Book review of Stern Justice by Adam Wakeling

Stern Justice: The Forgotten Story of Australia, Japan and the Pacific War Crimes Trials by Adam Wakeling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wakeling has produced a very accessible and accurate exploration of Australia's involvement in the war crimes trials in the Pacific at the end of WWII. He training in law and clear writing style help the interested layperson to comprehend the various complicated legal processes and documents that formed the bases for these trials. The reader is immediate involved in the brutal nature of the events that led to the necessity of the trials, with a graphic description of a war crime in the prologue, setting the scene for the evolution of the conduct of the Japanese war crimes trials over the following years in subsequent chapters. 
It is probably going a little too far to describe the book as the "forgotten story" of Australia, Japan and the Pacific War Crimes Trials, but it certainly complements the work of David Sissons, and studies by Fitzpatrick et al, Australia's war crimes trials, 1945-51, intended for an academic audience. Stern Justice's contribution is to make this important aspect of Australian history accessible to the general reader. I highly recommend this book. 

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