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Law & Criminology / Jewish Studies / European Studies

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Inside a Class Action The Holocaust and the Swiss Banks Jane Schapiro Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press "A must read for anybody interested in the details of how a group of dogged individuals uncovered the truth involving Swiss banks and the Holocaust."—Kenneth R. Feinberg, adjunct professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center On October 21, 1996, attorney Michael Hausfeld, with a team of lawyers, filed a class-action complaint against Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, and Credit Suisse on behalf of Holocaust victims. The suit accused the banks of, among other things, acting as the chief financiers for Nazi Germany. Hausfeld wanted to use the suit to prove that the banks not only concealed and refused to return millions of dollars in dormant accounts, but that they acted as a conduit for looted assets and slave labor profits. Such behavior, he charged, violated the code of ethics known as customary international law. On August 12, 1998, the plaintiffs and banks reached a $1.25 billion settlement. Through interviews with a wide range of people involved in the case and detailed research of documents and court transcripts, Jane Schapiro shows the ways that egos, personalities, and values clash in such a complex and emotionally charged case. Inside a Class Action provides an insider's view of a major lawsuit from its inception to its conclusion, which will appeal to anyone interested in human rights, reparations, and international law. "With a mastery of the legal issues and a keen eye for the human drama, Schapiro has made the intensity of the historic litigation come alive."—Michael Berenbaum, director of the Sigi Ziering Institute and author of The World Must Know "Schapiro as journalistic midwife supplies the deep thought and ethical precepts. At the completion of her book, I felt I had earned a grade of A in a lew-school seminar. Better still, I felt I had improved my understanding of international relations in a shrinking but still nation-state-dominated world." —Steve Weinberg, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, October 12, 2003 St. Louis, MO "Touching letters by victims, legal memos and first-person perspectives help this book create a complete panorama of the case, and a glimpse into the personal lives of the case's personalities make it a fascinating read." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, October 15, 2003, New York, NY Jane Schapiro is a freelance writer who lives near Washington, D.C. She is the author of a volume of poetry, Tapping This Stone, and her work has appeared in such publications as the Christian Science Monitor, Women's Review of Books, Gettysburg Review, and American Scholar. A press kit for Inside A Class Action provides more information and reviews, just follow these links: Reviews | Author's photo | Author's bio | Cover image For more information regarding publicity and reviews contact our publicity manager, Chris Caldwell, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

October 2003 LC: 2003005663 KF 304 pp. 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-299-19330-0 Cloth $35.00 t Add titles to your shopping cart by clicking on the "Add this book to cart" link above. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with your credit card. Click here for a further explanation of the shopping cart feature Never ordered from us before? Read this first.

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