Hiding in Plain Sight:
The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror

Alexa Koenig, Victor Peskin and Eric Stover In conversation
Tuesday, Jan 17, 2017 | 7:15pm Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library

Based on years of research and in-depth interviews with prosecutors, investigators, and diplomats—authors Alexa Koenig, Victor Peskin and Eric Stover examine the global effort to capture the world’s most wanted fugitives in their seminal book, Hiding in Plain Sight. The authors trace the evolution of international justice and how to hold accountable mass murderers like Adolf Eichmann, Saddam Hussein, Ratko Mladic, Joseph Kony, and Osama bin Laden.  The authors will also discuss the United States’ increasing reliance on military force to capture—or more often simply to kill—suspected terrorists, with little or no judicial scrutiny.

Alexa Koenig

Alexa Koenig, JD, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Human Rights Center and a Lecturer-in-Residence at UC Berkeley where she teaches classes on human rights and international criminal law. In addition to co-authoring Hiding in Plain Sight, she is the editor, with Keramet Reiter, of Extreme Punishment: Comparative Studies in Detention, Incarceration and Solitary Confinement, and a contributor to The Guantánamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices.

Victor Peskin

Victor Peskin is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University and a Research Fellow at the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center. Peskin is a co-author of the recently released, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror. He is also the author of International Justice in Rwanda and the Balkans: Virtual Trials and the Struggle for State Cooperation, which was named a Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title. Peskin’s current work focuses on the politics of accountability in Kosovo and the role of the International Criminal Court in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Peskin received his doctorate in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Eric Stover

Eric Stover is Faculty Director of the Human Rights Center and Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Health at UC Berkeley. In the early 1990s, Stover took part in conducting the first research on the social and medical consequences of land mines in Cambodia and other post-war countries. His research helped launch the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, which received the Nobel Prize in 1997. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, he served on several medico-legal investigations as an “Expert on Mission” to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.  He conducted a survey of mass graves throughout Rwanda for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1995. His books include A Village Destroyed, May 14, 1999: War Crimes in Kosovo; My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity; and The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in The Hague.

Reservation Policy for Free Programs:
As most ALOUD at Central Library programs are free of charge, it is our policy to overbook. In the case of a FULL program your free reservation may not guarantee admission. We recommend arriving early. Space permitting, unclaimed reservations will be released to standby patrons at approximately 7 PM.

Standby Policy:
Standby numbers are distributed in person only one hour before the program, on a first-come, first-served, basis. There is no advance wait list for full programs. Standby patrons will be admitted subject to availability. Most programs will be available via podcast.

Book Signing Policy:
ALOUD is one of many free programs at the Los Angeles Public Library made possible by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Most ALOUD author programs are followed by book signings. At least one copy of the author’s book must be purchased from The Library Store in order to participate in any post-program book signing, and you will be asked to show proof of purchase. Please be prepared to show your proof of purchase when you enter the book signing line. Proceeds support the Los Angeles Public Library.

Main image: The Situation Room, May 1, 2011 (Wikimedia Commons)

Frequently Asked Questions

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