Journalist, lawyer and human rights activist Samantha Power talked to an audience of about 100 people Tuesday afternoon about America’s passivity in the face of some of history’s worst crimes, the topic of her recent book.

The book, titled “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” explores behind-the-scenes evidence of the American government’s inadequate foreign policy toward genocide in the 20th century. The book was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

“There has been leadership in the face of genocide — leadership not to act,” Power said.

Power is the former executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University and currently is a public policy lecturer at the university.

In a speech at the McCormick Tribune Center, Power shared her experiences as a journalist covering war in the Balkans for U.S. News and World Report and The Economist from 1993 to 1996.

“It was definitely a creepy feeling to have people dying needlessly — not because of something they had done but because of who they were,” Power said. “It was sort of impossible to not feel uneasy about it.”

When Power returned to the United States, she decided to attend law school, hoping to make changes through the government. She also joined the International Crisis Group as a political analyst, and helped launch the organization in Bosnia.

“It was more coming home than being (in Bosnia) that made me think, ‘Why don’t we ever do anything about this?'” Power said.

She said she realized nobody in the government wanted to acknowledge genocide because of its political costs. American statesmen had dismissed the killing of 200,000 civilians in Bosnia as “a problem from hell.”

Power discussed former President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy on Rwanda and Kosovo, concluding that during Clinton’s tenure, his attitude toward foreign policy changed from “drastic” non-intervention to more active involvement.

“He acquired a confidence in himself about foreign policy,” Power said. “It took a while because it was not his thing. He gained trust in his use of force because he understood it would reflect badly on him if he allowed bad things to happen to people around the world.”

Wilmette resident George Sumkel said he thought Power’s analysis of Clinton’s change in attitude was interesting.

“I put it into perspective with the situation we are dealing with today, ” Sumkel said. “We are involved today with Iraq — and we have a president who is willing to get involved now.”

Power said she also is interested in other cases of large numbers of preventable deaths, such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

South Africa had the capability to create a model for the rest of the continent in AIDS prevention, but Power said that opportunity was “squandered” by the country’s president, Thabo Mbeki.

“I wanted to understand why the good guys do the wrong things,” Power said. “I wanted to find out what were the sum of little decisions that led (Mbeki) to a place from where he couldn’t retreat with pride or dignity.”

Power concluded that Mbeki chose to completely ignore the problem of AIDS because he was so “overwhelmed” by it.

Evanston resident Alan Birman said he found Power’s speech remarkable.

“(All the issues she discussed) became interesting because of how she expressed them,” he said.