What do we know about war crimes and justice? What are thediscursive practices through which the dominant images of warcrimes, atrocity and justice are understood?In this wide ranging text, Michael J. Shapiro contrasts thejustice-related imagery of the war crimes trial (for example thesolitary, headphone-wearing defendant at the Hague listening withintent to a catalogue of charges) with ?literary justice?:representations in literature, film, and biographical testimony,raising questions about atrocities and justice that juridicalproceedings exclude.By engaging with the ambiguities exposed by the artistic andexperiential genres, reading them alongside policy and archivaldocumentation and critical theoretical discourses, Shapiro?s WarCrimes, Atrocity, and Justice challenges traditional notions of?responsibility? in juridical settings. His comparative readingsinstead encourage a focus on the conditions of possibility for warcrimes as they arise from the actions of states, non-state agenciesand individuals involved in arms trading, peace keeping, sextrafficking, and law enforcement and adjudication.Theory springs to life as Shapiro draws on examples from legaldiscourse, literature, media, film, and television, to build anuanced picture of politics and the problem of justice. It will beof great interest to students of film and media, literature,cultural studies, contemporary philosophy and political science