In a way, we can simply let The Nation’s review do the work on why you should read this book. David Scheffer writes:

I have long awaited the day when empirical research would help make the case for why the pursuit of international justice over the last two decades has been a worthy instrument not only of punishment, but also of deterrence. Now that day has arrived with Kathryn Sikkink’s important book. It fills a yawning gap in the literature of atrocity crimes.

But should reinforcement be necessary, let us add that The Justice Cascade is great scholarship gaining the wide—and glowing—reviews it deserves.