Amherst Reads Reviews

“[A] masterful account of Demjanuk’s long, very strange case….deftly delivers disquisitions on nuanced legal questions as if they were plot points in a thriller...” Wall Street Journal

“…extraordinarily impressive,” Christopher Browning, Times Literary Supplement

“’The Right Wrong Man,’ from its summary title to its thoughtful postscript, is an impressive work, as well as a timely one in its demonstration of the power of legal systems to learn from past missteps.” Anthony Julius, New York Times Book Review

"The case of [Demjanjuk] the death camp guard turned autoworker, related with authority and clarity." New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

“Sophisticated and suspenseful, the book provides a trenchant analysis of the legal and moral dilemmas surrounding trials for genocidal crimes against humanity.”  Jerusalem Post

"An excellent…elucidation of the long trail toward the conviction of a notorious concentration camp guard."--Kirkus

“…a superb book,” Trouw (Netherlands)

“…definitive,” Irish Times

“[Douglas] deftly weaves the ongoing battle of Demjanjuk’s with the evidentiary trail being followed by the sleuths in the US Justice Department and elsewhere….The Right Wrong Man is an important read about the accountability those who do wrong ultimately face.” San Francisco Book Review

“…a remorselessly fascinating account…perceptive and thought-provoking…” Jewish Chronicle (UK)

“…Lawrence Douglas’s immensely readable book absorbs the reader in the twists and turns of the Demjanjuk saga, helping us understand both why justice required prosecuting Demjanjuk for his “egregious moral complicity,” and how the job got done.” Commonweal

“For Douglas, this last great Holocaust trial…enshrined a new form of memory, one which preserves the moral strength of survivors’ stories long after they are gone.” The New Republic

“…behind this story lies a fraught web of issues that Douglas untangles with exceptional skill….The book is a tour de force…” Foreign Affairs

“…brilliant…will most probably be considered the definitive work on the Demjanjuk case.”  Efraim Zuroff, Jerusalem Report

"A remarkable and important work that lays bare the limits of the justice system for the greatest crimes. Lawrence Douglas has woven out of the trials of John Demjanjuk a book that is utterly gripping and finely crafted, one that offers insights that are profound, troublesome, and enlightening."--Philippe Sands, University College London

"In this insightful and gracefully written book, Douglas elevates the Demjanjuk case from a legal curiosity--one involving an initially mistaken prosecution followed by a later valid one--to a study in the uses and limits of the law when it confronts genocide."--Michael B. Mukasey, former US attorney general

"A marvelous book and a gripping read, The Right Wrong Man dissects one of the most bizarre episodes in the adjudication of the Holocaust. It is reminiscent of, but superior to, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem. Like Arendt, Douglas studied his subject from up close, from inside the courtroom. Combining eloquent reporting with trenchant analysis, he has produced a rare thing indeed--a learned page-turner."--Jens Meierhenrich, London School of Economics

"The Right Wrong Man is powerful, richly observed, and darkly entertaining. Anyone interested in postwar history will want to read it."--Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer with the New Yorker

"Lawrence Douglas has once again provided us with a history-laden and provocative analysis of Holocaust trials. His riveting study of the Demjanjuk saga is of importance, not just to historians and jurists, but to all those who wonder how can justice ever prevail when the crime being adjudicated is genocide."--Deborah E. Lipstadt, Emory University

"A wonderfully lucid book about the bizarre and fascinating case of John Demjanjuk, the only American to lose his citizenship twice, and about the much larger issues of law and morality that arise when individuals are held to account for crimes committed by the state."--Scott Turow, author of Identical

"In this excellent book, Lawrence Douglas, a thoughtful student of legal attempts to punish atrocities committed in wartime, uncovers the strange case of the non-German who, impressed into serving as a Nazi concentration camp guard, was, many years later, repeatedly tried as a war criminal and ultimately convicted."--Richard A. Posner, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

"The Right Wrong Man is a fascinating exploration of what kind of justice the bit players in history's greatest crimes deserve. With the authority of an academic and the eye of a novelist, Lawrence Douglas sheds bright new light on the perplexing case of John Demjanjuk, a small cog in the Nazis' genocidal machine. Although Demjanjuk was not 'Ivan the Terrible,' as originally accused, Douglas argues that in the end he was Ivan-the-terrible-enough to have been properly convicted."--Jane Mayer, staff writer with the New Yorker