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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Books

Dec 31, 2017

Outstanding insight, meticulous and moving

Other than historians and international lawyers you will not have heard of the lawyer Hersch Lauterpacht yet he is a very important figure in Philippe Sands' magnificent book.

East West Street is different and distinct in many meaningful ways, telling the fascinating story of the beginning of international human rights, but rather do so as dry legal history it focuses on two of the most significant individuals.

The author weaves the stories of Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin into Sands' own personal family story, which all tie into the 'city of lions' (Lviv/Lwow/Lemberg) in the first few decades of the 20th century. Both men and Sand's own family lived here, a place where East and West meet, hence the book's title.

It culminates into their assistance with the Nuremburg trials of ten senior Nazi figures, with Lauterpacht preparing the first drafts of the opening and closing speeches of the chief prosecution. Crucially he crafted the wording of Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter, enshrining crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression into international law. Lemkin, in the same vein, constructed the concept of genocide, even coining the term.

And Sands discusses his detective work to find answers to numerous questions about his family. In the end his journey reveals tragedy, but a tragedy lightened by knowing the truth.

This is an outstanding book by a barrister, filmmaker and writer. It reeks of intellectual strength, and truly superb.

Kudos

Dean (6926 KP) rated The Reader (2008) in Movies

Feb 10, 2018

The Reader (2008)

2008 | Drama, Romance

6.0

(6 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

A fine example of great actors, Winslet won an Oscar for this film telling a sad love story. The film has two different halves. The first with an impressive performance by David Kross as a teenage boy who begins an affair one summer with a much older woman. The couple appear naked for much of the first half of the film as the couple spend their time either reading or making love. The second half of the film is set a good few years later as their paths cross again at a war crimes trial. For me quite a few things in the film don't have much of a back story or make a lot of sense. For me the end of the film didn't have a satisfying conclusion and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. A sad story of two lonely lives and the impact they had on each other.

Kudos

The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1)

Jasper Fforde

7.9 (8 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend. There is another 1985,...

A Man Without Breath: 9: Bernie Gunther Mystery

Philip Kerr

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Berlin, March 1943. The mood in Germany is bleak after their stunning defeat at Stalingrad. Private...

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in Books

Sep 16, 2017

Detailed, disturbing, an absolute must-read

An absolutely staggering and essential read about America's new apartheid / caste system, created under the guise of the War on Drugs.

Since the civil rights movements and traced back to its origins from the Jim Crow laws, Michelle Alexander discusses how the prison and judicial system is basically used to force African Americans into an underclass. They are not entitled to jobs, housing, benefits and even voting in some cases, stripping them of human rights well after punishment. As 'criminals' they are vilified by all alike thus continually treated like scum.

For others, it's a situation of arresting African Americans en masse for drug crimes, also committed by their white counterparts but are conveniently ignored.

And police forces around the country are continually given bigger budgets to carry out such arrests to bolster their credentials. It can be seen as a racket in many situations. Disturbing but a must-read.