Philippe Sands 2 Books Collection Set - East West Street & The Ratline - Non Fiction - Paperback

Titles in This Set
The Ratline
East West Street

Details
Condition: Brand New
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N)

Overview
This two-book paperback collection brings together two celebrated works of narrative non-fiction from Philippe Sands: East West Street and The Ratline. Both books draw on archival research, family testimony, and courtroom history to explore how the twentieth century's greatest atrocities were confronted, and sometimes evaded, by the people who lived through them. East West Street traces the origins of the terms genocide and crimes against humanity through the city of Lviv, while The Ratline follows a senior Nazi official and his wife as they flee justice after the war, offering a rigorous, human portrait of memory and reckoning.

About the Books
Philippe Sands is an international human rights lawyer whose historical investigations read with the pace of a thriller while remaining anchored in primary documents. East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity follows men connected to the city of Lviv, including the legal scholars who coined the terms genocide and crimes against humanity, tracing how those ideas were forged during the Nuremberg trials. Sands weaves family history with legal history, showing how ordinary streets became the testing ground for concepts that reshaped international law. The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive turns to Otto von Wachter, a senior SS officer, and his wife Charlotte, using letters, diaries, and interviews with their son to reconstruct Wachter's wartime role and his years hiding in the Alps and Rome after 1945. Sands uses this archive to probe how a family narrates, and sometimes denies, complicity in atrocity. Read together, the two books complement one another: one builds the legal architecture used to prosecute mass atrocity, and the other examines a fugitive's attempt to escape that architecture, and both ask difficult questions about memory, guilt, and responsibility.

Key Benefits

• Two acclaimed works of narrative non-fiction from a leading international lawyer
• Blends rigorous legal history with intimate, archive-based family storytelling
• A thoughtful gift for history buffs, law students, and non-fiction readers
• Brand new paperback copies, ready for a home library or book club
• Explores the twentieth century's darkest chapters with clarity and compassion

Book-by-Book Guide
The Ratline — Draws on decades of family letters, diaries, and interviews to trace Otto von Wachter's wartime role and his years as a fugitive across the Alps and Rome.
East West Street — Follows the origins of the legal terms genocide and crimes against humanity back to the city of Lviv and the scholars who coined them.

About the Author
Philippe Sands is a British-French international lawyer and professor of law at University College London, where he directs the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals. He has represented governments and individuals before international courts, including the International Court of Justice. Alongside his legal career, Sands has become one of the most acclaimed narrative non-fiction writers working on the history of international law and the Holocaust, drawing on archival research and family history. His books, including East West Street and The Ratline, have been translated into numerous languages.

Why You'll Love This Collection
This collection pairs two gripping works of historical non-fiction that reward readers again and again, whether tackled back-to-back or given as a thoughtful gift for the history lover in your life. Ideal for the holiday season or building a serious non-fiction library.

Please Note: This is the UK edition with the ISBN as listed; the cover may vary slightly from the image shown.