Kenneth Roth spent nearly three decades directing Human Rights Watch and building it into the powerful global institution it is today, with a staff of more than 500 working regularly in some 100 countries. His first book, Righting Wrongs, tells the story of Roth’s many innovations and strategies, combining memoir with an analysis of HRW’s role in the human rights movement.

The book is a handbook for action that effectively refutes the skeptics who question whether it is possible to defend human rights effectively. Roth shows decisively that it is. Pulling back the curtain on the strategies used, the book is filled with examples of how Human Rights Watch and its allies forced governments to behave better.

At a time of global instability and rising right-wing extremism, Roth provides an insider’s view of how it is possible for a relatively small group of people—through persistence and creativity—to move even the most powerful and despotic governments.  The book is a call to action and a reason for optimism.