Scherrer, head of the independent Ethnic Conflict Research Project founded in 1987, examines the genesis of violence in the Central African intrastate conflicts of Rwanda, the Congo, and Burundi analytically and also as "part of a personal process of grieving." Viewing the state-sponsored massacres in Rwanda as the worst genocide since the Holocaust, he discusses its roots in European colonialism-racism, and four decades of post-colonial ideology in the region. The author plans to address reconstruction and genocide prevention in a forthcoming book. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)