The Trials of Richard Goldstone
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- $62.99
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- $62.99
Publisher Description
In June 2009, Richard Goldstone was a global hero, honored by the MacArthur Foundation for its prize in international justice. Four months later, he was called a “quisling” and compared to some of the worst traitors in human history. Why? Because this champion of human rights and international law chose to apply his commitments to fairness and truth to his own community.
The Trials of Richard Goldstone tells the story of this extraordinary individual and the price he paid for his convictions. It describes how Goldstone, working as a judge in apartheid South Africa, helped to undermine this unjust system and later, at Nelson Mandela’s request, led a commission that investigated cases of racial violence and intimidation. It also considers the international renown he received as the chief United Nations prosecutor for war crimes committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the first tribunals to try political and military leaders on charges of genocide. Finally, it explores how Goldstone became a controversial figure in the wake of the Jewish jurist’s powerful, but flawed, investigation of Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Richard Goldstone’s dramatic life story reveals that even in a world rife with prejudice, nationalism, and contempt for human rights, one courageous man can advance the cause of justice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Terris recounts the remarkable career of MacArthur Fellow Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, in this admiring biography. Goldstone's lifelong battle for human rights began in his home country, where, in various roles, he challenged basic tenets of apartheid and helped to facilitate the country's successful transition to democracy as head of the Commission of Inquiry Regarding the Prevention of Public Violence and Intimidation. From 1994 1996, he served as chief prosecutor of two U.N. international tribunals on war crimes in (respectively) the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Afterwards, he took up his seat on South Africa's Constitutional Court while participating in international investigations of Nazis in Argentina, NATO's actions in Kosovo, and the Iraq Oil for Food Program. In 2009, he led an investigation of Israeli conduct in the Gaza Strip that issued a report critical of Israel's actions; Terris focuses perhaps too much attention on the firestorm of criticism Goldstone then received from fellow South African Jews, including Zionists' plan to protest Goldstone's grandson's bar mitzvah. Terris does an excellent job contextualizing Goldstone's investigations, accessibly laying out the history of the relevant conflicts, including apartheid, in a rich and nuanced fashion. This appreciative biography will inform readers about both its main subject and important currents in 20th-century world history.
