Judging Iran

KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST INDIE BOOK OF 2023

From a divided Berlin to The Hague, the Reagan White House, the forests of Costa Rica, and more, Judge Charles N. Brower shares a personal history of a life spent at the forefront of international justice—and a case for the role of law in preserving global peace.

A judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal for four decades, Charles N. Brower is an internationally recognised leader in arbitration and has handled cases on six continents. With quick wit and a keen eye for adventure, he takes readers on a tour of his extraordinary career.

As a young lawyer fresh from Harvard, Brower quickly made partner at a Wall Street firm. After just four months, however, he left the expected path to join the U.S. State Department, embarking on a career that put him in the thick of Cold War Europe and led to a lifelong focus on international law.

Brower's drive carried him to the heart of pressing issues, including globalisation, governmental ethics, environmentalism, and human rights. At each stop, Brower encountered criminals and victims, advocates and miscreants, especially at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, where heated disagreements between judges once erupted into physical violence. His work at The Hague was interrupted only by his time as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan at the height of the Iran-Contra scandal, and Brower eventually became the most-appointed American judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice.

Judging Iran is a frank insider account of the highest echelons of international law. As an active judge to this day, Brower offers a nuanced history of modern arbitration between nations, from our earliest concept of international law to today's efforts for justice. And, as a global citizen, he argues that the law is essential in our work for peace.