520 Holocaust and Genocide Studies tive of the text. Solkoff views obedience as a socially learned behavior, particularly in Germany, with its long tradition of obedience to authority. The emphasis on obedience is consistent with the behavioral perspective the author favors. Moreover, obedience has been demonstrated in the laboratory, and so it is also consistent with the research- based approach of contemporary psychology. But laboratory demonstrations of obedi- ence do not prove that whenever innocent people are massacred, it is necessarily the result of mindless obedience. Although an empirical approach has value, it can also narrow one’s focus. Discussing the role of Nazi propaganda or state-sanctioned vio- lence primarily in terms of social learning mechanisms strikes me as placing too much emphasis on specific psychological processes, while perhaps overlooking the far more powerful role of antisemitism. These academic issues aside, Solkoff has written an innovative and interesting book. He brings a structured, integrative organization to the explanation of prejudice, coping, grief, courage, the capacity for unimaginable evil, and other phenomena of in- terest to psychologically minded students of the Holocaust. Allan Fenigstein Kenyon College DOI: 10.1093/hgs/dcg031 The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe, and Power in the Heart of Africa, Bill Berkeley (New York: Basic Books, 2001), 320 pp., pbk. $17.00. American press coverage of Africa focuses almost exclusively on disasters—civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, and Ivory Coast; ethnic and religious violence in Rwanda and Nigeria; drought and famine in Ethiopia and Somalia. Rarely covered are positive events—such as the successful democratic transitions in Senegal and Kenya—or Africa’s great writers and musicians—much less the courage, strength, and creativity of ordinary Africans. As a result, most Americans imagine Africa to be a continent of unrelenting and inexplicable misery and chaos, run by corrupt madmen, and the pop- ulation is seen as pitiful and helpless. Disasters are reported with little context, histor- ical or otherwise, leaving most people to imagine that the widespread suffering arises from something inherent to Africa or its people. In The Graves Are Not Yet Full, journalist Bill Berkeley seeks to dispel the sim- plistic and often racist popular interpretations of modern Africa by demystifying the vi- olence that plagues much of the continent. While he explores a variety of factors that contribute to the many wars, Berkeley focuses primarily on the role of leadership. As he explains, “America’s awareness of Africa focuses overwhelmingly on the victims. I found I was interested mostly in the perpetrators” (p. 7). Taking the cases of Liberia, Congo/ Zaire, South Africa, Sudan, and Rwanda, he discusses the responsibilities of the international community, the weight of history, and the destabilizing effects of poverty. But in each case he comes back to the individuals whose political machinations, greed, and incompetence he proposes as the root cause of violence. “It is a phenomenon that