The Book Prize Index

"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide

Samantha Power

""A Problem from Hell" is a path-breaking interrogation of the last century of American history. Samantha Power poses a question that haunts our nation's past: Why do American leaders who vow "never again" repeatedly fail to marhsal the will and the might to stop genocide? She provides the answer in the form of the suspenseful story of courageous individuals who risked their careers and lives in an effort to get the United States to act. Drawing upon exclusive interviews with Washington's top policymakers, access to thousands of pages of newly declassified documents, and her own reporting from the modern killing fields, Power shows how those who urged U.S. action were thwarted again and again by ignorance, indifference, and, above all, a failure of imagination."--BOOK JACKET.

Politics & GovernmentPolitics & Government · medium confidencePolitics & Government81 signalsLlm Classifier: Politics & Government -> Politics & GovernmentKeyword Classifier: American History -> American HistoryKeyword Classifier: War & Military -> War & MilitaryAmerican Civil WarWar & Military StrategyIntelligence, Secrecy & SurveillanceCold War & Nuclear Politics

Award History

5 wins · 6 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Pulitzer Prize in General NonfictionMajor2003WinnerSecondary source
National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor2002WinnerSecondary source
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards: Nonfiction2003WinnerOfficial source
J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize2003WinnerSecondary source
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award2003Co-winnerOfficial source
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current InterestMajor2002FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (6)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    American leaders repeatedly fail to mobilize sufficient will and power to stop genocide, despite vows of "never again," because of ignorance, indifference, and a failure of imagination.

    Model confidence 72%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    45 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 74%.