War crimes Books

Book Synopsis'GRIPPING' – THE TIMES 'FASCINATING, NO-HOLDS-BARRED' – THE SECRET BARRISTER How can you speak up for someone accused of a savage murder? Or sway a jury? Or get a judge to drop a case? William Clegg QC is a leading criminal lawyer in London. In this vivid memoir, he revisits his most notorious and intriguing trials, from the acquittal of Colin Stagg to the murder of Jill Dando, to the man given life because of an earprint and the first Nazi war crimes prosecution in the UK. All the while he lays bare the secrets of his profession, from the rivalry among barristers to the nervous moments before a verdict comes back — and how our right to a fair trial is now at risk. Under the Wig is for anyone who wants to know the reality of a murder trial. It's an intelligent crime read for fans of The Secret Barrister's books and Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd. Well-known cases featured: Murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common Chillenden Murders of Dr Lin and Megan Russell Lee Clegg, when Labour leader Keir Starmer was his junior Murder of Jill Dando First Nazi war crimes prosecution in the UK Murder of Joanna Yeates Rebekah Brooks Phone Hacking Trial Trade ReviewThis is a gripping memoir from one of our country's greatest jury advocates, offering a fascinating, no-holds-barred tour behind the scenes of some of the most famous criminal cases of modern times. — THE SECRET BARRISTER'Countless veteran lawyers have produced page-tuners based in the fictional world of law, but in Under the Wig William Clegg, QC, has distilled his extraordinary life in the criminal courtroom into a yarn equally as gripping.' — THE TIMES'My independent verdict is that I have never read a more accurate portrayal of our profession.' — Nigel Pascoe QC, Counsel magazine 'An absolute must read for anyone who aspires to join the legal profession — and anyone who already has. — Bob Marshall-Andrews QC'Bill Clegg's memoir draws on some of the most high-profile criminal prosecutions of recent years to illuminate the career of a defence lawyer at the peak of his success.' — Joshua Rozenberg QC Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION. An experienced murder case lawyer answers the question asked of criminal barristers in England: how can they represent 'murderers' and 'rapists'. Explains the different type of murder charge (homicide) such as acting in self-defence, diminished responsibility and mental incapacity THE WIMBLEDON COMMON MURDER. Clegg takes a phone call from a solicitor: will he represent a man accused of killing Rachel Nickell on heathland in London in July 1992? Colin Stagg, a local man, looks similar to a witness description. Convinced of his guilt, detectives set up a honeytrap operation PERRY MASON AND THE ART OF ADVOCACY. Growing up in a working-class home in Essex in 1960s England, Clegg loves the drama and showdowns of the American legal TV show Perry Mason and resolves to become a criminal barrister. He studies law at Bristol University and joins Gray's Inn, an inn of court THE MURDER OF SAMANTHA BISSET. Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine have been savagely stabbed at their one-bedroom flat in Plumstead, south London. When Clegg reads the case papers for the defence of Robert Napper, he has a good idea who killed them. Criminal profiler Paul Britton does not RONNIE TROTT. After passing the Bar Finals, Clegg takes the final step for any law student intent on becoming a practising barrister: a pupillage. Clegg works for an idiosyncratic, chain-smoking, vegetarian lawyer. He learns to cover up to 10 cases a day in the magistrates courts around London THE CHILLENDEN MURDERS. Sometimes a barrister feels he will win a case. When he acts for Michael Stone, Clegg feels the dice are loaded against him. Stone, a heroin addict, is arrested in 1997 and charged with the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell in Kent LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT A CASE. During the 1970s and early 1980s Clegg regularly defends clients accused of robbery, burglary and assault. Occasionally he acts as a junior barrister in more serious cases. As his workload intensifies, he learns the secrets to running a successful defence in law courts HELEN HODGSON. In the 1970s and 1980s defendants often retract 'confessions' after they have been charged. In 1985, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) tightens police rules. Clegg mounts an appeal for Cherie McGovern, convicted of murdering a woman in a grisly case involving communal living MUTINY AT 3 HARE COURT. Inside barristers chambers in London a revolt brews against a hard-drinking head clerk. The leading chambers in the 1970s is 5 King’s Bench Walk, 6 Kings Bench Walk, and Queen Elizabeth Buildings. A new set is established, headed by a personal injury silk, Michael Lewis QC WAKING THE DEAD IN BELARUS. Clegg takes on the UK's first case under 1991 War Crimes Act and is introduced to a gentle 84-year-old from Surrey: Szymon Serafinowicz, who is accused of murdering Jews during World War II. Simon Wiesenthal Centre says he was ‘Commander’ of Belarussian police in Mir HOW TO BECOME A QC. Becoming a Queen’s Counsel is the pinnacle of achievement for a British barrister. A Queen’s Counsel, or QC, is one of ‘Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law’. It’s an honorific rank (King’s Counsel, when there is a king on the English throne). The process is mysterious ANDRUSHA THE BASTARD. It is -30 degrees and Clegg's lips are so cold he can barely speak. He is in Belarus in the former Soviet Union, defending another former member of the wartime police accused of war crimes. Unlike his compatriot Szymon Serafinowicz, Anthony Sawoniuk is a harder man to defend DEFENDING FRAUDSTERS. In his first serious fraud case, Clegg defends Wallace Duncan Smith, a banker in the City of London, who is accused of fraudulent trades – paying more than £50m for fictitious Canadian bonds while MD of Wallace Smith Trust Corporation. The Serious Fraud Office is on the other side CONVICTED BY EARPRINT. Detectives in West Yorkshire call in Dutch forensics witness Cornelis van der Lugt to solve the murder of pensioner Dorothy Wood, killed by a burglar. Clegg argues against the conviction of Mark Gallagher, a burglar whose earprint has been matched to a smudge on a window WINNING THE TRUST OF A JUDGE. The secrets and quirks of the judges who try criminal cases in England. 'As a barrister, I’ve always thought it’s desirable to be well-prepared and on good terms with a judge because you tend to get what you want more often whereas an ill-prepared or rude advocate...' PRIVATE CLEGG AND THE JOYRIDERS. Clegg appeals the case of a Parachute Regiment soldier accused of murdering teenagers Martin Peake and Karen Reilly, whose car crashes through a checkpoint in Northern Ireland. Clegg's junior barrister is Keir Starmer, who later becomes leader of the Labour Party HOW TO APPEAL TO A JURY. When a barrister is addressing a jury, they must pay close attention. Are jurors interested or bored? Every intervention, comment and tactic should be weighed. The tradecraft and advocacy skills of a criminal lawyer are revealed, including some surprises A MURDER WITHOUT A BODY. One day retired betting shop manager Don Banfield went into his local police station and said: ‘I think my wife is trying to kill me’. He then disappeared. Did the police have enough evidence to charge his wife without finding his body? They thought so. Were they right? 21ST CENTURY SET. Twenty-two years after squatting at 3 Hare Court, clinging onto his place with his fingertips, Clegg becomes Head of Chambers. When the Inner Temple refurbishes its old building, the set moves into new premises in Essex Street, then into 2 Bedford Row, a modern legal practice WAR CRIMES IN THE BALKANS. Advocating at International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, representing Duško Tadić, a Bosnian Serb accused of the ethnic cleansing of Muslims – the first man to be convicted by an international court of war crimes since the Nazi Nuremberg trials INSIDE CHAMBERS – RIVALRY AND CAMARADERIE. The real story of life inside a London barristers chambers, including how to motivate under-performing lawyers, depression and alcoholism among advocates, relationships with solicitors who might allocate juicy cases and the practicalities of running a set THE MURDER OF JILL DANDO. At 11.30am on 26 April 1999 a BBC Tv presenter is shot dead outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham. A local man, Barrie George, is convicted of killing her. Amid intense media coverage, Clegg appeals the key ballistics evidence in the case BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. Although Clegg mostly represents individuals, the QC also advises multinational companies on criminal law. Providing certain conditions are met, a company can be prosecuted and fined like any human defendant in the criminal courts. Most cases involve bribery and corruption A GHETTO SHOOT-OUT IN JAMAICA. Like other top lawyers, Clegg works pro bono on worthwhile cases. He represents a Jamaican gangster, Marlon Moodie, in his appeal against the death sentence for killing Police Constable Dewar, under the joint enterprise rule. UK Privy Council decides if he should hang TRYING TIME FOR LEGAL AID. The criminal justice system in England and Wales has been battered by a decade of government cuts. Fed up with the fall in fees and the inability to hire expert witnesses he has worked with for years, Clegg declines to take any more public-funded cases THE MURDER OF JOANNA YATES. The 25-year-old landscape gardener and her boyfriend Greg Reardon shared a flat in a Victorian house on Canynge Road in Clifton, Bristol. She disappeared in Christmas 2010. Clegg represents the neighbour accused of murdering her, the Dutch national Vincent Tabak PRIVATE CLIENTS. Clegg takes on private clients, often pre-charge. 'If I feel that the police case is weak I may make representations to the Crown Prosecution Service arguing that the evidence against my client, as disclosed to me, does not meet the threshold required for charging.' THE PHONE HACKING TRIAL. At the trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and journalists from Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, Clegg acts for Mark Hanna, security chief of News International – accused of hiding evidence while the Metropolitan Police look for evidence of illegal voicemail interception AFTERWORD: A LIFE OF CRIME. As head of chambers, Clegg knows of massive insecurity among many, if not most barristers about the future of the profession and their place in it. They worry about where the next brief is coming from, how much work they will have, how they will maintain their standing ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. INDEX. Full list of references in the text. Such as the As: affair, Africa, Ahmci, Allied Irish Bank, Allies, arguing in the alternative, Altman Brian, Alzheimer’s Disease, Amsterdam, Andrusha the Bastard, anti-Semitic, Antoinette Marie, Archbishop of Canterbury, Armed robbery, Armstrong Dean, Asia

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe extraordinary revelations in Traitors detail the ugly side of war and power and the many betrayals of our ANZACs.In October 1943 Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin signed a solemn pact that once their enemies were defeated the Allied powers would ''pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to their accusers in order that justice may be done''. Nowhere did they say that justice would be selective. But it would prove to be.Traitors outlines the treachery of the British, American and Australian governments, who turned a blind eye to those who experimented on Australian prisoners of war. Journalist and bestselling author Frank Walker details how Nazis hired by ASIO were encouraged to settle in Australia and how the Catholic Church, CIA and MI6 helped the worst Nazi war criminals escape justice. While our soldiers were asked to risk their lives for King and country, Allied corporations traded withTrade ReviewTo come * Revielle (RSL magazine) *To come * The Weekend Australian *To come * Mother & Baby *To come * YOURS *To come * Sky Radio *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom surviving a horrific terrorist attack in Northern Ireland, to the violence of the Gulf War and an assault course of harrowing experiences in Iraq, Bosnia and Columbia, Major Bill Shaw, MBE, had seen it all.But Bill''s strength and courage was tested to its absolute limits when he was arrested for a crime he did not commit. Posted in Afghanistan after two years in Iraq, Bill was responsible for the safety of four hundred men in a full-scale danger zone in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Bill had long accepted that each day could be his last. But he never expected to find his own life at risk under a corrupt legal system. Thrown into prison and forced to share a cramped, vermin-infested cell, Bill had no idea when, or even if, he would see his family again.This is the incredible true story of a brave soldier who survived some of the toughest war zones in the world only to face the nightmare of being wrongfully imprisoned a very long way fr

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, Claudia Leeb discusses guilt and democracy in the case of Austrian Nazi perpetrators and recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities. She shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter 1948, the 370,000 Jews of Romania who survived the Holocaust became one of the main sources of immigration for the new state of Israel as almost all left their homeland to settle in Palestine and Israel. Romania’s decision to allow its Jews to leave was baldly practical: Israel paid for them, and Romania wanted influence in the Middle East. For its part, Israel was rescuing a community threatened by economic and cultural extinction and at the same time strengthening itself with a massive infusion of new immigrants.In this thoroughly updated edition, Radu Ioanid traces the secret history of the longest and most expensive ransom arrangement in recent times, a hidden exchange that lasted until the fall of the Communist regime. Drawing on a wealth of oral testimonies, recently declassified documents from the archives of the Romanian secret police, and newly available material from the government archives of Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Germany, Ioanid follows Israel’s long and expensive ransom arrangement with Communist Romania. He uncovers the elaborate mechanisms that made it successful for decades, the shadowy figures responsible, and the secret channels of communication and payment. The book sheds new light on Romania’s pre-fascist and fascist antisemitic legislation and its implementation. Ioanid explores in greater detail the physical destruction of Romania’s Jewish and Roma communities, including the pogroms of Bucharest and Iasi as well as the deportations and the massacres from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria. New chapters consider the forced labor of the Jews, persecution by the Protestant churches, and the decision-making process of the Antonescu government in its treatment of Jews and Roma. As suspenseful as a Cold-War thriller, his book tells the full, startling story of an unprecedented slave trade and its origins.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOn 27th May 1977, a small demonstration against the MPLA, the ruling party of Angola - led to the slaughter of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people. These dreadful reprisals are little talked of in Angola today - and virtually unknown outside the country. In this book, journalist Lara Pawson tracks down the story of what really happened in the aftermath of that fateful day. In a series of vivid encounters, she talks to eyewitnesses, victims and even perpetrators of the violent and confusing events of the 27th May and the following weeks and months. From London to Lisbon to Luanda, she meets those who continue to live in the shadow of the appalling events of 40 years ago and who - in most cases - have been too afraid to speak about them before. As well as shedding light on the events of 1977, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Angola - its people and its politics; past, present and future.Trade Review'...compelling...[her] conversational tone, her musings, and lively descriptions, make In the Name of the People as engaging as it is informative.' - Lucy Popescu, TLS; '...beautifully written, shaped by astounding imagery that keeps the reader anchored to the sights, sounds, smells and feelings Pawson encountered as she traversed the often gruesome realities of lives affected by the vinte e sete and in years that followed...the true value of Pawson's exceptional book resides in her illumination of the often ignored psychologies of post-colonial Africa...Pawson should be celebrated for embracing the complexity that is the nature of post-colonial African politics, for her willingness to discuss the ugly side of the liberation struggle in Angola, for creating a platform for those who grieve over this event to be heard. It is in the telling of these uncomfortable truths, that we can avoid the repetitions of past mistakes in the future.' - Rochelle Burgess, Africa at LSE blog; 'a variety of fascinating characters...she [Lara] succeeds in creating some kind of a true record of what happened on that terrible day and its long term effect. She also nicely evokes the ambience of Luanda.' - Nigel Watt, The Chartist; '...a towering success... brims with life, with a curiosity that is both moral and unwavering... Pawson has written an African non-fiction classic, which is the toughest kind. The book serves not as an answer, but the Answer: if we hope to understand our present circumstances, then we must go in search of the past, and what we fail to find must somehow be worked into our stories regardless... a story of an investigation into a plot that ends up revealing the soul of a people.' - Richard Poplak, Daily Maverick (South Africa); 'The recounting of encounters... are where Pawson's innovative methodology - mixing academic rigor, investigative journalism, and the prose of a non-omniscient detective-novel narrator - is most powerful. The unrelenting lack of repentance of certain MPLA-sympathizing writers who were either taken for a ride or complicit with Angola's self-serving elites is juxtaposed with Pawson's increasing willingness to question the pillars of what she had held to be self-evident truths about Angola.' - The L.A. Review of Books;'Pawson's writing style, with its vivid imagery, is captivating... Pawson supplies an illuminating account of Angola's contemporary history and politics. The book is digestible, entertaining and informative for those new to the topic and region as well as being in-depth enough to cater to those with more expertise in the region.' - Megan Smith, LSE Review of Books; '...a timely new perspective...it is testimony to Pawson's investigative eye, and also to her courage, that she has written a book about one of the biggest taboos in Angolan history...her candid conversations with survivors, widows and Angolan establishment figures draw the reader into an adventure-like study of post-colonial life in the country...a highly engaging read...' - Joana Ramiro, The New Humanist; '...drafted with poetic skill...a fascinating examination of how societies which try to lock away their traumas remain haunted by ghosts rattling their chains.' - Michela Wrong, The Spectator (chosen as a Book of the Year);Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I 1 Meeting Maria 2 In the shadow of DISA 3 The saboteurs, the parasites, the opportunists 4 When normal things don't go normally 5 Fascism was finished. Socialism had begun 6 Just like the movies 7 The brother 8 Sounds of microfiche 9 Never meet your heroes 10 Sent to Cuba 11 Closing in on the kill PART II 12 So many dragonflies 13 Saved by a poet 14 To Sambizanga 15 The little red book 16 Kilometre 14 17 Cold War paradox 18 Appearances 19 A death camp 20 Metamorphoses of the enemy 21 On the beach 22 How our heads are formed PART III 23 Loose ends 24 A Cuban connection Epilogue Notes Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe laws of war have always been concerned with issues of necessity and proportionality, but how are these principles applied in modern warfare? What are the pressures on practitioners where an increasing emphasis on legality is the norm? Where do such boundaries lie in the contexts, means and methods of contemporary war? What is wrong, or right, in the view of military-political practitioners, in how those concepts relate to today's means and methods of war? These are among the issues addressed by James Gow in his compelling analysis of war and war crimes, which draws upon research conducted over many years with defence professionals from all over the world. Today more than ever, military strategy has to embrace justice and law, with both being deemed essential prerequisites for achieving success on the battlefield. And in a context where legitimacy defines success in warfare, but is a fragile and contested concept, no group has a greater interest in responding to these pressures and changes positively than the military. It is they who have the greatest need and desire to foster legitimacy in war by getting the politics-law-strategy nexus right, as well as developing a clear understanding of the relationship between war and war crimes, and calibrating where war becomes a war crime.Trade Review'This book should be read by all, political and military, who seek to use armed force to achieve their ends. With great clarity James Gow shows the relation of law to war and how this relationship has changed along with the way war is practised. As importantly, he shows what could happen to those practioners who fail to foster this relationship: failure and possibly prosecution.' * General Sir Rupert Smith KCB DSO OBE QGM *'A clever and fundamental book. Law and legitimacy have always been important to war, but Gow's book brilliantly demonstrates how central the issue not simply of right, but of wrong have become to modern war.' * Professor Jan Willem Honig, Swedish National Defence College *'War and War Crimes traces the evolution of international humanitarian law and the laws of war, and discusses the practical problems arising for military practitioners. It should be compulsory reading for any student of conflict - whether in IR, law, or sociology - but also for any responsible military officer and, as importantly, for the politicians taking the decisions.' * Beatrice Heuser, Professor and Chair of International Relations, Reading University, and author of The Evolution of Strategy: Thinking War from Antiquity to the Present *'At the heart of this authoritative examination of the legitimacy of war and its conduct in the twenty-first century, James Gow refreshingly gives voice to the military judgment of professionals from around the world, as military officers themselves best understand the moral dilemmas they face and can best explain the context, at the strategic and tactical levels, which is so crucial to determining whether war crimes have been committed.' * Jeremy Jarvis CBE, Course Director, Royal College of Defence Studies, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhy is it that men and boys have been and still are violated in human conflict, be it in conventional war, insurgencies or periods of civil and ethnic strife? Above all, why, throughout history, have victims, perpetrators and society as a whole refused to acknowledge this violation, and why do episodes of male-on-male rape and sexual abuse feature so rarely in accounts of war, be they official histories, eye-witness ac- counts or popular narratives? Is there more to this elision of memory than simply shame? Is there more to it than the victor's desire to violate the enemy body? Amalendu Misra's startlingly original re- search into male sexual violence explores the meaning and role of the male body prior to its abuse and how it is altered by violation in war- time. He examines the bio-political contexts of conflict in which primarily men and occasion- ally women sexually violate men; he details the inadequate legal safeguards for survivors of such events; and in unearthing and analysing an ignored aspect of war, he inquires whether such violence can ever be deterred.Trade Review'Sexual violence against boys and men in times of armed conflict has too often been ignored or relegated to a dismissive footnote. Misra's book changes everything. The effect of his vivid and forensic exploration of male-on-male sexual violence is stunning. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in rape, sexuality, violence and the vulnerable body.' -- Joanna Bourke, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and author of Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present;'Landscapes of Silence is excellent. Lucid and theoretically rich, and drawing on evidence that spans historical, cultural and geographical space, the book is the first extended analysis of the rape of men in war. An important contribution to the literature of critical security studies, Misra's book should be essential reading for any student or practitioner of war.' * Karin Fierke, Professor of International Relations, St Andrews University, and author of Political Self Sacrifice: Agency, Body and Emotion in International Relations *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe assassination in Istanbul in 2007 of the author Hrant Dink, the high-profile advocate of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, reignited the debate in Turkey on the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenians. Many Turks subsequently reawakened to their Armenian heritage, in the process reflecting on how their grandparents were forcibly Islamised and Turkified, and the suffering they endured to keep their stories secret. There was public debate about Armenian property confiscated by the Turkish state and books were published about the extermination of the minorities. The silence had been broken. After the First World War, Turkey forcibly erased the memory of the atrocities, and traces of Armenians, from their historic lands, to which the international community turned a blind eye. The price for this amnesia was, Cheterian argues, 'a century of genocide'.Turkish intellectuals acknowledge the price a society must pay collectively to forget such traumatic events, and that Turkey cannot solve its recurrent conflicts with its minorities - like the Kurds today - nor have an open and democratic society without addressing its original sin: the Armenian Genocide, on which the Republic was founded.Trade Review'Cheterian's straightforward historical account does not shy away from a more disturbing aspect of the genocide's legacy where the quest for justice denied over generations spills over into the violence of reprisals, revenge, and terrorism' * LA Review of Books *‘Open Wounds provides a comprehensive insight into many relevant issues with regard to the consequences of denial for Armenians and other minorities such as the Kurds . . . an impressive account of how survivors and successive generations resisted erasure through Armenian historiography, memory politics and the composition and evolution of the diaspora’.'Cheterian's book offers one of the most complete tellings of the twisted, emotional story of the decimation of 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915, during the fury of World War I and the story of the political struggle over the massacre in the century since it occurred.' * Foreign Affairs *'In this extraordinary and beautifully-written book, Cheterian tells us the little known story of the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. He reaches into the history and present-day politics of Armenians and Turks to tell a story and provide explanations that have been neglected or elided by others. There is no other text like this.' * Ronald G. Suny, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and History, University of Chicago and former chairman of the Society for Armenian Studies *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn most societies, courts are where the rubber of government meets the road of the people. If a state cannot settle disputes and ensure that its decisions are carried out, for practical purposes it is no longer in charge. This is why successful rebels put courts and justice at the top of their agendas. Rebel Law examines this key weapon in the armory of insurgent groups, ranging from the Ireland of the 1920s, where the IRA sapped British power using 'Republican Tribunals' to today's 'Caliphate of Law' -- the Islamic State, by way of Algeria in the 1950s and the Afghan Taliban. Frank Ledwidge tells how insurgent courts bleed legitimacy from government, decide cases and enforce judgments on the battlefield itself. Astute counterinsurgents, especially in 'ungoverned space,' can ensure that they retain the initiative. The book describes French, Turkish and British colonial 'judicial strategy' and contrasts their experience with the chaos of more recent 'stabilization operations' in Iraq and Afghanistan, drawing lessons for contemporary counterinsurgents. Rebel Law builds on his insights and shows that the courts themselves can be used as weapons for both sides in highly unconventional warfare.Trade Review'This erudite yet very readable book will introduce many readers to the concept of “lawfare” and how it has been waged around the globe.' 'Rebel Law: Insurgents, Courts and Justice in Modern Conflict ... is an intriguing, engaging and comprehensive account that is particularly compelling when discussing insurgent justice in the Muslim world, ... valuably diverging from the tendency to read such phenomena solely through the prism of extremism... Ledwidge's approach to insurgent justice in the Muslim world is compelling: he brings a much-needed comparative perspective that serves as an antidote to the tendency to read such phenomena only through the lens of extremist ideology.' -- LSE Review of Books'As a former justice advisor for the UK military mission in Afghanistan, Ledwidge brings a uniquely well-informed perspective to the issues of using legal processes to achieve military objectives by both insurgents and counterinsurgents at the operational and tactical level. He argues that the ability of insurgents to offer "fair" judicial process -- particularly dispute resolution -- has proved critical to successful state-building by insurgent groups. On the flipside, Ledwidge contends that counterinsurgency strategy must employ "legal pluralism" to develop an effective judicial strategy. Cogently written and forcefully argued, Rebel Law will be of interest to military professionals, legal scholars and policy makers alike.' * Montgomery McFate, Professor at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and author of Military Anthropology: Soldiers, Scholars and Subjects at the Margins of Empire *'Frank Ledwidge builds a compelling case for the monopoly of justice in determining the outcome of insurgencies. Drawing upon years of experience and scholarship, Ledwidge convincingly argues that nowhere is the contest for control of a population, the delicate interplay between consent and coercion, expressed with greater impact than in the competing legal systems offered by insurgent and counter-insurgent.' * Edward Burke, Lecturer in Strategic Studies, The University of Portsmouth, Royal Air Force College Cranwell *'This book is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners concerned with the operation of legal systems during and after conflict. Frank Ledwidge offers a unique perspective on the complex interactions between state and insurgent judiciaries that is informed by years of fieldwork and service as a justice advisor in warscapes including Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.' * Mara Revkin, Department of Political Science, Yale University *'In the literature on counterinsurgency no concepts are more frequently invoked or more poorly understood than legitimacy, justice, and law. Insurgencies win by out-governing the status quo power and the primary thrust of their strategy is nearly always the provision of alternative justice to populations hungry for better law. Frank Ledwidge's brilliant book plugs the gap in the literature commendably. It is indispensable reading.' * David Betz, Professor of War in the Modern World, Department of War Studies, King's College London *'A ground-breaking picture of the role of law in (particularly, irregular) warfare: so-called lawfare. This highly readable study opens up a new vista in counterinsurgency and underlines the centrality therein of properly-delivered, culturally-specific justice. A fascinating tour de force that demands to be read by politicians and generals alike.' - * Mike Martin, author of An Intimate War: An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict *'This study offers important insights into why Western assumptions about what constitute the bases for stable government are often not relevant for other areas of the world.' -- Robert A. Heineman, Emeritus Professor of Political Sciences, Alfred University, CHOICE

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a book about how civilians suffer in war and why people decide that they should. Most civilian suffering in war is deliberate and always has been. Massacres, rape, displacement, famine and disease are usually designed. They are policies in war. In meetings or on mobile phones, political and military leaders decide that civilians are appropriate or inevitable targets. The principle that unarmed and innocent people should be protected in war is an ancient, precious but fragile idea. Today, the principle of civilian immunity is enshrined in modern international law and cherished by many. But, in practice, leaders in most wars reject the principle. Using detailed historical and contemporary examples, "Killing Civilians" looks at the many ways in which civilians suffer in wars and analyses the main anti-civilian ideologies which insist upon such suffering.It also exposes the very real ambiguity in much civilian identity which is used to justify extreme hostility. But this is also, above all, a book about why civilians should be protected. Throughout its pages, "Killing Civilians" argues for a morality of limited warfare in which tolerance, mercy and restraint are used to draw boundaries to violence. At the heart of the book are important new frameworks for understanding patterns of civilian suffering, ideologies of violence and strategies for promoting the protection of civilians. This is the first major treatment of the hard questions of civilian identity and protection in war for many years. Written by one of the humanitarian world's leading thinkers and former aid worker, it provides a unique and accessible text on the subject for professional and public readerships alike.Trade Review'This is a clear, impartial, honest work. It is scholarly yet free of jargon, compassionate yet not over-emotional, moral without being preachy, stuffed with facts and figures, yet brought alive by a myriad of vivid historical, contemporary and personal anecdotes. In short, it is very good.' * The Economist *''Subjective violence', a la Zizek, is too flimsy a name for what Hugo Slim documents in this study, skilfully weaving history and psychology together with a sense of contemporary mission. Slim cites shocking eyewitness reports of murder and torture of civilians from wars around the world, tallying the way in which killers come to kill, and the excuses that governments make for them. The question is: can we do anything about it? Slim sees that mere appeals to international law carry little persuasive power where it counts, and suggests that we recast the argument as one about unfairness and cowardice, with a positive appeal to mercy. As an attempt to unravel one corner of the tapestry of symbolic violence hung over the reality of war, it might be a start.' * The Guardian *'As Slim's very readable and instructive book makes clear, the conflicts of the last century have been marked by a spirit of complete indifference to the sufferings of civilians.' * Caroline Moorhead, The Literary Review *'An excellent book. ... I recommend it to the practitioner, political, humanitarian and military, and in equal measure to the general public in whose name they act.' * General Sir Rupert Smith, KCB, DSO, OBE, QGM, author, The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisNiedersachsen, August 1961. Der Klassenlehrer Walter Wilke wird in seiner Dorfschule aus dem Unterricht abgeholt und später in einem der ersten großen Prozesse über deutsche Verbrechen in Osteuropa verurteilt. In seinem kleinen Ort wird über die Sache nicht gesprochen. Später kehrt der Mann zurück und lebt bis zu seinem Tod 1989 zurückgezogen im Dorf. Seine Frau, mit der er über Jahre in Bigamie gelebt hatte, ist die beliebte Landärztin. Jürgen Gückel, mehrfach ausgezeichneter Gerichtsreporter, geht einer Spur nach. Einer Geschichte, die ihn seit der Schulzeit beschäftigt, denn Walter Wilke war sein erster Lehrer. Gückel rekonstruiert einen einzigartigen Lebensweg: Walter war in Wahrheit Artur Wilke, der die Identität seines gefallenen Bruders angenommen hatte. Artur selbst war studierter Theologe und Archäologe, im Dritten Reich der SS beigetreten, nachweislich an Massenerschießungen von Juden beteiligt, galt als gefürchteter Partisanen-Jäger und wurde nach dem Krieg dann Volksschullehrer. Sein Name ist mit grauenhaften Kriegsverbrechen verbunden, doch zur Rechenschaft gezogen wurde er für seine Taten im Partisanenkampf nie. Das Buch zeichnet nicht nur eine spektakuläre deutsche Biografie im 20. Jahrhundert nach die Entwicklung eines Intellektuellen zum Täter und die Verneinung jeglicher persönlicher Schuld, das Wegsehen der Gesellschaft. Es zeigt auch auf, wie schwierig das Erinnern ist, wie unterschiedlich Erlebtes bewertet wird und wie schwer die Erarbeitung historischer Wahrheit letztlich ist. Auch nach der Sichtung mehrerer zehntausend Seiten Gerichtsakten und anderer Dokumente bleiben scheinbar einfache Fragen offen. Eine wahre Geschichte über Bigamie und Theologie, Verbrechen und Vertuschung, über die deutsche Nachkriegsgesellschaft und über eine familiäre Tragödie.

Read more less

Book Synopsis"Justice in the Balkans" re-creates how its chief prosecutor Louise Arbour worked with others to turn the tribunal's fortunes around. The Hague tribunal becomes an example of how individuals working with collective purpose can make a profound difference.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDescribes the effect on young Jews of Hitler's rise to power and recounts the experiences of those who attended an agricultural emigration training farm.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamining the moral, ethical, legal, and political issues surrounding the Allied prosecution project, from the first investigations during the war to the final release of prisoners in 1958, Japanese War Criminals shows how a simple effort to punish the guilty evolved into a struggle that muddied the assignment of responsibility for war crimes.Trade ReviewThis exemplary work of collaborative scholarship represents a genuine breakthrough in our understanding of the processes behind, and consequences of, Allied efforts to prosecute Japanese war crimes in the aftermath of the Second World War. Drawing on archival sources gathered from all corners of the globe, it not only provides an impressive overview of the thousands of individual trials conducted by the Allies across the Asia-Pacific region, but also details the complex tangle of considerations that resulted in the release of all remaining prisoners by the end of 1958. Rejecting the simple opposition between politics and justice that has so often been used to frame discussions of the trials, it instead offers a deeply compelling account of the moral, legal and practical dilemmas that haunt every episode in this profoundly important history. -- Daniel Botsman, Yale University I cannot think of a similar work with such a broad scope...This book is a product of an enormous, novel, research effort and it shows. The authors illustrate the development of an Inter-Allied system of legal assistance for purposes ranging from the transfer of evidence to suspects and prisoners developed from 1946 and which worked until 1959. It makes for a fascinating account of international cooperation. -- Neil Boister, University of Waikato The Allied authorities meted out retributive justice to thousands of Japanese war criminals in the immediate aftermath of World War II. However, "the sentences were only the start of a new phase in applying justice to war criminals," so this book warns us, and compels us to consider the implications of the complex interplay of domestic politics and diplomacy that led to the eventual release of all convicted war criminals -- Yuma Totani, University of HawaiiTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Names, Spelling, and Terminology List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Defining War Crimes and Creating Courts 2. Investigation and Arrest 3. In Court: Indictment, Trial, and Sentencing 4. Dilemmas of Detention and the First Misgivings 5. Shifting Mood, Shifting Location 6. Peace and Article 11 7. Japanese Pressure Mounts 8. Finding a Formula for Release 9. The Race to Clear Sugamo Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisPersonal accounts of Japanese Americans kept in relocation camps during World War II express experiences with riots, unsanitary conditions, poor medical care, government inqueries, and divided families.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Groundbreaking. In the first detailed description of Stalin’s mass terror, Vatlin unfolds the day-to-day working of the Soviet political police who carried out orders to select, arrest, interrogate, and often murder their fellow citizens. An absorbing, heartrending account.”—David Shearer, author of Policing Stalin’s Socialism“Although the literature on the Great Terror has improved markedly over the past twenty-five years, only a handful of case studies consider how the purges took place at the grassroots level. Thankfully, Alexander Vatlin’s pathbreaking work has now become available to English-speaking audiences. One can only hope that Agents of Terror will inspire more research on the purge’s perpetrators and victims as well as on the broader sociology of this brutal period.”—David Brandenberger, author of Propaganda State in Crisis“A sensationally significant, detailed microhistory of Stalin’s Great Terror, based on the criminal files of NKVD agents who were arrested as scapegoats at the end of the terror—what some historians have called the purge of the purgers.”—Lynne Viola, author of The Unknown Gulag"Make[s] a vital contribution to the growing literature on perpetrators under Stalin." - The Times Literary Supplement“A landmark work that introduces new dimensions to the study of Stalinist terror.” — Canadian Slavonic Papers

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamination of postwar trials is now a thriving area of research, but Sharon W. Chamberlain is the first to offer an authoritative assessment of the legal proceedings convened in the Philippines. These were trials conducted by Asians, not Western powers, and centred on the abuses suffered by local inhabitants rather than by prisoners of war.Trade ReviewA riveting historical narrative. Making extensive use of primary sources, it offers a wealth of information and stories of real people through whose eyes Chamberlain unravels the complex postwar matrix of colonization and decolonization, hatred and forgiveness, and hard political and economic calculations."" - Franziska Seraphim, author of War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Japanese Usage Abbreviations Introduction 1 War Crimes during the Occupation: The Picture That Emerges from the Trials 2 Rising to the Challenge: Assuming Responsibility for Trials 3 The Trials: Questions of Guilt and Innocence 4 Awaiting Their Fate: Sentence Reviews, Reprieves, and Executions 5 From Retribution to Resolution: The Journey from Executions to Pardons 6 Constructing Narratives and Assessing Impact Conclusion Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis"A reference that has no counterpart…. Civilization is in debt to all [the contributors]."—International Herald TribuneTrade Review"...should be on the bookshelf of every prime minister, defence minister and foreign secretary." The Times Higher Educational Supplement"

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe legacy of the massacre of civilians at My Lai reverberates throughout Vietnam. This study considers how Vietnamese villagers in My Lai and Ha My - a village where South Korean troops committed an equally appalling massacre of unarmed civilians - assimilate the catastrophe of these mass deaths into their everyday ritual life.Trade Review"Offers a timely addition to the fields of comparative religion and war." Southeast Review Of Asian StdsTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Foreword Map of Vietnam Introduction 1. The Bipolarity of Death 2. Massacres in the Year of the Monkey, 1968 3. A Generation Afterward 4. Ancestors in the Street 5. Heroes and Ancestors 6. Grievous Death 7. The Stone of Fury 8. The Decomposition of the Cold War Conclusion: Liberation from Grievance Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisCrimes in Archival Form explores the many ways in which human rights facts are produced rather than found. Using Myanmar as his case study, Ken MacLean examines the fact-finding practices of a human rights group, two cross-border humanitarian agencies, an international law clinic, and a global NGO-led campaign. Foregrounding fact-finding, in critical yet constructive ways, prompts long overdue conversations about the possibilities and limits of human rights documentation as a mode of truth-seeking. Such conversations are particularly urgent in an era when the perpetrators of large-scale human rights violations exploit misinformation, weaponize disinformation, and employ outright falsehoods, including deepfakes, to undermine the credibility of those who document abuses and demand accountability in the court of public opinion and in courts of law. MacLean compels practitioners and scholars alike to be more transparent about how human rights fact production works, why it is important, and when its use should prompt concern.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments and Dedication List of Abbreviations Notes on Terminology Introduction 1. Pacifying Bodies Histories of Preemptive Violence 2. Enslaving Bodies Verbatim in Replicated Form 3. Starving Bodies Visual Economies of Enumeration 4. Killing Bodies Narrativity Transcribed 5. Investigating Bodies The Recursive Logic of Citations Conclusion Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat has Germany made of its Nazi past? This book explores the legacy of the Nazi regime, exposing the workings of past beliefs and political interests, and how differently the two Germanys have recalled the crimes of Nazism.Table of ContentsMultiple restorations and divided memory; German communism's master narratives of antifascism - Berlin-Moscow;East Berlin, 1928-1945; from periphery to centre - German communists and the Jewish question, Mexico City, 1942-1945; the Nuremberg interregnum - struggles for the recognition in East Berlin, 1945-1949; purging 'cosmopolitanism' - the Jewish question in East Germany, 1949-1956; memory and policy in East Germany from Ulbricht to Honecker; the Nuremberg interregnum - divided memory in the western zones, 1945-1963; atonement, restitution, and justice delayed - West Germany, 1949-1963; politics and memory since the 1960s.

Read more less

Book SynopsisStarting in early 1915, the Ottoman Turks began deporting and killing hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the first major genocide of the twentieth century. By the end of the First World War, the number of Armenians in what would become Turkey had been reduced by 90 percent--more than a million people. A century later, the Armenian Genocide remaiTrade ReviewA Financial Times Summer Books 2015 selection Winner of the 2016 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize, Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best Books in History 2015, chosen Tony Barber "In recent years scholars of Ottoman history have published a number of path-breaking, award-winning academic studies documenting the annihilation of the Armenians in 1915. Published on the one hundredth anniversary of that horrible event, Ronald Grigor Suny's monograph stands out as another superb work, in this case the best narrative account explaining 'why, when, and how' the Armenian genocide occurred."--Marc David Baer, H-Nationalism "An authoritative examination of unspeakable horrors... [D]eeply researched, fair-minded... Suny creates a compelling narrative of vengeance and terror."--Kirkus, starred review "The centenary [of the Armenian Genocide] has raised the diplomatic temperature and precipitated many books. Ronald Suny's is the best of them: Balanced, scholarly, and harrowing, it should be read by all serious students of modern history."--Dominic Green, Weekly Standard "Suny is admirably dispassionate in explaining the particular circumstances that led the Ottoman government to embark on a policy of mass extermination."--Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times "[W]hat distinguishes Suny's scholarship is a scrupulous attention to context and the genuine imperial anxiety of the Young Turks. They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else (a title taken from another Talat diktat) is a fair-minded account. Unsparing in depicting the viciousness of the killing, forced conversions and kidnapping of children and young women, it is rigorous in its choice of language and nuance, generous in its empathy but implacable in its conclusions."--David Gardner, Financial Times "A tremendously powerful, scrupulously balanced, rigorous and humane account of a tragedy that still casts a shadow over the modern state of Turkey. It is likely to become the definitive reference book on the subject for years to come."--Justin Marozzi, Spectator "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else will very likely be the standard account in English for the 21st Century of the Armenian Genocide and its broader setting. The event itself was the first major genocide in what was to be an entire century of genocides, and Suny is keenly aware of the lessons it can teach about the horrors it initiated. The book is strongly recommended."--Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly "Magisterial."--Brian Bethune, Macleans "[A]n excellent source for readers wishing to learn the history [of the Armenian Genocide]. Suny has provided an exhaustive, dispassionate treatment, situating the Genocide in the centuries-long relationship between Armenian Christians and their Turkish Muslim rulers ... readable and thorough."--Mark Movsesian, First Things "An authoritative, comprehensive study of political, religious, and cultural factors around the terrible events of 1915-16, and an account which avoids the propagandism of both Turkish and Armenian advocates, yet does not flinch from their appalling reality."--Mainstream "[A] fine scholarly study."--Christopher Allmand, The Tablet "Suny weaves this complex story into a nuanced, meticulously researched, and compellingly argued book."--Choice "A remarkable work of history."--Howard Eissenstat, Current History "If you read one book about the 1915 genocide, make this it. Suny is one of the western world's most renowned scholars of the Caucasus region. His account of the fate that befell the Armenians at Ottoman Turkish hands is harrowingly detailed and scrupulously objective."--Tony Barber, Financial Times "A historical masterpiece and a significant benchmark in the study of the Genocide, which will surely become the definitive textbook on the subject... Comprehensive and compelling."--Sossie Kasbarian & Kerem Oktem, Caucasus Survey "The book under review should be of an interest to graduate and postgraduate research students, genocide scholars and historians interested to gaining fresh understandings of the historical dynamics leading to the Armenian genocide, and the connections between imperialism, nationalism and the Armenian genocide during the twentieth century. Additionally, the book provides the groundwork for further debate on how to integrate the Armenian genocide more completely within an understanding of the historical trends of its period."--Eldad Ben-Aharon, H-Soz-Kult "[A] superb work, in this case the best narrative account explaining 'why, when, and how' the Armenian genocide occurred."--Marc David Baer, H-Net Reviews "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else will no doubt become the definitive account of this contested history... This book provides a sophisticated synthesis of recent research without sacrificing depth, nuance or narrative clarity. The fate of the Armenians is situated firmly within wider historiographies of imperial competition and decline, total war and the rise of nation-states... Suny's approach therefore powerfully demonstrates for non-specialists the salience of the fate of the Armenians for understanding much broader historical processes at work at the end of the 'long' nineteenth century."--Jo Laycock, Patterns of Prejudice "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else stands out as a superbly researched, carefully balanced and compelling account... This remarkable book shows how seeking deeper historical truths does not detract from justice: Suny's brilliant, careful and seemingly detached analysis makes the book all the more powerful in this respect."--Gilles Andreani, Survival "A transitional text... Accessible and concise, while still complex enough to do justice to the relationships between Armenians, their rulers and their neighbours over the centuries."--Susan Pattie, Chartist "This stunning book makes a significant contribution to genocide studies but also to Armenian, Russian, European, and international history... Suny's masterful narrative is proof that in great scholarship, empathy and analytical rigor work together."--Doris L. Bergen, Russian ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction xi Sources, Notes, and Transliteration xxiii 1 Empire 1 2 Armenians 31 3 Nation 64 4 Great Powers 91 5 Revolution 141 6 Counterrevolution 174 7 War 208 8 Removal 246 9 Genocide 281 10 Orphaned Nation 328 Conclusion: Thinking about the Unthinkable: Genocide 350 Historians Look at the Armenian Genocide: A Bibliographical Discussion 367 Notes 375 Index 463

Read more less

Book SynopsisFamines are becoming smaller and rarer, but optimism about the possibility of a famine-free future must be tempered by the threat of global warming. That is just one of the arguments that Cormac O Grada, one of the world's leading authorities on the history and economics of famine, develops in this wide-ranging book, which provides crucial new persTrade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015 "[I]ts final chapter offers salient discussion of future possibilities and constraints for food security."--Liz Young, Times Higher Education "This book is written in calm prose, but its message is urgent: continue as we are and poverty will grow on our doorsteps."--Danny Dorling, Times Higher Education "The Irish economist Cormac O? Gra?da has written a rarity: a coolly rational, cautiously cheerful book about the most viscerally upsetting subject imaginable, mass death from hunger...For O? Gra?da, perhaps the world's expert on the history and economics of famine, now is the time to understand this long-standing terror."--Charles C. Mann, Pacific Standard "The breadth of primary and secondary resources referenced is notable throughout, and this excellent book by a leading scholar is accessible to all readers."--Choice "Cormac O Grada knows more than most people about famines, historical and modern, and his short book of essays, Eating People is Wrong, is superb."--Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist "The overriding impression one gets from reading Cormac O Grada's latest, brilliant book is that famines the world over are an ugly human stain."--David Nally, Irish Times "Dealing with some of the most horrendous aspects of famine, the five essays collected here are meticulously scholarly and at the same time arrestingly vivid."--John Gray, New Statesman "O Grada's book offers a sobering reminder of the importance of making judgments based on good data and unhindered by ideological filters."--Douglas Gollin, Foreign AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 1 Eating People Is Wrong: Famine's Darkest Secret? 11 2 "Sufficiency and Sufficiency and Sufficiency": Revisiting the Great Bengal Famine of 1943-44 38 3 Markets and Famines: Pre-industrial Europe and Beyond 92 4 Great Leap into Great Famine 130 5 Famine Is Not the Problem-For Now 174 Bibliography 209 Index 231

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhy did the twentieth century witness unprecedented organized genocide? Can we learn why genocide is perpetrated by comparing different cases of genocide? Is the Holocaust unique, or does it share causes and features with other cases of state-sponsored mass murder? Can genocide be prevented? Blending gripping narrative with trenchant analysis, EricTrade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2003 "There is much new in Weitz's analysis and his isolation of the common mechanisms of state-sponsored genocide is an invaluable contribution to the literature on the subject... Despite its analytical and reasoned approach, this work cannot be read without feeling outrage, despair and horror. Weitz's work raises profound questions about the human capacity for violence."--Publishers Weekly "A Century of Genocide has much to offer. It will serve as an excellent first introduction to Lenin and Stalin's crimes, the Holocaust, the Cambodian massacres of the 1970s and the ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia."--Brendon Simms, Times Higher Education Supplement "[A] book that must be read and that must be argued over. Without an understanding of the issues [it] tackle[s] with passion and in depth, the desire to intervene--to prevent ethnic cleansing or genocide--is meaningless."--Rima Berns-McGown, International Journal "Weitz has produced something exceedingly rare: a scholarly book one cannot put down. This is a meritorious, thoughtful book."--Choice "An important, thought-provoking book on an inordinately complex subject."--Gavriel Rosenfeld, The New Leader "Weitz makes a persuasive case that these genocides were not simply anarchic eruptions of age-old hatreds, but rather were engineered by crisis-ridden regimes promoting utopian visions requiring a radical refashioning of the population."--Martin Farrell, Perspectives on Politics "This important, highly thoughtful book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on genocide in the twentieth century. It deserves a wide audience among scholars, undergraduates, and policy makers. Broad ranging, genuinely comparative, rigorous, and learned, A Century of Genocide is engagingly written, while prudent and balanced in its judgments."--Frank Chalk, Slavic ReviewTable of ContentsAbbreviations vii Preface to the New Paperback Edition ix An Armenian Prelude 1 Introduction: Genocides in the Twentieth Century 8 Chapter 1 Race and Nation: An Intellectual History 16 Chapter 2 Nation, Race, and State Socialism: The Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin 53 Chapter 3 The Primacy of Race: Nazi Germany 102 Chapter 4 Racial Communism: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge 144 Chapter 5 National Communism: Serbia and the Bosnian War 190 Conclusion 236 Notes 255 Bibliography 311 Acknowledgments 339 Index 343

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"A political scientist turns fresh eyes on the problem of how European Jews responded to the Holocaust as it was unfolding... Of much interest to students of modern history but also to those engaged in humanitarian relief efforts, refugee relocation, and the like."--Kirkus "Instances of ... mass hysteria have been appearing on a weekly basis, revealing an historical illiteracy so vast that it could contain 1,000 books on the Holocaust. If the ignorant could read only one of them ... Ordinary Jews would be an excellent way to begin their education."--Stefan Kanfer, City JournalTable of ContentsList of Tables, Maps, and Figures vii Note on Transliteration ix 1 Introduction 4 2 Setting the Stage: Jewish Ghettos during the Holocaust 21 3 What Did the Jews Know? 51 4 Cooperation and Collaboration 69 5 Coping and Compliance 98 6 Evasion 126 7 Resistance 159 8 Conclusions 191 Appendix 1 Data and Archival Methods 199 Appendix 2 Distribution of Strategies 208 Appendix 3 Beyond the Three Ghettos: Econometric Analysis of Uprisings 212 Notes 223 Abbreviations 245 Bibliography 247 Glossary 263 Acknowledgments 265 Index 269

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015""[I]ts final chapter offers salient discussion of future possibilities and constraints for food security."---Liz Young, Times Higher Education"This book is written in calm prose, but its message is urgent: continue as we are and poverty will grow on our doorsteps."---Danny Dorling, Times Higher Education"The Irish economist Cormac Ó Gráda has written a rarity: a coolly rational, cautiously cheerful book about the most viscerally upsetting subject imaginable, mass death from hunger. . . .For Ó Gráda, perhaps the world's expert on the history and economics of famine, now is the time to understand this long-standing terror."---Charles C. Mann, Pacific Standard"The breadth of primary and secondary resources referenced is notable throughout, and this excellent book by a leading scholar is accessible to all readers." * Choice *"Cormac Ó Gráda knows more than most people about famines, historical and modern, and his short book of essays, Eating People is Wrong, is superb."---Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist"The overriding impression one gets from reading Cormac Ó Gráda's latest, brilliant book is that famines the world over are an ugly human stain."---David Nally, Irish Times"Dealing with some of the most horrendous aspects of famine, the five essays collected here are meticulously scholarly and at the same time arrestingly vivid."---John Gray, New Statesman"Ó Gráda's book offers a sobering reminder of the importance of making judgments based on good data and unhindered by ideological filters."---Douglas Gollin, Foreign Affairs

Read more less

Book SynopsisReveals the true human costs of war in Iraq, an unfolding tragedy that has yielded millions of dead and displaced Iraqis since the first Gulf War.Trade Review'If I could only recommend one book that provides a comprehensive overview of both the situation in Iraq today, and the decades of US-backed policy it took to create this nightmare scenario, Erasing Iraq is it' -- Dahr Jamail, independent journalistTable of ContentsIntroduction – Hearts of Stone 1. Iraqis Under Siege 2. Refugee Voices 3. Censoring Civilians 4. Dead Bodies Don’t Count 5. Iraqi Sociocide Postscript – People of No Moment Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn explosive account of a secret group of mercenaries based on newly declassified documents.Trade Review'An excellent book' - Military History Matters'The pace and narrative are Le Carre-esque, but made even more compelling by the fact that the events are true' - Joe Glenton, ForcesWatch'Lifts the lid on KMS's activities and the men behind it' - Daily Mail'Very, very explosive' - Qasa Alom, BBC Asian Network'The UK's most important investigative journalist' - Mark Curtis, author of Secret Affairs: Britain's Collusion with Radical Islam'Remarkable' - Paul Rogers, Open Democracy'Miller pilots you into a twilight world, where the pioneers of a rapacious industry blaze a trail of death and destruction across the continents, with a nod and a wink from Whitehall. This is the riveting story of HMG’s dirty secret service: an investigative tour de force' - Jonathan Miller, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Channel 4 News'Draws forensic inferences to create leads and story-trails' -- Irish Times'Compelling and accessible' -- CounterfireTable of ContentsAcronyms and Abbreviations Map of the Arabian Peninsula Map of Sri Lanka Timeline Photographs Acknowledgements Prologue Introduction: Return of the Privateers 1. White Sultan of Oman 2. Bodyguards and Business Building 3. Teenage Rebellions 4. The Upside Down Jeep 5. Oliver North’s British Mercenary 6. The Exploding Hospital 7. Mercenaries and Mujahideen 8. The English Pilot 9. Grenades in Wine Glasses 10. Bugger Off My Land! Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis* A new volume in Polity s successful War and Conflict in the Modern World series. * Offers a comprehensive analysis of the causes and consequences of sexual violence across a range of conflict zones.Trade Review"An impressive and important book, gripping but very readably written in a clear style. It should be read by all interested in international politics and human rights." Medicine, Conflict and Survival "Because of its clear and accessible style, gripping content, and intersectional focus, this book should be required reading for scholars and policy-makers as well as students in a number of different areas. While it seems targeted at peace and conflict courses, it would also be excellent in gender studies (clearly introducing gender in the context of armed conflict), human rights (highlighting women's human rights), and international relations generally, (addressing the 'new wars')."Journal of Women, Politics and Policy "An excellent introduction to the broad issues around gender-based violence and armed conflict which will appeal to readers in political science, sociology, development, criminology, peace-building/war studies."Sociological Review "Using richly detailed case studies, Janie Leatherman's Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict presents an important examination of sexual violence in conflict and suggests new ways of conceptualizing and understanding the complex causes and implications of such violence." Journal of the American Medical Association "An important read for researchers and students alike interested in understanding the causes and consequences of wartime sexual violence."Acta Politica"The argument is clear and concise, moving from simple binaries towards a more complex analysis of the causes of sexual violence in armed conflict. Despite the difficult content that is addressed, the book is accessible and would be useful for anyone interested or working in conflict areas."Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict "An essential work dealing with sexual violence in armed conflict, as its argumentation is very strong and does not leave much space for doubting the danger of the phenomenon and the necessity of action." Central European Journal of International and Security Studies "An impressive piece of work. This book deserves its position as the megaphone helping those working in the field to give it its voice."Kelvingrove Review "An important provocation for academics and practitioners working on issues associated with organised political violence." Global Change, Peace and Security "A nuanced, readable and compelling account."Resilience"Leatherman not only reframes our concept of war, but of politics in general. She offers innovative insights in her explorations of legal accountability and social responsibility, of prevention and healing for sexual violence. A must-read book: courageous, groundbreaking, riveting, essential."Carolyn Nordstrom, University of Notre Dame "This is international relations at its best. Conceptually sophisticated, Janie Leatherman's book elucidates the factors that lie behind sexual violence in armed conflict: inequalities, structural injustices, and hyper-masculinity. I recommend it highly."Valentine Moghadam, Purdue University "This book makes a valuable contribution to understanding the complexity of sexual violence in modern war and to countering the silence and denial associated with it."Patrick W. Kelley, Director, Boards on Global Health and African Science Academy Development, Institute of MedicineTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1. Ending the Silence2. Dimensions of Sexual Violence in Conflict3. Sexual Violence and the Onset of Armed Conflict 4. Seeking Safe Space 5. Sexual Violence and the Global Political Economy of War6. From Protection and Accountability to an Ethic of Caring Notes Selected ReadingsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat do we know about war crimes and justice? What are the discursive practices through which the dominant images of war crimes, atrocity and justice are understood? In this wide ranging text, Michael J. Shapiro contrasts the justice-related imagery of the war crimes trial (for example the solitary, headphone-wearing defendant at the Hague listening with intent to a catalogue of charges) with ?literary justice?: representations in literature, film, and biographical testimony, raising questions about atrocities and justice that juridical proceedings exclude. By engaging with the ambiguities exposed by the artistic and experiential genres, reading them alongside policy and archival documentation and critical theoretical discourses, Shapiro?s War Crimes, Atrocity, and Justice challenges traditional notions of ?responsibility? in juridical settings. His comparative readings instead encourage a focus on the conditions of possibility for war crimes as they arise from the actTrade Review"This compelling and original analysis by Michael Shapiro skilfully explores the relationship between violence, life, and the problem of justice. I found it hard to put down, and it will certainly be an important resource for students of film and media studies, literature, cultural studies, contemporary philosophy, and political science." —Adrian Parr, University of Cincinnati "We should all read and learn from Michael Shapiro's brilliantly conceived, strikingly original, and profoundly illuminating text. His use of movies, literature, and philosophy to expand our consciousness of the deep roots of atrocity, while contrasting what justice means for the imaginative mind with what passes for justice in a court of law, transforms conventional understandings of war crimes." —Richard A. Falk, Princeton University "Michael Shapiro is one of the most perceptive political analysts of our time. He is especially attuned to the dangers of unwarranted certainty and premature judgment, and is often brilliant at making connections between apparently distinct events. The argument is at once astute, provocative, and uplifting." —R.B.J. Walker, University of Victoria, Canada and PUC-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"Shapiro's voice is signature: few otyher range so widely across genres, locales, events, and sources of artistic and conceptual inspiration; few pursue the deterritorializing promise of transversal relations so insistently."—Theory & Event"Through War Crimes, Atrocity, and Justice, Michael J. Shapiro challenges our traditional understanding about war crimes and atrocities through the skilful use of selections from modern literature and the world of films."—Journal of Defence Studies"Dr. Shapiro's book deservedly won the 2015 Easton Prize for Political Theory from the American Political Science Association. This approach to modern politics, especially violence and the devolution of civil society, is an insightful and stimulating tool for scholars in many fields, including literature, politics and history."—Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century LiteratureTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 The Global Justice Dispositif 13 2 Atrocity, Securitization, and Exuberant Lines of Flight 50 3 What does a Weapon See? 80 4 Borderline Justice 119 5 Justice and the Archives 154 Notes 186 Index 210

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat do we know about war crimes and justice? What are the discursive practices through which the dominant images of war crimes, atrocity and justice are understood? In this wide ranging text, Michael J. Shapiro contrasts the justice-related imagery of the war crimes trial (for example the solitary, headphone-wearing defendant at the Hague listening with intent to a catalogue of charges) with ?literary justice?: representations in literature, film, and biographical testimony, raising questions about atrocities and justice that juridical proceedings exclude. By engaging with the ambiguities exposed by the artistic and experiential genres, reading them alongside policy and archival documentation and critical theoretical discourses, Shapiro?s War Crimes, Atrocity, and Justice challenges traditional notions of ?responsibility? in juridical settings. His comparative readings instead encourage a focus on the conditions of possibility for war crimes as they arise from the actTrade Review"This compelling and original analysis by Michael Shapiro skilfully explores the relationship between violence, life, and the problem of justice. I found it hard to put down, and it will certainly be an important resource for students of film and media studies, literature, cultural studies, contemporary philosophy, and political science." —Adrian Parr, University of Cincinnati "We should all read and learn from Michael Shapiro's brilliantly conceived, strikingly original, and profoundly illuminating text. His use of movies, literature, and philosophy to expand our consciousness of the deep roots of atrocity, while contrasting what justice means for the imaginative mind with what passes for justice in a court of law, transforms conventional understandings of war crimes." —Richard A. Falk, Princeton University "Michael Shapiro is one of the most perceptive political analysts of our time. He is especially attuned to the dangers of unwarranted certainty and premature judgment, and is often brilliant at making connections between apparently distinct events. The argument is at once astute, provocative, and uplifting." —R.B.J. Walker, University of Victoria, Canada and PUC-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"Shapiro's voice is signature: few otyher range so widely across genres, locales, events, and sources of artistic and conceptual inspiration; few pursue the deterritorializing promise of transversal relations so insistently."—Theory & Event"Through War Crimes, Atrocity, and Justice, Michael J. Shapiro challenges our traditional understanding about war crimes and atrocities through the skilful use of selections from modern literature and the world of films."—Journal of Defence Studies"Dr. Shapiro's book deservedly won the 2015 Easton Prize for Political Theory from the American Political Science Association. This approach to modern politics, especially violence and the devolution of civil society, is an insightful and stimulating tool for scholars in many fields, including literature, politics and history."—Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century LiteratureTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 The Global Justice Dispositif 13 2 Atrocity, Securitization, and Exuberant Lines of Flight 50 3 What does a Weapon See? 80 4 Borderline Justice 119 5 Justice and the Archives 154 Notes 186 Index 210

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis fully revised edition of Martin Shaw''s classic, award-winning text proposes a way through the intellectual confusion surrounding genocide. In a thorough account of the idea''s history, Shaw considers its origins and development and its relationships to concepts like ethnic cleansing and politicide. Offering a radical critique of the existing literature on genocide, he argues that what distinguishes genocide from more legitimate warfare is that the ''enemies'' targeted are groups and individuals of a civilian character. He vividly illustrates his argument with a wide range of historical examples - from the Holocaust to Rwanda and Palestine to Yugoslavia - and shows how the question ''What is genocide?'' matters politically whenever populations are threatened by violence. The second edition of this compelling book will continue to spark interest and vigorous debate, appealing to students and scholars across the social sciences and in international law.Trade ReviewIn this second edition of his wonderful book, Shaw shows that definitions matter in explaining genocide. Incorporating recent work he gives a highly-intelligent view of genocide, broadly defined as in Raphael Lemkin?s original coining of the term. If you want to read a general work on genocide and ethnic cleansing, this should be your first choice. Michael Mann, University of California, Los Angeles The first edition of What is Genocide? rightly became an instant classic. The second edition adds depth on Raphael Lemkin, the notion of genocidal massacre and the structural dimensions of genocide. It is essential reading for teaching and thinking about this troubling subject. Dirk Moses, European University InstituteTable of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition 1 Introduction: The Importance of Definition PART I: THE GENOCIDE IDEA 2 Raphael Lemkin and the Idea of Genocide 3 The Concept after Lemkin 4 The Holocaust Standard 5 The 'Cleansing' Euphemism 6 The Many 'Cides' of Genocide PART II: AGENCY AND STRUCTURE IN GENOCIDE 7 From Intentionality to a Structural Concept 8 The Structure of Genocide: Conflict and War 9 Actors and Process in Genocidal Conflict 10 Structural Contexts: Explaining Modern Genocide 11 Conclusion: New Definitions Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1996, Louise Arbour was appointed by the Security Council of the United Nations as Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Reflecting on these experiences, she argues in War Crimes and the Culture of Peace that the level of public awareness and understanding of the significance of these events is minimal in part as a result of the way in which international criminal law is practiced. Justice Arbour contends that previous efforts to unite concepts of international law and criminal law in the practice of these tribunals are evolving, and suggests that the ties between personal criminal accountability and peace should be central to the decisions made in the future concerning procedural models for the permanent International War Crimes Tribunals. As a result, the public might better understand the context and causes of such crime, and the notion of crime as a breach of the peace would be made central to these tr

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the second half of the nineteenth century, the Euro-American citizenry of California carried out mass genocide against the Native population of their state, using the processes and mechanisms of democracy to secure land and resources for themselves and their private interests. Murder State is a comprehensive examination of these events and their early legacy.Trade Review"[Murder State is] one of the most important works ever published on the history of American Indians in California in the mid-nineteenth century."—Steven Newcomb, Indian Country “A significant historical account detailing white pioneers perpetrating genocide against California Indians. . . . [Employs] compelling evidence.”—Clifford E. Trafzer, Journal of American Studies “Lindsay’s methodology and conclusions . . . highlight important questions for scholars to ask of frontier societies, their legal systems, and their citizens.”—Brenden Rensink, Western Historical Quarterly “Perhaps the most provocative aspect of his book is Lindsay’s connection of American democracy to the killing of Indians.”—Robert G. Lee, American Historical Review“Democracy and genocide are two activities that most would declare antagonistic. Yet Brendan Lindsay presents primary evidence that reveals the hatred and murderous acts committed by early Californians and government officials, as a grassroots movement, to settle the ‘Golden State’ by exterminating and dispossessing Native peoples of their ancestral homelands.”—Jack Norton, Hupa historian and emeritus professor of Native American studies, Humboldt State University“Historian Brendan Lindsay has documented the attempted extermination of California’s first people and provided a detailed, comprehensive historical treatment of California’s genocide. He offers a groundbreaking study that will change the historiography of California and genocide studies—a penetrating but readable book that will quickly become a classic.”—Larry Myers (Pomo), executive secretary of the California Native American Heritage CommissionTable of ContentsList of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Defining GenocidePart 1. Imagining GenocideIntroduction1. The Core Values of Genocide2. Emigrant Guides3. The Overland Trail ExperiencePart 2. Perpetrating GenocideIntroduction4. The Economics of Genocide in Southern California5. Democratic Death Squads of Northern CaliforniaPart 3. Supporting GenocideIntroduction6. The Murder State7. Federal Bystanders to and Agents of Genocide8. Advertising GenocideConclusion: At a Crossroads in the GenocideEpilogue: Forgetting and Remembering GenocideNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book Synopsis In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Euro-American citizenry of California carried out mass genocide against the Native population of their state, using the processes and mechanisms of democracy to secure land and resources for themselves and their private interests. The murder, rape, and enslavement of thousands of Native people were legitimized by notions of democracy—in this case mob rule—through a discreetly organized and brutally effective series of petitions, referenda, town hall meetings, and votes at every level of California government. Murder State is a comprehensive examination of these events and their early legacy. Preconceptions about Native Americans as shaped by the popular press and by immigrants’ experiences on the Overland Trail to California were used to further justify the elimination of Native people in the newcomers’ quest for land. The allegedly “violent nature” of Native peoplTrade Review"[Murder State is] one of the most important works ever published on the history of American Indians in California in the mid-nineteenth century."—Steven Newcomb, Indian Country “A significant historical account detailing white pioneers perpetrating genocide against California Indians. . . . [Employs] compelling evidence.”—Clifford E. Trafzer, Journal of American Studies “Lindsay’s methodology and conclusions . . . highlight important questions for scholars to ask of frontier societies, their legal systems, and their citizens.”—Brenden Rensink, Western Historical Quarterly “Perhaps the most provocative aspect of his book is Lindsay’s connection of American democracy to the killing of Indians.”—Robert G. Lee, American Historical Review“Democracy and genocide are two activities that most would declare antagonistic. Yet Brendan Lindsay presents primary evidence that reveals the hatred and murderous acts committed by early Californians and government officials, as a grassroots movement, to settle the ‘Golden State’ by exterminating and dispossessing Native peoples of their ancestral homelands.”—Jack Norton, Hupa historian and emeritus professor of Native American studies, Humboldt State University“Historian Brendan Lindsay has documented the attempted extermination of California’s first people and provided a detailed, comprehensive historical treatment of California’s genocide. He offers a groundbreaking study that will change the historiography of California and genocide studies—a penetrating but readable book that will quickly become a classic.”—Larry Myers (Pomo), executive secretary of the California Native American Heritage CommissionTable of ContentsList of Tables Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Defining Genocide Part 1. Imagining Genocide Introduction 1. The Core Values of Genocide 2. Emigrant Guides 3. The Overland Trail Experience Part 2. Perpetrating Genocide Introduction 4. The Economics of Genocide in Southern California 5. Democratic Death Squads of Northern California Part 3. Supporting Genocide Introduction 6. The Murder State 7. Federal Bystanders to and Agents of Genocide 8. Advertising Genocide Conclusion: At a Crossroads in the Genocide Epilogue: Forgetting and Remembering Genocide Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Trade Review"Hidden Genocides is a penetrating scholarly searchlight illuminating an important and previously obscured landscape." -- Frank Chalk * Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University *"By problematizing, both theoretically and empirically, the canon of genocide studies, this collection makes an important contribution to an underdeveloped field." -- Jens Meierhenrich * London School of Economics and Political Science *"Hidden Genocides is a timely collection of critical essays that effectively engages scholars in rethinking the way we conceptualize, approach, and teach genocide studies. A must-read for a wide-range of scholars." * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Hinton, La Pointe, and Irvin-Erickson offer a useful prism through which to examine and weigh conventional accounts of genocide. It reveals cover-ups and makes the invisible visible." * Genocide Studies and Prevention *"Hidden Genocides collection is an essential guide to the latest scholarship on genocide studies from an international and comparative perspective." * American Hellenic Institute Policy Journal *"Hidden Genocides is a penetrating scholarly searchlight illuminating an important and previously obscured landscape." -- Frank Chalk * Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University *"By problematizing, both theoretically and empirically, the canon of genocide studies, this collection makes an important contribution to an underdeveloped field." -- Jens Meierhenrich * London School of Economics and Political Science *"Hidden Genocides is a timely collection of critical essays that effectively engages scholars in rethinking the way we conceptualize, approach, and teach genocide studies. A must-read for a wide-range of scholars." * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Hinton, La Pointe, and Irvin-Erickson offer a useful prism through which to examine and weigh conventional accounts of genocide. It reveals cover-ups and makes the invisible visible." * Genocide Studies and Prevention *"Hidden Genocides collection is an essential guide to the latest scholarship on genocide studies from an international and comparative perspective." * American Hellenic Institute Policy Journal *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Hidden Genocides: Power, Knowledge, Memory Douglas Irvin-Erickson, Thomas La Pointe, and Alexander Laban Hinton Part One: Genocide and Ways of Knowing 1. Does the Holocaust Reveal or Conceal Other Genocides?: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Grievable Suffering A. Dirk Moses 2. Hidden in Plain Sight: Atrocity Concealment in German Political Culture before the First World War Elisa von Joeden-Forgey 3. Beyond the Binary Model: National Security Doctrine in Argentina as a Way of Rethinking Genocide as a Social Practice Daniel Feierstein Part Two: Power, Resistance, and Edges of the State 4. "Simply Bred Out": Genocide and the Ethical in the Stolen Generations Donna-Lee Frieze 5. Historical Amnesia: The "Hidden Genocide" and Destruction of the Indigenous Peoples of the United States Chris Mato Nunpa 6. Circassia: A Small Nation Lost to the Great Game Walter Richmond Part Three: Forgetting, Remembering, and Hidden Genocides 7. The Great Lakes Genocides: Hidden Histories, Hidden Precedents Adam Jones 8. Genocide and the Politics of Memory in Cambodia Alexander Laban Hinton 9. Constructing the "Armenian Genoicde": How Scholars Unremembered the Assyrian and Greek Genocides in the Ottoman Empire Hannibal Travis 10. "The Law Is Such as It Is": Reparations, "Historical Reality," and the Legal Order in the Czech Republic Krista Hegburg Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor every survivor of a crime, there is a criminal who forces his way into the victim's thoughts long after the act has been committed. This is the story of Pec, Kosovo's most destroyed city and the site of the earliest and worst atrocities of the war, through the lives of two men-one Serb and one Kosovar.Trade ReviewA heart-rending tale of the execution of innocents, told with eloquence and compassion by a brilliant and courageous young journalist. What is astonishing about this story of death in Pec is that it actually took place in the last year of the twentieth century and in supposedly civilized Europe. Through the life of Isa the butcher, Matt McAllester graphically depicts the precariousness of life in Kosovo under Slobodan Milosevic, and the compromises and indignities imposed upon anyone who through the accident of birth had an Albanian ethnic identity. What makes this a path-breaking account is the author's drive to find the sadistic killers who shot children in cold blood, and his insistence that they explain their crime. The story is unforgettable. -- Roy Gutman,Pulitzer Prize winner and author of A Witness to Genocide, Newsweek diplomatic correspondentBeyond the Mountains of the Damned is about how war destroys society at its most basic level. I read this and understood what happened to ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances during those dark and desperate days in Kosovo. It is a book I will not forget. -- Janine di Giovanni,special correspondent, Vanity Fair and the Times of LondonMatthew McAllester's Beyond the Mountains of the Damned tells the searing and disturbing story of the war in Kosovo. He explains clearly, as few have, what happened and why, and why it matters. His powerful narrative takes us down roads, past checkpoints, and into battle zones, and it plunges us into strange, sad, scarred places where no other reporter has gone. The book has a drive and a momentum that keep you reading even when the sheer horror and stupidity of events is painful. A human as well as a historic tale, told with an eye and an ear for the personal, the individual, the intimate. -- Amy Wilentz,author of Martyrs Crossing and The Rainy Season: Haiti since DuvalierTo write this book, Matt McAllester walked through mountains covered with snow and hatred with rifle shots aimed at him from above. He wrote it with extraordinary talent that is equal to his bravery. -- Jimmy BreslinTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1. One Town, Two Lives 2. The Ghosts of Kula Pass 3. Staying Behind 4. The Serbian Canterbury 5. The Friendly Lion and the KLA 6. In the Trunk of a Gray BMW 7. Coffee with Zejnepe 8. Burning 9. Agreements 10. The Illyrian Wolves 11. A Silent Town 12. The Killing 13. A White Plastic Bag in the Long Grass 14. New Roofs,New Cof?ns 15. The Butcher's Business Bibliography About the Author

Read more less

Book SynopsisLiving in Death descends into the ordinary life of people who execute hundreds every day, the same way others go to the office. Bringing philosophical sophistication to the ordinary, the book constitutes both an anthropology of mass killers and a challenge to the conditions that make genocide possible.Table of ContentsForeword by Veena Das | vii Introduction | 1 1. Those Who Kill | 13 The Confessions | 14 • The Killers’ Testimonies | 19 2. Monsters: Cruelty and Jouissance | 29 Fictions and Figures of Evil | 32 • The Archaic Remnants of Evil | 39 3. Ordinary Man and His Pathologies | 51 Banality and Mediocrity: The Ordinary According to Arendt | 54 • When Ordinary Men Become Killers | 65 • Blind Obedience and Submission to Authority | 73 • The Pathologies of the Ordinary Man | 81 4. The Administration of Death | 92 To Make Die and Not to Let Live | 97 • The Khmer Rouge Administration of Death, 1975–79 | 102 • From Genocide to Genocidaires | 118 5. The Ordinary Life of Genocidaires | 130 The Executioner | 134 • Forms of Life and Ordinary Lives | 141 • The Neighborhood, or the Elementary Unity of the Genocidal Form of Life | 148 Conclusion | 173 Acknowledgments | 193 Notes | 195

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines a vast corpus of historical material in both English and Japanese, offering provocative findings that challenge orthodox explanations. Written in clear and accessible prose, this uniquely interdisciplinary book will appeal to sociologists, political scientists, and historians researching collective memory, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, and international relations.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPresident Bush was roundly criticized for likening America's antiterrorism measures to a "crusade" in 2001. This book addresses the role of neomedievalism in contemporary politics. It concludes with a parsing of Bush administration's torture memos, which enlist neomedievalism's model of feudal sovereignty on behalf of abrogation of human rights.

Read more less

Book SynopsisKeith L. Camacho examines the U.S. Navy's war crimes tribunal in Guam between 1944 and 1949 which tried members of Guam's indigenous Chamorro community and Japanese nationals and its role in shaping contemporary domestic and international laws regarding combatants, jurisdiction, and property.Trade Review“Sacred Men is a truly singular work of immense importance. It is original, compelling, and fiercely thought-provoking. Through a theoretical engagement with the Chamorro, Rotanese, and Saipanese indigenous epistemologies, Keith L. Camacho has brought the discussion of U.S. empire, law, sovereignty, militarism, and the working of carceral power to an entirely new horizon in ways no other scholar has done. A pathbreaking, field-shifting intervention.” -- Lisa Yoneyama, author of * Cold War Ruins: Transpacific Critique of American Justice and Japanese War Crimes *“Exceedingly engaging, theoretically accomplished, and incisively researched, Sacred Men unravels the 1944 U.S. military tribunal in Guam, which included the prosecution and torture of Chamorro indigenes. Employing Agamben's homo sacer, Keith L. Camacho provides a razor-sharp analysis of the tribunal as a very real ‘bare life’ event but also as a metaphor for the murder, torture, and foreclosure of political life that has occurred throughout the colonies as ‘states of exception.’” -- Brendan Hokowhitu, coeditor of * The Fourth Eye: Maori Media in Aotearoa New Zealand *"Provocative and engaging, Camacho’s work not only breaks new ground in postcolonial and transpacific studies, but also calls attention to the role that Chamorro, Rotanese, and Saipanese indigenous epistemologies may play in the decolonization and deimperialization of US-occupied Guam." -- Y. Shu * Choice *“Author Keith Camacho is especially interested in developing an analysis of law, justice, incarceration, and punishment in colonial situations...and in weaving this theoretical apparatus into the longer and larger history of US colonial rule in both North America and abroad.... [P]ath-breaking work...” -- Glenn Petersen * Pacific Affairs *“Camacho’s intricately researched and powerfully theorized book Sacred Men is the first to examine, at close range, the U.S. Navy trials of Japanese and native people in Guam before and after 1945.... [It] should be required reading for all graduate students and scholars of war, justice, and the American empire in the Pacific.” -- Franziska Seraphim * Journal of Military History *“Sacred Men makes crucial theoretical, methodological, and historiographical interventions into carceral studies, Indigenous studies, and studies of U.S. empire and militarism.... Sacred Men is an essential resource for scholars of Indigenous peoples, especially those separated by political regimes and imperial boundaries." -- Kristin Oberiano * Amerasia Journal *“Through uncovering these once buried stories, Camacho illustrates a wide range of human responses to the pressures of war and colonial domination. . . . Sacred Men will prove to be a welcome addition to the cannon of Marianas history.” -- Michael R. Clement Jr. * Small States & Territories *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Part I. The State of Exception 1. War Bodies 29 2. War Crimes 60 Part II. The Bird and the Lizard 3. Native Assailants 89 4. Native Murderers 116 Part III. The Military Colony 5. Japanese Traitors 149 6. Japanese Militarists 181 Conclusion 215 Notes 225 Bibliography 269 Index 283

Read more less