Reading List
Shami Chakrabarti
Barrister and Civil Liberties Campaigner
Shami Chakrabarti is a British barrister and civil liberties campaigner who directed the human rights organisation Liberty from 2003 to 2016, arriving as in-house counsel the day before the September 11 attacks.
She led Liberty’s campaigns against extended pre-charge detention, identity cards and mass surveillance, and became one of the most recognisable voices on civil liberties in Britain. She has since sat in the House of Lords and served as Shadow Attorney General.
Her books are On Liberty (2014), an account of the cases and campaigns she worked on, and Of Women: In the 21st Century (2017).
The Ghost
by Robert Harris
“I’m always incredibly admiring of people who can convey the sort of things that I would want to convey, although I don’t have those talents – whether it’s J K Rowling or Robert Harris or even Harper Lee. It’s the power of fiction – that ability to move people with suspense, character, emotion.” — via Interview, December 2010
Churchill’s Legacy
The Conservative Case for the Human Rights Act
by Peter Oborne and Jesse Norman
“They do something really important, which is to write – from a conservative point of view – about the Human Rights Act, which of course has been so denigrated and attacked from the centre right and the right of politics in Britain, who saw it as this horrible New Labour political correctness kind of thing. As two very proud conservative thinkers, they explain some of the history and philosophy of the Act.” — via Interview, December 2010
The Rule of Law
by Tom Bingham
“A new book from probably the greatest jurist of our times, probably anywhere in the world. Recently retired, he was the senior law lord for the War on Terror and therefore heavily responsible for some very important decisions from the House of Lords Judicial Committee: against torture, against detention without trial, and so on. What’s wonderful about this book is that it’s not a law book; it’s for everybody.” — via Interview, December 2010
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
by J.K. Rowling · 2003 · Fantasy
“It’s all about the War on Terror as far as I’m concerned. I read this book shortly before I became director of Liberty and you might say I’m someone who’s a little unwell and thinks the TV is talking to me, but to me it’s a thinly veiled metaphor for the War on Terror. The Ministry of Magic is raining down in various draconian ways in response to a very serious threat from the dark Lord Voldemort.” — via Interview, December 2010
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee · 2006 · Fiction
“I’ve really picked this book because it just shows you that in the end great fiction can probably move more people than legislation or political speeches. A great novel can inspire people to do all sorts of great work, and I am sure that amongst my friends, and lawyers in particular, if they were asked to pick a book that’s had a profound influence on them it would be this.” — via Interview, December 2010