Looking Backward-Thinking Forward describes the progression of author Drexel A. Sprecher from his early life in the Midwest to becoming the deputy chief counsel in the trials of the surviving leaders of Nazi Germany. The author later became the editor-in-chief of the official volumes on the last twelve of the thirteen Nuremberg trials.

The book summarizes how Sprecher, after the trials, collected commentaries and other data on a number of topics of humanitarian concern, including the stabilization of the population; the changing roles and rights of women and homosexuals; meaningful education; racial prejudice; the behavior of the leaders of several large corporations; the conflict in Iraq; and extending the functions of the United Nations in reaching toward justice and peace.