Stover, Peskin and Koenig on War Criminals

Back in spring 2016, the University of California Press published Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror by Eric Stover, Victor Peskin, and Alexa Koenig, all at the University of California, Berkeley. From the press:

Hiding in Plain Sight tells the story of the global effort to apprehend the world’s most wanted fugitives. Beginning with the flight of tens of thousands of Nazi war criminals and their collaborators after World War II, then moving on to the question of justice following the recent Balkan wars and the Rwandan genocide, and ending with the establishment of the International Criminal Court and America’s pursuit of suspected terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11, the book explores the range of diplomatic and military strategies—both successful and unsuccessful—that states and international courts have adopted to pursue and capture war crimes suspects. It is a story fraught with broken promises, backroom politics, ethical dilemmas, and daring escapades—all in the name of international justice and human rights.

Hiding in Plain Sight is a companion book to the public television documentary Dead Reckoning: Postwar Justice from World War II to The War on Terror. For more information about the documentary, visit www.saybrookproductions.com. For information about the Human Rights Center, visit hrc.berkeley.edu

Praise for the book:

"In Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror, Eric Stover, Victor Peskin and Alexa Koenig combine meticulous historical and legal research to trace the global search for war criminals from Adolf Eichmann to Ratko Mladic, Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden. Beginning by detailing the legal and humanitarian precedents set by the Nuremberg Trials and the Geneva Convention, and ending with a critique of the United States’ moral negation during the so-called ‘War on Terror’, this book is essential for readers looking to understand why crimes against humanity so frequently go unpunished." -Esther Adaire

"Hiding in Plain Sight is a fast-paced, well-written account of the pursuit of war criminals. Many have not only committed crimes on a large scale, but have been protected by powerful forces, including governments. This book is essential reading for those who wish to see that those who are responsible for atrocities are brought to justice." -Aryeh Neier

"One of the world's most daunting challenges is securing the arrest of war crimes suspects, especially when they are high-level civilian or military leaders. Hiding in Plain Sight deals a much-needed blow to impunity by revealing how governments and international institutions have sometimes succeeded—but more often failed—to live up to their legal obligations to bring war criminals to justice. Built on scores of interviews with jurists, investigators, and activists from the front lines of international criminal law, this thoroughly researched book is both extremely timely and long overdue." -Navi Pillay

“A riveting modern history, on the trail of international justice in the face of politics and self-interest, Hiding in Plain Sight is a must-read for anyone who wants to know from whence we have come and the obstacles that will fill the road that lies ahead." -Philippe Sands

Full information is available here.