Description: This important work argues that human rights abuse is not necessarily about distant places and peoples, and it is neither incomprehensible nor inevitable. Despite seeming consensus about the importance of human rights protection, abuse-based in inequality-continues to expand. ...
Review Quotes:
"Black has a keen eye for the abuses of power, and especially for the ways that the concentration of economic wealth impacts respect for human rights. Full of a savvy distrust for politicians and the powerful everywhere, Black nevertheless prioritizes making governments responsible. . . . Black includes some helpful references to templates developed by European agencies, especially for assessing economic and development projects, but applicable to other policies as well." --Fellowship
"A stark and powerful portrayal of rights under challenge, drawing lessons particularly from circumstances in which justice has prevailed over impunity. Black's deep understanding of her topic is highlighted by her masterful analysis of the Chilean situation before, during, and after military dictatorship enshrouded the country." --Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, prosecutor of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet "Jan Black has written a one-of-a-kind primer on protecting the sanctity of human rights-legal, moral, social, political, economic, and cultural. If ever there was a scholarly preemptive strike against future abuses of human rights, this book is it." --Peter Kornbluh "A valuable addition to the literature, full of examples, case studies, and lessons learned from all over the world. Crisscrossing disciplinary boundaries, Black offers effective strategies for human rights protection." --Julianne Cartwright-Traylor, former chair, board of directors, Amnesty International USA "This very timely work challenges us to probe the systemic roots of rights abuse, to see that so long as some among us are unprotected, none of us is safe, and that changing the course of history is not a spectator sport-we all rise or fall together." --Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP "Jan Knippers Black, a great advocate for human rights and against U.S. international interventionism and war, shows convincingly how practical advance activism can prevent disastrous impacts on human rights." --Fred Harris, former U.S. Senator and coeditor of Locked in the Poorhouse "With her usual verve, clarity, scholarship, and even humor, Jan Black gives us a fascinating guidebook to the past and future of human rights and a practical guide to building a more equitable and caring world." --Riane Eisler, author of The Real Wealth of Nations