The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo | 
 enlarge | Author: Clea Koff
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
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Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 35642
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0812968859
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.9
EAN: 9780812968859
ASIN: 0812968859
Publication Date: February 8, 2005
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Product Description
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. 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
Interesting, Informative Read July 12, 2008
Clea Koff is a forensic anthropologist who worked with teams in Rwanda, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo uncovering mass graves, determining individual identities and cause of death. This books seems to be a journal that was eventually turned into a book (the writing is informal). Koff explains how she was inspired to go into this field. She explains the process of uncovering bodies and what she learns about how to do forensic anthropology. She talks about her teammates, the good and the bad (and does a fair amount of complaining). She reminds us on the history that went on before each mass grave occurred. Overall an interesting, informative read.
 Great read April 13, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm a bio-anthro undergraduate and although I wouldn't consider it as a career, I am very interested in forensic anthropology. This book was amazing and really useful. It gives you a window into the life of a forensic anthropologist and the impact that it can have on the world. Clea writes very clearly and with purpose, as she explains what attracted her to forensics and how she wanted to give voices to the dead. She describes her trips to Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, the beautiful landscapes, the destruction, and of course, the graves. She gives a detailed walk-through of a day in the grave and analysis of the skeletal remains. She also focuses a lot on the people she meets in these countries and how their stories affected her. She also describes the management problems she experienced on some of her trips, as her team becomes divided between "management" and "workers". This was a great insight for anyone considering a career in this field. She talks a lot about the emotional toll of her work, as well as its benefits. This is a great read for anyone interested in forensic anthropology, but maybe not for your average reader.
 The Bone Supremacist September 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Koff's prose is fine and, at times, borders on the poetic - her descriptions of her work are well written and easily read. But that's the problem - perhaps the phrase is ubiquitous self-indulgence?
In the first few pages of her work she claims that her job is to make bones talk, and that she is restoring life to these people who have lost theirs. But instead of telling us what these bones have "said," she spends 250 pages telling us how she got them to say it.
Koff is a wonderful, articulate, and intelligible writer and, clearly, a well-trained anthropologist. The problem, however, is that she spends the majority of her book extolling these points.
[I liken her work to that of a GoodWill store clerk whose intent it is to tell you how his facility benefits the underprivileged, but instead brags about (in harrowing detail) the processes of a cashier who "rings-up" the goods that the underprivileged man is buying.]
Articulation carries little weight when it's shrouded by vanity.
Finally, the book is painfully redundant. Its superfluousness becomes obvious when the first 'chapter' moves into the second. Koff tells us the same story five times in five different locales. Don't let the half-titles fool you: Kibuye is the same as Kigali is the same as Bosnia is the same as Croatia is the same as Kosovo.
An interesting read if you're considering the field of Forensic Anthropology, otherwise the book is a self-indulgent sortie into the politics of gravedigging (my obvious condolences to anyone that this may offend).
An OK Read February 10, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was interesting but not one that I would recommend to a friend. If you want to learn more about forensic anthropology, this is something you may enjoy. If you want to learn more about the raw emotions that were involved with these situations, this is not the book for you. The author spends more time talking about "the break down of the team" vs the grieving mothers who protest the search for their loved ones, familiy members searching through clothes to identify bodies, etc.
She prides herself on the fact that she is always smiling, something I found a little off considering the circumstances. There are bloody handprints on the ceiling of a church where hundreds were murdered. It's OK to show some emotion.
There are so many books out there that give a great view into what took place within these countries. If that is what you are looking for, I'd move on to something else.
This is a good one to get from the library if you are interested.
A book about the hard to accept truth December 18, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't understand the criticism of this book. The author tells not only of the work of the forensic anthropologist in discovering the grisly truth of genocide, but also helps the reader understand the brutality of the modern era. It is a stark reminder that the Holocaust of World War II was not the only and not the most recent genocide in world history. The author brings the victims to life when describing the conditions under which they are found. Her description of their clothing, personal items and positions of death are a stark and sad reminder that her work is to restore dignity to those who were slaughtered in these atrocious acts of modern warfare. While needing to stay personally detached from the victims on a daily basis to complete her work, she also provides care and attention to detail in identifying each individual's remains. This profound respect for the victims is apparent in her writing and makes this book an important contribution to the very recent history of genocide. Pairing this reading with the book "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" by Philip Gourevitch, gives historical perspective to the troubled African nation of Rwanda. This history is so often overlooked in schools and textbooks.
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