The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle
Encyclopedia
The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia is a non-fiction book by Canadian
journalist Carol Off
. The hardcover edition was published in November 2000 by Random House Canada
. The writing was favourably received and the book was short-listed for the Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing
. With numerous interviews and extensive research behind it, the book presents biographies of three Canadians in United Nations
roles in the 1990s: Roméo Dallaire
(the "lion"), Lewis MacKenzie
(the "fox"), and Louise Arbour
(the "eagle").
The book praises Dallaire's commitment to his peacekeeping
mission, but is critical of MacKenzie, who is depicted as being ignorant of the Bosnian political situation. In response to Off's portrayal of him, MacKenzie considered sue for libel, but opted not to. The book praises Arbour's efforts at building the legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals and her efforts in indicting alleged war criminals from the massacre
s in Rwanda and Bosnia. Through these biographies, the book addresses themes of morality and UN effectiveness.
journalist Carol Off
began research to write a biography of Louise Arbour
. Following input from fellow journalist and author Stevie Cameron
, she broadened the book's scope to include profiles of Roméo Dallaire
and Lewis MacKenzie
. Along with her research assistant Sian Cansfield, they compiled twenty binders of research and conducted over a hundred interviews, including with the three subjects. For the historical background on Rwanda, she consulted the works of Gérard Prunier
, Philip Gourevitch
, Alison Des Forges
, and the Human Rights Watch
. For background on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, she consulted, amongst others, the works of Noel Malcolm
, David Rieff
, Roy Gutman
. Living in Toronto with husband Linden MacIntyre
, the 45 year old author wrote the book in the spring and summer of 2000.
, from October 1993 to August 1994, served as the Force Commander for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
. In January 1994 he passed along information to the UN from a Hutu informant about a the planned extermination of Tutsi citizens and a massacre of Belgian peacekeepers. After the UN denied him permission to protect the informant, or seize any weapons, Dallaire made a plea to the Canadian government who also denied him any assistance. Dallaire continued his pleas to the UN after the genocide began
and devised a plans to end the violence. The UN ordered the peacekeepers to withdraw and not interfere. Dallaire, believing the order unethical and unlawful, disobeyed and with 450 Ghanaian soldiers, protected Tutsi hideouts. He received help from non-governmental organizations, foreign journalists, and the Canadian government. With the media reporting on the massacre, the UN authorized 5,500 troops to protect civilians. Dallaire was denied permission to arrest fleeing Hutu leaders. In August Dallaire asked to be replaced after he recognized signs of posttraumatic stress disorder. Once back in Canada, he became appalled at how little the general public knew, and how much the world leaders knew, of what happened. In the aftermath, blame was assigned to various people, including Dallaire, but Off argues that blame lies with the UN and its Security Council who refused to act when called upon.
Lewis MacKenzie
, in 1992, served in the Sarajevo division of United Nations Protection Force
which was mandated to keep the peace in Croatia. Off describes MacKenzie as being indifferent as hostilities began in Sarajevo because his mandate did not include intervention in Bosnian affairs. MacKenzie's distrust of all participants in the hostilities grew following a botched prisoner exchange, the Breadline Massacre, and broken ceasefire arrangements. MacKenzie helped negotiate UN control of the Sarajevo International Airport
which allowed humanitarian shipments. MacKenzie gave many media interviews but Off criticizes him for portraying both the Serbs and the Bosnians as aggressors and recommending against intervention.
Louise Arbour
began her job as Chief Prosecutor of war crimes at the UN in October 1996. She was unexpectedly selected by her predecessor, Richard Goldstone
, as he believed she processed the toughness to pursue war crime suspects and the bureaucratic and diplomatic skills to function at the UN. At the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
, contrary to Goldstone's tactic of publicizing indictments, which allowed the accused to make their arrest a risk to the ceasefire, Arbour kept hers sealed allowing for surprise arrests. In Rwanda
she achieved several high-profile prosecutions, including the first conviction for rape as a war crime. By time she left in Fall 1999, her office had Slobodan Milošević
, a head of state, indicted and arrested.
and one to provide background context for the conflicts in Rwanda
and Bosnia
. There are also sections entitled Introduction, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, Source Notes, and Index. The three biographies of the Canadians focus on their involvement in international conflicts through the United Nations, but also includes aspects of their backgrounds and follow events after they leave the UN. In the profiles Off avoids describing places and events but provides a chapter to "a Grapes of Wrath-style description of her two locales". The biographies compare and contrast the strategy and effect of each person's approach to their mission. One reviewer compared the profiles of Dallaire and MacKenzie to Suetonius
's biographies of Athenian generals Nicias
and Alcibiades
. Suetonius portrayed Nicias as honourable, moderate, and effective but over-shadowed by the more vocal and polarizing Alcibiades. Likewise, Off portrayed Dallaire as the more honourable commander but over-shadowed by the more media savvy and callous MacKenzie. Off's focus on moral choices was called "a feminist approach" by several members of the Department of National Defence
.
In the Introduction, Off explains the animal metaphors
. Roméo Dallaire is the 'lion' because he acted couragously with an appearance of contol and confidence. Lewis MacKenzie compared to a 'fox' because while he made a brave and dramatic defence of the airport, and was trusted by outside observers, his actions in recommending against intervention were based on the cunning logic that all sides were, at least, partly responsible for the conflict. Louise Arbour is portrayed as the 'eagle' for her pursuit of justice and her use of surprise SWAT
-like arrests.
She identifies the UN as the book's villain and criticizes the UN's practise of moral equivalency that treats both sides equally even though one side is clearly dominant and brutally oppressive. It results in the requirement of its personnel to remain neutral but Off questions how a peacekeeper can remain neutral while watching people being killed. The book treats this as a reality of international relations, which places a precedence on state sovereignty over human rights, and a factor in making the UN slow, ineffectual, and inappropriately bureaucratic. She notes that some peacekeepers cope by demonizing all sides which helps diminish the sense of impotence in being unable to intervene.
published the hardcover in November 2000. An excerpt was published in the weekly general interest magazine Saturday Night
. It appeared on Maclean's
best-seller list for 4 weeks, peaking at #3. A Random House imprint, Vintage Canada, published the trade paperback a year later. The Writers' Trust of Canada
short-listed the book for its 2000 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing
.
Reviewers described Off's writing as strong, clear, and sometimes elegant. Reviewing for the Quill & Quire
, Derek Weiler wrote that the book's strength is its "informative outlines of [the] conflicts, with gripping and readable summary enhanced by evocative scene-setting." Weiler and other reviewers found the chapters on Arbour, where the narrative slackens, to be the weakest part of the book.
While Arbour was pleased with her profile, MacKenzie was not. Reviewers noted Off's critical portrayal of MacKenzie as being excessive and MacKenzie considered suing Off for libel. Instead MacKenzie wrote a response in The Globe and Mail
presenting his point-of-view concerning the mission and events. In 2008 he wrote an autobiography with a chapter dedicated to addressing the criticism he received as a result of Off's book. While Off condemns MacKenzie for not learning the conflict's history and telling American audiences that both sides were to blame for the conflict, MacKenzie defends himself by stating it was international decision-making, not his opinions, that led the UN to not intervene.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist Carol Off
Carol Off
Carol Off is a Canadian television and radio journalist, associated with CBC Television and CBC Radio. She has been a host of CBC Radio's As It Happens since 2006. Previously a documentary reporter for The National, Off also hosted the political debate series counterSpin on CBC Newsworld.She is the...
. The hardcover edition was published in November 2000 by Random House Canada
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. The writing was favourably received and the book was short-listed for the Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing
Shaughnessy Cohen Award
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best non-fiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It was presented for the first time in 2000....
. With numerous interviews and extensive research behind it, the book presents biographies of three Canadians in United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
roles in the 1990s: Roméo Dallaire
Roméo Dallaire
Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
(the "lion"), Lewis MacKenzie
Lewis MacKenzie
Major-General Lewis Wharton MacKenzie, UE, CM, CMM, MSC, O.Ont, CD is a retired Canadian general, author and media commentator. MacKenzie is most famous for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992...
(the "fox"), and Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...
(the "eagle").
The book praises Dallaire's commitment to his peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
mission, but is critical of MacKenzie, who is depicted as being ignorant of the Bosnian political situation. In response to Off's portrayal of him, MacKenzie considered sue for libel, but opted not to. The book praises Arbour's efforts at building the legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals and her efforts in indicting alleged war criminals from the massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
s in Rwanda and Bosnia. Through these biographies, the book addresses themes of morality and UN effectiveness.
Background
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
journalist Carol Off
Carol Off
Carol Off is a Canadian television and radio journalist, associated with CBC Television and CBC Radio. She has been a host of CBC Radio's As It Happens since 2006. Previously a documentary reporter for The National, Off also hosted the political debate series counterSpin on CBC Newsworld.She is the...
began research to write a biography of Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...
. Following input from fellow journalist and author Stevie Cameron
Stevie Cameron
Stevie Cameron is an award-winning Canadian investigative journalist and best-selling author. Born in Belleville, Ontario in 1943, she now lives in Toronto with her husband, David Cameron, a professor at the University of Toronto. They have two daughters; both Toronto-based screenwriters.-Early...
, she broadened the book's scope to include profiles of Roméo Dallaire
Roméo Dallaire
Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
and Lewis MacKenzie
Lewis MacKenzie
Major-General Lewis Wharton MacKenzie, UE, CM, CMM, MSC, O.Ont, CD is a retired Canadian general, author and media commentator. MacKenzie is most famous for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992...
. Along with her research assistant Sian Cansfield, they compiled twenty binders of research and conducted over a hundred interviews, including with the three subjects. For the historical background on Rwanda, she consulted the works of Gérard Prunier
Gérard Prunier
Gérard Prunier is a French academic and historian specializing in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.Prunier received a PhD in African History in 1981 from the University of Paris. In 1984, he joined the CNRS scientific institution in Paris as a researcher. He later also became Director of the...
, Philip Gourevitch
Philip Gourevitch
Philip Gourevitch , an American author and journalist, is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker and the former editor of The Paris Review. His most recent book is The Ballad of Abu Ghraib , an account of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison under the American occupation...
, Alison Des Forges
Alison Des Forges
Alison Des Forges was an American historian and human rights activist who specialized in the African Great Lakes region, particularly the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. At the time of her death, she was a senior advisor for the African continent at Human Rights Watch.-Life:Des Forges was born Alison B...
, and the Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. For background on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, she consulted, amongst others, the works of Noel Malcolm
Noel Malcolm
Noel Robert Malcolm FBA FRSL is a modern English historian, writer, and columnist.-Life:Malcolm was educated at Eton College , read History at Peterhouse, Cambridge, wrote his doctorate dissertation at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was for a time Fellow of Gonville and Caius College,...
, David Rieff
David Rieff
David Rieff is an American polemicist and pundit. His books have focused on issues of immigration, international conflict, and humanitarianism...
, Roy Gutman
Roy Gutman
Roy Gutman is an American journalist and author.In 1966, Gutman graduated from Haverford College with a major in History. In 1968, Gutman graduated from the London School of Economics with a masters degree in International Relations.Roy Gutman joined Newsday in January 1982 and served for eight...
. Living in Toronto with husband Linden MacIntyre
Linden MacIntyre
Linden MacIntyre is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist. He has won eight Gemini Awards, an International Emmy and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence.-Life and career:...
, the 45 year old author wrote the book in the spring and summer of 2000.
Content
Roméo DallaireRoméo Dallaire
Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...
, from October 1993 to August 1994, served as the Force Commander for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
The United Nations Assistance Mission In Rwanda was a mission instituted by the United Nations to aid the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed August 4, 1993, which were meant to end the Rwandan Civil War. The mission lasted from October 1993 to March 1996...
. In January 1994 he passed along information to the UN from a Hutu informant about a the planned extermination of Tutsi citizens and a massacre of Belgian peacekeepers. After the UN denied him permission to protect the informant, or seize any weapons, Dallaire made a plea to the Canadian government who also denied him any assistance. Dallaire continued his pleas to the UN after the genocide began
Initial events of the Rwandan Genocide
The assassination of presidents Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira in the evening of April 6, 1994 was the proximate trigger for the Rwandan Genocide, which resulted in the murder of approximately 800,000 Tutsi and a smaller number of moderate Hutu. The first few days following the...
and devised a plans to end the violence. The UN ordered the peacekeepers to withdraw and not interfere. Dallaire, believing the order unethical and unlawful, disobeyed and with 450 Ghanaian soldiers, protected Tutsi hideouts. He received help from non-governmental organizations, foreign journalists, and the Canadian government. With the media reporting on the massacre, the UN authorized 5,500 troops to protect civilians. Dallaire was denied permission to arrest fleeing Hutu leaders. In August Dallaire asked to be replaced after he recognized signs of posttraumatic stress disorder. Once back in Canada, he became appalled at how little the general public knew, and how much the world leaders knew, of what happened. In the aftermath, blame was assigned to various people, including Dallaire, but Off argues that blame lies with the UN and its Security Council who refused to act when called upon.
Lewis MacKenzie
Lewis MacKenzie
Major-General Lewis Wharton MacKenzie, UE, CM, CMM, MSC, O.Ont, CD is a retired Canadian general, author and media commentator. MacKenzie is most famous for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992...
, in 1992, served in the Sarajevo division of United Nations Protection Force
United Nations Protection Force
The United Nations Protection Force ', was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. It existed between the beginning of UN involvement in February 1992, and its restructuring into other forces in March 1995...
which was mandated to keep the peace in Croatia. Off describes MacKenzie as being indifferent as hostilities began in Sarajevo because his mandate did not include intervention in Bosnian affairs. MacKenzie's distrust of all participants in the hostilities grew following a botched prisoner exchange, the Breadline Massacre, and broken ceasefire arrangements. MacKenzie helped negotiate UN control of the Sarajevo International Airport
Sarajevo International Airport
Sarajevo International Airport , also known as Butmir Airport, is the main international airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located southwest of the railway station in the capital city of Sarajevo in the suburb of Butmir....
which allowed humanitarian shipments. MacKenzie gave many media interviews but Off criticizes him for portraying both the Serbs and the Bosnians as aggressors and recommending against intervention.
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...
began her job as Chief Prosecutor of war crimes at the UN in October 1996. She was unexpectedly selected by her predecessor, Richard Goldstone
Richard Goldstone
Richard Joseph Goldstone is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1990 to 1994...
, as he believed she processed the toughness to pursue war crime suspects and the bureaucratic and diplomatic skills to function at the UN. At the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
, contrary to Goldstone's tactic of publicizing indictments, which allowed the accused to make their arrest a risk to the ceasefire, Arbour kept hers sealed allowing for surprise arrests. In Rwanda
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...
she achieved several high-profile prosecutions, including the first conviction for rape as a war crime. By time she left in Fall 1999, her office had Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, a head of state, indicted and arrested.
Style
The book is divided into four sections: one for each biographyBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and one to provide background context for the conflicts in Rwanda
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
and Bosnia
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
. There are also sections entitled Introduction, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, Source Notes, and Index. The three biographies of the Canadians focus on their involvement in international conflicts through the United Nations, but also includes aspects of their backgrounds and follow events after they leave the UN. In the profiles Off avoids describing places and events but provides a chapter to "a Grapes of Wrath-style description of her two locales". The biographies compare and contrast the strategy and effect of each person's approach to their mission. One reviewer compared the profiles of Dallaire and MacKenzie to Suetonius
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
's biographies of Athenian generals Nicias
Nicias
Nicias or Nikias was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy because he had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested into the silver mines around Attica's Mt. Laurium...
and Alcibiades
Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae , was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War...
. Suetonius portrayed Nicias as honourable, moderate, and effective but over-shadowed by the more vocal and polarizing Alcibiades. Likewise, Off portrayed Dallaire as the more honourable commander but over-shadowed by the more media savvy and callous MacKenzie. Off's focus on moral choices was called "a feminist approach" by several members of the Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
.
In the Introduction, Off explains the animal metaphors
Zoosemy
Zoosemy is a metaphor for the way names of animals are used to denote and characterise human qualities and traits of the character. The term zoosemy was first used by Grzegorz A. Kleparski . He also noticed that the category MAMMALS form the majority of the cases of zoosemy...
. Roméo Dallaire is the 'lion' because he acted couragously with an appearance of contol and confidence. Lewis MacKenzie compared to a 'fox' because while he made a brave and dramatic defence of the airport, and was trusted by outside observers, his actions in recommending against intervention were based on the cunning logic that all sides were, at least, partly responsible for the conflict. Louise Arbour is portrayed as the 'eagle' for her pursuit of justice and her use of surprise SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
-like arrests.
Themes
Reviewers identified two themes: morality and the UN effectiveness. Off characterized Dallaire and Arbour as morally correct and MacKenzie morally wrong. In Rwanda, Dallaire lobbied the UN to intervene to stop the genocide. In Yugoslavia, MacKenzie is accused of being an apologist for the Serbs. In an interview Off admitted that she would prefer MacKenzie to be her son's commander but would want Dallaire if her people were being attacked because one puts his soldiers before the mission and the other the mission before the soldiers.She identifies the UN as the book's villain and criticizes the UN's practise of moral equivalency that treats both sides equally even though one side is clearly dominant and brutally oppressive. It results in the requirement of its personnel to remain neutral but Off questions how a peacekeeper can remain neutral while watching people being killed. The book treats this as a reality of international relations, which places a precedence on state sovereignty over human rights, and a factor in making the UN slow, ineffectual, and inappropriately bureaucratic. She notes that some peacekeepers cope by demonizing all sides which helps diminish the sense of impotence in being unable to intervene.
Publication and reception
Random House CanadaRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
published the hardcover in November 2000. An excerpt was published in the weekly general interest magazine Saturday Night
Saturday Night (magazine)
Saturday Night was a Canadian general interest magazine. It was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1887.The publication was first established as a weekly broadsheet newspaper about public affairs and the arts, which was later expanded into a general interest magazine. The editor, Edmund E. Sheppard,...
. It appeared on Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
best-seller list for 4 weeks, peaking at #3. A Random House imprint, Vintage Canada, published the trade paperback a year later. The Writers' Trust of Canada
Writers' Trust of Canada
The Writers' Trust of Canada is a non-profit organization which provides financial support to Canadian writers.Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, David Young and Margaret Laurence, the Writers' Trust of Canada was registered as a non-profit organization in 1976...
short-listed the book for its 2000 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing
Shaughnessy Cohen Award
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best non-fiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It was presented for the first time in 2000....
.
Reviewers described Off's writing as strong, clear, and sometimes elegant. Reviewing for the Quill & Quire
Quill & Quire
Quill & Quire, a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry, was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, but its publisher claims a readership of 25,000...
, Derek Weiler wrote that the book's strength is its "informative outlines of [the] conflicts, with gripping and readable summary enhanced by evocative scene-setting." Weiler and other reviewers found the chapters on Arbour, where the narrative slackens, to be the weakest part of the book.
While Arbour was pleased with her profile, MacKenzie was not. Reviewers noted Off's critical portrayal of MacKenzie as being excessive and MacKenzie considered suing Off for libel. Instead MacKenzie wrote a response in The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
presenting his point-of-view concerning the mission and events. In 2008 he wrote an autobiography with a chapter dedicated to addressing the criticism he received as a result of Off's book. While Off condemns MacKenzie for not learning the conflict's history and telling American audiences that both sides were to blame for the conflict, MacKenzie defends himself by stating it was international decision-making, not his opinions, that led the UN to not intervene.