East West StreetEast West Street
Score Modern
What it's about
Philippe Sands, a human rights lawyer, was invited to give a lecture in Lviv, Ukraine, the city where his grandfather was born. There he discovered that two men who invented the legal ideas used at the Nuremberg trials, Hersch Lauterpacht (crimes against humanity) and Raphael Lemkin (genocide), had studied there too. The book weaves their stories together with that of Hans Frank, the Nazi governor who oversaw the murders of their families, and with Sands's search for his grandfather's secrets.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction. It's a family memoir, legal history and detective story in one.
You'll love it if you liked
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between
The Guns of AugustGood to know
It moves between several timelines and people. It includes descriptions of the Holocaust.
By the numbers
- Readers98 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics54 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller4 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz4 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #59 of the 198 history books we rank
- #167 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #332 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is East West Street worth reading?
Yes. It won the Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction. It ranks #332 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 80.9 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is East West Street about?
Philippe Sands, a human rights lawyer, was invited to give a lecture in Lviv, Ukraine, the city where his grandfather was born. There he discovered that two men who invented the legal ideas used at the Nuremberg trials, Hersch Lauterpacht (crimes against humanity) and Raphael Lemkin (genocide), had studied there too. The book weaves their stories together with that of Hans Frank, the Nazi governor who oversaw the murders of their families, and with Sands's search for his grandfather's secrets.
How long does it take to read East West Street?
About 12 hours (466 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has East West Street won?
Baillie Gifford Prize winner (2016).
What should I read after East West Street?
If you liked it, try The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer, The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar or The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman.