The book of death
In the book, Power includes an extract written by Raphael Lemkin, in which he describes the atrocities of the holocaust: "All over Europe the Nazis were writing the book of death with the blood of my brethren." By using this imagery, Lemkin emphasizes the cruelty of the Nazi regime and the inhuman atrocities they committed during the Second World War.
Genocide
In the book, Power talks about the origin of the term "genocide," using imagery in doing so. For example, she describes Lemkin's desire to "capture the crime in a word that connoted something truly unique and evil," and also calls it the "ultimate crime." For Power, there almost doesn't seem imagery strong enough to capture the terror of genocide.
Imagery of the holocaust
Power uses horrific imagery to describe the holocaust, referring to "naked corpses in the Warsaw ghetto, yellow stars, starving children, Jew hunts, and the smell of burning flesh." This imagery emphasizes the horrors that took place during the holocaust and the tragic loss of human life that occurred during this dark time in history.
