The Disappeared

Reviews / Votes

"With the eye of a novelist and the brilliance of a lawyer, Sam Ferguson has given us a gripping and world-illuminating account of Argentina's relentless and almost heroic attempt to confront the horrors of its past."-Owen Fiss, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale Law School "Sam Ferguson's book tells the remarkable saga of this twenty-two-month trial and the larger story of how and why Argentina is prosecuting its aging Dirty Warriors. It wrestles with the deepest questions of whether law can do justice for the past. This is an important and timely book that should be read by all of those who are interested in fostering international human rights and promoting democracy-and a reminder that societies never really turn the page on the past."-Tina Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of The Haunted: Facing Europe's Ghosts after Communism "In The Disappeared Sam Ferguson asks an urgent moral question: what does justice look like in the aftermath of atrocity? If that question remains an abstraction in too many places around the world, Ferguson addresses it concretely-and unforgettably-in this riveting new account. . . . In Ferguson's hands you'll feel as if you, too, are sitting in the repurposed movie theater with the faded pink drapes in 2009, watching an important political spectacle commence. But The Disappeared also offers a clear-eyed assessment of the limits of the law and the kinds of collective heartbreak it is not equipped to heal."-Sarah Stillman, staff writer for the New Yorker "The true birth of the contemporary human rights movement can be traced not to Nuremberg or even to Auschwitz but to the dark recesses of the Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires. . . . [The Disappeared] is a gripping narrative; Sam Ferguson has written a fascinating, painstaking, and necessary book. Anyone who cares about human rights-or indeed the human condition-must read it."-Mark Danner, author of The Massacre at El Mozote "Can there ever be justice for Latin America's disappeared? This remarkable book analyzes the question through the prism of Argentina's contemporary crimes against humanity trials for atrocities committed during its so-called 'Dirty War' of the 1970s and the possibility of delayed justice. As a lawyer and observer, Ferguson presents a keen understanding in this nuanced and highly readable account. . . . Through [Ferguson's] interviews, comprehensive research, and first-hand observations, a lucid narrative emerges here: Argentina has imagined and created a better future through the trials by opening up its dark past. Argentina has achieved a level of self-reflection and judgment that tragically remains largely exceptional among nations. Given the rise of authoritarianism around the world, this is hugely necessary and riveting reading for students, academics, and political analysts alike."-Ruti G. Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School and author of Globalizing Transitional Justice