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In spite of the geographic limits suggested by its title, Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan by Hannibal Travis comprehensively surveys mass killings around the world, with particular emphasis on the 20th century. Travis defines genocide broadly: it is "the crime of destroying, or attempting or conspiring to destroy, a national, ethnic, or religious group, whether in whole or in part" (p. xxiii). Referring to the discussions of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer who invented the term "genocide" in 1943, as well as to the principles of the 1948 Genocide Convention, Travis emphasizes that designating crimes as genocide does not necessarily require an intent to annihilate a group as a whole. Systematic massacres and discriminatory acts may also denote genocidal objectives. Travis also discusses different ways to conceptualize genocide, emphasizing cultural, mental, structural, economic, or biological variants. The result is a highly ambitious historical account of not only mass killings carried out by state and nonstate actors but also acts of economic and cultural discrimination, religious persecution, slavery, colonial expansion, and terrorism.
Travis' book is unusual in its historical and empirical scope. It begins with a discussion of the evolution of international law in terms of the regulation of armed conflict from ancient times to the present. Travis then gives an overview of the Genocide Convention and other sources of international law that address genocide, such as the United Nations...