A Problem from Hell

A Problem from Hell

Author	Samantha Power
Subject	Genocide, U.S. foreign policy
Genre	Non-fiction
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	February 20, 2002
Publication place	United States
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	640
ISBN	978-0465061501
Followed by	Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World

"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide (2002) is a book by American Samantha Power, at that time Professor of Human Rights Practice at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which explores the United States's understanding of, response to, and inaction on genocides in the 20th century, from the Armenian genocide to the "ethnic cleansings" of the Kosovo War. It won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2003.

Power observes that American policymakers have been consistently reluctant to condemn mass atrocities as genocide or to take responsibility for leading an international military intervention. She argues that without significant pressure from the American public, policymakers have avoided the term "genocide" altogether, which came into more widespread use after the Holocaust of World War II. Instead, they appeal to the priority of national interests or argue that a U.S. response would be futile and accelerate violence, as a justification for inaction. She thinks such justifications are usually ill-founded.^[1]