Professor Andrew Williams from the University of Warwick’s School of Law has been shortlisted for a prestigious Crime Writers Association (CWA) Daggers award.
A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the end of WWII is one of six short-listed titles in the non-fiction category.
Described by the shortlisting judges as "a compelling examination of how the war crimes trials at Nuremberg and elsewhere were imposed across the chaos and ruins of the Third Reich, interwoven with the author’s own travels, investigations and reflections," the book examines British investigations and trials of Nazi war criminals after 1945.
After the Second World War, the Nuremberg Tribunal became a symbol of justice in the face of tyranny, aggression and atrocity. But it was only a fragment of retribution as, with their Allies, the British embarked on the largest programme of war crimes investigations and trials in history.
A Passing Fury exposes the deeper truth of this endeavour, moving from the trial of Goering, Hess and von Ribbentrop to the makeshift courtrooms where the SS officers, guards and executioners were prosecuted. It tells the story of the investigators, lawyers and perpetrators and asks the question: was justice done?
Professor Williams said: "I am really pleased that the book has been recognised in this way and very much look forward to the ceremony later this week."
This is not the first time Professor Williams has been recognised for his exceptional writing. In 2013, he won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousi, which tells the story of the brutal murder and ill-treatment of an Iraqi civilian by British troops in Basra in 2003.