investigations took her across geography synonymous with some of the worst crimes of the twentieth century. The Bone Woman is Koff’s unflinching, riveting account of her seven UN missions to Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Rwanda, as she shares what she saw, how it affected her, who was prosecuted based on evidence she found, and what she learned about the world. Yet even as she recounts the hellish nature of her work and the heartbreak of the survivors, she imbues her story with purpose, humanity, and a sense of justice. A tale of science in service of human rights, The Bone Woman is, even more profoundly, a story of hope and enduring moral principles.
Evidence and Conscience
A forensic anthropologist’s account joins rigorous investigation to the human stakes of justice.
Come here for
- Forensic science in the service of human rights
- A first-person view of investigations across Rwanda and the Balkans
Expect
- An unflinching account that keeps survivors and justice in view
- Science, heartbreak, and moral purpose held together
Where it sits
| Genocide & War Crimes | 51% |
|---|---|
| Forensics | 43% |
| Cultural Anthropology | 28% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 20th-Century History
- Genocide & War Crimes
- Cultural Anthropology
- Authors
- Clea Koff
- Publisher
- Random House Publishing Group
- Published
- February 8, 2005
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Forensic anthropology · Genocide investigations · Human rights and justice
- Reading lane
- 20th-Century History