After the major film success of Hotel Rwanda, many Americans were asking themselves how such genocide could have occurred without international intervention. Now, Brian Steidle's book The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur is asking the same thing.

The Devil Came on Horseback is in essence the memoirs of a former U.S. Marine. Steidle began work in Sudan in 2004 as a military contractor, but stayed in the Darfur region as an unarmed military observer for the African Union's cease-fire coalition.

Steidle describes the origins of the Darfur conflict as between the Arab-dominated government of Sudan and the rebel SPLA, which represents black tribes from the region's south. The Arab militias, called Janjaweed, meaning 'devil on a horse,' lend their name as the origin of Steidle's title.

As an observer, Steidle witnessed acts of atrocity he never thought he'd see in his life, acts that literally changed his worldview. He felt the sense of extreme helplessness many Americans feel today, both surrounding the lack of international help as well as his own inability to affect change in the region.

The Devil Came on Horseback, then, seems like Steidle's cathartic effort to both ease his mind and bring awareness to the direness of the situation facing Darfur through both photographs and words. Steidle works in partnership with his sister, Gretchen Steidle Wallace, the founder of Global Grassroots. He has not only written this book but has also put together a documentary film, a college lecture tour and a traveling photo exhibit with Wallace.

In his book, Steidle explains the Darfur conflict just barely. If his readers can be assumed to know nothing about the genocide, they will come away from the Devil Came on Horseback, with a rudimentary understanding. Otherwise, no new political analysis can be found.

Steidle's book is certainly compelling, but it is much more introspective than it should be. Nevertheless, it achieves its aim of bringing even more awareness to an unspeakably horrific situation unfolding right now.