Throughout human history various national and military leaders have committed mass murder in attempts to eliminate entire ethnic, racial, or religious groups. There was no universally accepted name for these heinous crimes against humanity until Polish-American scholar Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in the 1940s. This volume tells how he helped the United Nations define it and apply it to international relations. Also explored in considerable detail are the best-known modern genocides, including those in Nazi Germany, Armenia, Rwanda, and Darfur.