Troubled by poverty and the dislocation of its people after the construction of Africa's largest dam, The Nubian landscape is harsh and uncompromising. Most of it is desert negotiable only by the hardiest of nomads, but the thin strip of land beside the Nile provides living conditions for settlement and survival. Dongola is one such settlement. It was here the young Chris McIvor arrived to provide teaching services in the early 1980s. Later travelling along the Nile and across the desert he explored the broken remains of a civilization that long predates any European equivalent, and discovered a deeply cultured, warm people whose first instinct was to open their hearts and homes to him. In Darfur he also encountered the beginnings of the religious, political and ethnic struggles that would drive the current genocide. Col & b/w photos, 214pp, UK. SANDSTONE PRESS.

In mid-2004 the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan forced itself on to the centre stage of world affairs. A formerly obscure 'tribal conflict' in the heart of Africa has escalated into what could be the first genocide of the twenty-first century. Its characteristics - Arabism, Islamism, African consciousness, famine as a weapon of war, mass rape, international obfuscation and a refusal to look evil squarely in the face - reflect many of the problems of the global South in general and Africa in particular. Journalistic explanations of the unfolding crisis have often been given to hurried generalisations and inaccuracies. This book explains the complexities behind the conflict and why it is so relevant to the future of the continent. It sets out the ethnopolitical make up of the Sudan and explains why the Darfur rebellion is regarded as a key threat to Arab power in the country, much more so than the secessionism of the Christian south. This, he argues, accounts for the government's deployment of 'exemplary violence' by the Janjaweed militias in order to cow other Black Muslims into subservience. Index, bib, notes, 212pp, UK. HURST & COMPANY.

In 2004, the State Department gathered more than a thousand interviews from refugees in Chad that verified Colin Powell’s U.N. and congressional testimonies about the Darfur genocide. The survey cost nearly a million dollars to conduct and yet it languished in the archives as the killing continued, claiming hundreds of thousands of murder and rape victims and restricting several million survivors to camps. This book for the first time fully examines that survey and its heartbreaking accounts. It documents the Sudanese governments enlistment of Arab Janjaweed militias in destroying black African communities. The central questions are: Why is the United States so ambivalent to genocide? Why do so many scholars de-emphasize racial aspects of genocide? How can the science of criminology advance understanding and protection against genocide? 296pp, UK. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Brings together a diverse group of contributors from Sudan and beyond: scholars, activists, NGO and aid workers, members of government and the Darfurian rebel movements, and artists who share a deep knowledge of the situation in Darfur and Sudan. Together, they provide the most comprehensive, balanced, and nuanced account yet published of the conflicts roots and the contemporary realities that shape the experiences of those living in the region. 524pp, USA. CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS.

The Darfur conflict has presented the international community with a number of challenges. How can the fighting be stopped in Darfur? What can be done to save lives and help the two million people displaced by the conflict? And how to help bring about peace, whilst ensuring that the peace agreement for the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 - 2005) is implemented? Drawing on original research, and tracing the history of international responses to the conflicts in Sudan, Barltrop investigates what has determined the outcomes of international mediation and relief in Sudan. In the process, he shows that Darfur must be seen within the wider context of conflict in Sudan, and that lessons should be drawn both for Sudan and for the effective practice of conflict resolution. 288pp, UK. I B TAURIS.

Updated and enlarged edition. Images of the genocide in Darfur have shocked the Western world: Upwards of 300,000 of its inhabitants have died, and another 2.5 million have become refugees. Those affected by the violence are estimated at almost 4 million, 700,000 of whom are now beyond the reach of humanitarian assistance. These are staggering numbers, and the fractious insurgent groups involved - Islamist Arab tribal militias against Christian black Africans and other militias made up of deserters of the Chad Army - were and still are supported to kill, rob, and terrorize by the governments of the neighbouring states of the Sudan, Chad and Libya. These are the consequences of a decades-long war, as J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins argued in their earlier book, Africa's Thirty Years War: Libya, Chad, and the Sudan, 1963-1993. The Long Road to Disaster in Darfur updates this study and covers the events of the last fifteen years. Index, bib, maps, 347pp, USA. MARKUS WIENER PUBLICATIONS INC.

Contributors, including Alex de Waal, Suliman Baldo, Mukesh Kapila, Jim Terrie, examines African and international responses to the Dafur crisis to date and future options to protect vulnerable civilians in Darfur. There are no easy options, but there are two overarching priorities for international action: ensuring the deployment of an effective international force, and action to revive political negotiations. 46pp, UK. IPPR.

Considerably revised and updated edition. Sudan's westernmost region, Darfur, sprang into notoriety early in 2004 when a war of hideous proportions unleashed what the United Nations called 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis'. For the last two years, the conflict has been simplified to pictures of sprawling refugee camps and lurid accounts of 'Arabs' murdering 'Africans.' Behind these images lies a complex story. This account details the history of Darfur, its conflicts, and the designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli. It investigates infamous 'Janjawiid' militia and the nature of the rebellions by the Sudan Liberation Armey and the Justice and Equality Movement. Index, bib, notes, chronology, b/w photos, 320pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

Presents an analytical narrative of Darfur, from the beginnings of its recorded history to the present. Three themes dominate: Darfur's complex history and its equally complex ethnic and ecological issues. The various phases of Darfur's history are given appropriate weight, under the sultans (c. 1650-1916), under the British (1916-56) and since independence (1956). Argues that an understanding of all three periods is the key to an understanding of the present. Index, bib, gloss, 357pp, UK. HURST.

New in paperback. Harrowing photojournalism that covers three periods in the Sudan crisis, including images shot in 1988, when an estimated 250,000 Sudanese died of starvation; images from 1992 and 1995 that capture the atrocities of a civil war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes to other destinations in Sudan or left the country altogether; and images from 2005 until the present, illuminating the Sudanese government's sponsorship of systematic violence on the people of Darfur. This book includes website links and additional resources for readers to utilize in seeking an urgent, immediate, and international call to action and to raise awareness of this suffering. 136pp, USA. POWERHOUSE BOOKS.

Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, a gallery of O. Henry award recipients, and many best-selling authors come together to share personal and compelling challenges and experiences. It includes topics ranging from contemplations on past drug use to reflections on gun control, social justice, passion and its sacrifices, and adventures such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and golfing, the topics vary greatly. This kaleidoscopic anthology is a commentary on the lives of prominent literary artists and ordinary citizens who have made simple, yet powerful choices that provoked change in one's self and for humanity. 224pp, USA. RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS.

New in paperback. Former US Marine Brian Steidle arrived in Southern Sudan in January 2004 looking for adventure and ready to provide military support for the ceasefire ending Africa's longest-lasting civil war. Hired as one of only three Americans on the ground in areas of Darfur inaccessible to journalists or even humanitarian aid workers, he spent six months there, witnessing first-hand the on-going genocide, and documenting every day of his experience using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1000 photographs. 242pp, UK. PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

Journal of a Jesuit priest who spent nine months in 2004 and 2005 working in three of the overcrowded, desolate desert camps along the Chadian border. Patrick Samway's diaries, deeply informed by his perspective as a religious scholar, are an unflinching eyewitness account of one of the greatest tragedies of our time. Charged with the considerable task of setting up schools for refugee children, Samway recounts his experiences with scarce food and water, non-existent educational resources, and the remarkable people he encounters along the way. Col photos, 293pp, USA. SCRANTON UNIV PRESS.

Provides essential resources for understanding the conflict in Darfur, from the historical background to an analysis of the present situation. It also proposes several non-violent ways of solving the crisis, from the democratization of the Sudan to reconciliation negotiations between actors at all levels to dramatically expanding the operational capacity of the peacekeeping troops supplied by the African Union. 60pp, NETHERLANDS. AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS.

In response to the ongoing mass murder of Black Sudanese groups in the Darfur region of Sudan by Sudanese government troops and Arab militias, the US government sent the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Team to various points along the Chad/Sudan in order to interview refugees from Darfur. Based on their investigation, US Secretary of State Colin Powell formally announced that 'genocide has occurred in Darfur and may still be occurring.' This book is comprised of essays from contributors who were involved in designing the project and hiring and training investigators, interpreters, and support personnel; US government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) officials involved in the genesis of the project as well as the analysis of the data; and numerous scholars, not all of whom were directly involved with the project, who critique aspects of the documentation project as well as its significance. 272pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

New in paperback. Working with Medecins Sans Frontieres, Lisa Baker arrived in Sudan full of determination to use her skills as a nurse to do something to ease the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the conflict raging through Darfur. The six months she spent on the mission were the toughest of her life, treating children with machete wounds, babies dying of chronic dehydration, girls giving birth at the age of 13 and old women too traumatised to carry on living. Her account is written without sentiment but with a powerful and moving determination to show the suffering of the people of Darfur and to bear witness to their remark-able courage in the face of the most appalling situation. Col photos, 352pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

This book examines the crisis in Darfur as a case study of some of the wider debates currently taking place within International Relations theory. Using the conceptual framework developed by English School theorists, specifically their concept of international society and the related idea of good interna-tional citizenship, this book examines a wide range of issues: foreign policy analysis, theories of norm diffusion, international organizations, peace operations, international criminal justice and war law, the causes and nature of contemporary warfare, and the international relations of Africa. 288pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

Cheadle first became aware of the conflict in Darfur conflict while filming HOTEL RWANDA. Shocked and energised by the scale of the emerging crisis, he set about raising awareness of the Darfur conflict with John Prendergast, a former advisor to Bill Clinton. The authors have travelled to the refugee camps on the Sudanase /Chad border to pay witness to the unfolding tragedy which has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and displaced a further 2 million. B/w photos, gloss, 351pp, USA. MAVERICK HOUSE.

The genocide in Darfur erupted in 2003 but its seeds had been planted years before. By mid-2007, estimates of those who had been killed or had perished due lack of water, starvation, or injuries, ranged from a low of 250,000 to over 400,000. This two volume set presents the harrowing stories of survivors of this genocide, and includes a collection of official documents delineating the international community's reaction to the crisis in Darfur. The author has interviewed two dozen Sudanese refugees who fled their homes and made their way to the neighbouring country of Chad, recording their experiences prior to the war, during various genocide events, and following their escape. These interviews comprise Volume One. In Volume Two, the author has selected critical documents issued by the United States, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court, each of which presents critical insights into how the international community viewed the scorched earth policy and atrocities. 556pp, USA. PRAEGER.

For six years an unlikely coalition of the religious right, the liberal left and a smattering of celebrities has kept Darfur's bloody conflict in the headlines. Rob Crilly arrived in Sudan in 2005 to find out what made Darfur special. Far from being a simple clash of good and evil, he discovers the complicated truth about Arabs and Africans, and the world's failed attempts to halt the killing. Along the way he rides with rebels on donkeys, gets caught in a Janjaweed attack and learns lessons from Osama bin Laden's horse. UK. REPORTAGE PRESS.

Examines the deeply rooted causes of the current conflict, from its colonial and Cold War origins to the war's intensification from the 1990s to the present day. Examining how the conflict has drawn in national, regional, and global forces, Mamdani unpicks the interests behind the persistent calls for a military intervention. 320pp, UK. VERSO.

Reveals the myriad ways in which the West has failed Darfur. Eschewing liberal notions of Western benevolence, Fake and Funk argue that the hard reality behind humanitarian intervention advocacy is a disturbing portrait of Washington's past and present relations with some of the worst elements in power in Khartoum. 290pp, CANADA. BLACK ROSE.

Dr. James Maskalyk returned last year from Sudan where he was the first official blogger for Médecins Sans Frontieres. He wrote about his life on assignment in Abyei, a town near the Darfur region of Sudan, where he spent almost six months tending patients at great personal risk. Here, he weaves those daily journal entries into an extraordinary book which explains what its like to try to keep disease, violence, terror and despair at bay while administering front-line care in one of the most dangerous and desperate places on earth. 352pp, UK. CANONGATE.

New in paperback. Halima Bashir was born into the remote western deserts of Sudan. She grew up in a wonderfully rich environment and later went on to study medicine. At the age of twenty-four she returned to her people and began practising as their first ever qualified doctor. But then a dark cloud descended as Janjaweed Arab militias began savagely assaulting her people. At first, Halima tried not to get involved. But in January 2004 they attacked people in her village. Halima treated the traumatised victims and was sickened by what she saw. She decided to speak out in a Sudanese newspaper and to the UN charities. Then the secret police came for her. For days Halima was interrogated and subjected to unspeakable torture. She finally escaped but the nightmare just seemed to follow her. Gloss, 384pp, UK. HODDER HEADLINE.

Critically-acclaimed memoir, bearing witness to the atrocities committed in Darfur. As told to Dennis Michael Burke and Megan McKenna. 210pp, UK. PENGUIN BOOKS.

Series of essays by leading Sudanese and international specialists on Darfur, combining original research and analysis. The book provides in-depth analysis of the origins and dimensions of the conflict, including detailed accounts of the evolution of ethnic and religious identi-ties, the breakdown of local administration, the emergence of Arab militia and resistance movements, and regional dimensions to the conflict. The study also focuses on the search for peace, with contributions by those most closely engaged in local and international efforts to resolve the conflict. This includes documentation and analysis of the warring parties' ideologies and agendas and how they have changed in the course of the conflict, and examination of the efforts made by Sudanese civil and political leaders, the African Union, and other international actors to bring the war to an end. Index, bib, notes, 430pp, USA. HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Second edition. Brings together genocide scholars from a range of disciplines - social history, art history, military history, African studies, media studies, literature, political science, sociology - to provide a cohesive and nuanced understanding of the international response to the crisis in Western Sudan. Contributing authors, including Eric Reeves, Frank Chalk, Eric Markusen, and Samuel Totten, look at the lessons learned from the United Nations failure to intervene during the Rwandan genocide, the represen-tation of Darfur in the mainstream media, atrocity investigations, activist and NGO campaigns, art exhibitions and political rhetoric, and the role of the international community in the discourse of genocide prevention and intervention. 392pp, CANADA. MCGILL-QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY PRESS.