38 Londres Street, 9781474620741
Hardcover
A house, two monsters, and a chilling link between past and present.

38 Londres Street

on impunity, pinochet in england and a nazi in patagonia

$75.22

  • Hardcover

    480 pages

  • Release Date

    7 April 2025

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Summary

38 Londres Street: A House of Secrets and Atrocities

In 38 Londres Street, Philippe Sands blends personal memoir, historical detective work and gripping courtroom drama to probe a secret double story of mass murder, one that reveals a shocking thread that links the horrors of the 1940s with those of our own times.

The house at 38 Londres Street is home to the legacies of two men whose personal stories span continents, nationalities and decades of at…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781474620741
ISBN-10:1474620744
Author:Philippe Sands
Publisher:Orion Publishing Co
Imprint:Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Format:Hardcover
Number of Pages:480
Release Date:7 April 2025
Weight:700g
Dimensions:242mm x 162mm x 40mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

[An] intriguing, beautifully observed and thoughtful book about immunity and impunity … Sands makes his legal arguments come alive – Roger Boyes * THE TIMES *Sands is a storyteller and a scholar, capable of turning scraps into an enthralling collage … These questions of memory and impunity are forever timely * FINANCIAL TIMES *A gripping blend of memoir, investigative journalism and courtroom drama, with a narrative spanning decades and thousands of miles – Zuzanna Lachendro * NEW STATESMAN *Well told … An account of how difficult it is to bring to book those guilty of the most appalling crimes – Philip Johnston * TELEGRAPH *Not just a gripping behind-the-scenes court drama … [uncovers] the chilling, macabre truth – Grace Livingstone * TLS *Sands’s achievement is to excavate a deeper intimacy between the cases of Rauff and Pinochet … he follows each twist in the double narrative with an impressive combination of moral clarity and judicious detachment … But it is Sands’s expertise in international law, coupled with a natural storyteller’s intuition for structure, that gives his latest book its understated power. His stories have all the more impact for their subtlety – Rafael Behr * GUARDIAN *This remarkable, sweeping book completes Sands’s trilogy about Nazi war crimes … Sands’s exhaustive research is as impressive as his storytelling * SUNDAY INDEPENDENT *The concluding part of Philippe Sands’s extraordinary trilogy - part history, part moral investigation, part memoir - that documents the legal and personal battles to bring to account Nazi war criminals and their disciples … One of Sands’s strengths as a writer is that he resists the impulse to demonise … He achieves [a damning picture] with his understated doggedness – Andrew Anthony * OBSERVER *Fascinating * JEWISH CHRONICLE *An extraordinary achievement … I read with open mouth and thumping heart. Sands brilliantly traces the atrocious trail of blood that leads from the death camps of Nazi Germany to the torture rooms of Pinochet’s Chile. 38 Londres Street takes its place as one of the most unforgettable and important records of the systematic pitiless cruelty of which tyrannies are capable – STEPHEN FRYSands is phenomenal. The research alone leaves one dazed with admiration – ANTONY BEEVORThough nearly a decade in the making, this book could not arrive at a better time, because its subject is one of the most pressing themes of our era: impunity. Weaving together a globe-trotting legal thriller, a personal history and a twin portrait of a pair of mass murderers - one a fugitive Nazi, the other a head of state - Sands has created an indelible and enthralling work of moral witness – PATRICK RADDEN KEEFEMeticulously researched, delicately told - through jaw dropping interviews with those who witnessed Pinochet’s acts first hand. This kind of scholarship has the power to change the world. Devastating and brilliant – EMILY MAITLISThe pace of a thriller novel, meticulously recorded and filled with urgent moral and political questions, this is Philippe Sands at his very best – IAN RANKIN38 Londres Street is many books, but especially two: on the one hand, an absorbing thriller where the fates of the bloodthirsty Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the Nazi war criminal Walther Rauff intertwine, as do the present and the past, fiction and reality, chance and necessity; on the other hand, a profound, lucid and indispensable reflection on justice and impunity in a world that aspires or should aspire to universal justice. This is not only the most ambitious book Philippe Sands has written, but also his best. An enthralling read – JAVIER CERCASIn 38 Londres Street Philippe Sands combines the tone of the thriller with an astute and dramatic account of a most complex and fascinating legal case. Since Sands was present in court, there is an urgency in the narrative and a sharp sense of what was at stake. The book also offers a vivid picture of the personalities involved, including Pinochet himself, his translator, the judges, the British government and the victims of Pinochet’s crimes. In the background lies evil itself in the guise of a Nazi in exile, the sinister Walther Rauff. This is a brilliant and important book – COLM TOIBINA true masterpiece. Utterly compelling, a staggering piece of research and beautifully written – HENRY MARSHA brilliant and gripping account – ABDULRAZAK GURNAH

About The Author

Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands is Professor of Public Understanding of Law at UCL, visiting professor at Harvard Law School and a practising barrister at 11 KBW. He has been involved in many significant international cases in recent years, including Pinochet, Congo, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo, Chagos and the Rohingya. He has served as President of English PEN and as a member of the board of the Hay Festival.

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