Schabas succeeds fully in introducing the reader to the main features of the new International Criminal Court (ICC). His book is a model of legal exposition. He writes clearly, situates the ICC within the history of international law, relates the substantive law of the ICC to the jurisprudence of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, and has interesting comments on the negotiating history that led to the ICC. After finishing Schabas' book, I was struck most of all by the care and thought that went into the design of the ICC, which conforms to the main lines of international law as the law has developed since 1945. The ICC is the world's best hope for bringing war criminals, human rights violators, and genocidalists to justice. It is a disgrace that the U.S. has tried to smother it in the cradle. (I am a U.S. State Department official.)