This is the most comprehensive, and most comprehensively chilling, study of modern torture yet written. Darius Rejali, one of the world's leadin... read full description
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Sep 18, 2011
Ilya
rated it: 
Torture, or inflicting severe physical or mental pain and suffering on a person, is older than civilization. It has been used for enforcing the social hierarchy, for example, between the slaves and the free citizens in ancient Greece or in the antebellum American South. It has been used for punishment, for example, of runaway slaves. It has been used for extracting confessions in judicial systems that valued them too much, whether late medieval and Renaissance Inquisition, the NKVD during Stalin
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Dec 17, 2009
Laura
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I recently used this book as the main research text for a paper I wrote on the portrayal of torture in American film and television post-9/11. After reading it, I can only be grateful that someone like Darius Rejali exists, and that he has taken the time to write about a dark and grisly subject with such detail and insight, and ultimately, so much humility and compassion. I also kind of wished I had gone to Reed College so I could have had Dr. Rejali as a professor.
Rejali starts th More...
Rejali starts th More...
Aug 29, 2010
Ed
rated it:
A depressing although valuable book that shows how "clean" torture techniques--those that don't leave visible scars or physically incapacitate the victim--have been the hallmark of torturers in the military and police forces in democratic nations.
Rejali documents the use of psychological torture, waterboarding and other clean methods by France, the UK, the United States and other non-totalitarian/non-authoritarian nations. In the western European countries it started with More...
Rejali documents the use of psychological torture, waterboarding and other clean methods by France, the UK, the United States and other non-totalitarian/non-authoritarian nations. In the western European countries it started with More...
Jan 07, 2011
Elizabeth
rated it:
I am temporarily letting this go to do a history of why women are where they are in regard to sexual rights and experience. Jan 2011
from the library c2007 there is a newer edition
author is prof at Reed College
thorough
Table of Contents c2007
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Historical Claims
Puzzles and Cautions
The Priority of Public Monitoring
Variations among States
Variations More...
from the library c2007 there is a newer edition
author is prof at Reed College
thorough
Table of Contents c2007
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Historical Claims
Puzzles and Cautions
The Priority of Public Monitoring
Variations among States
Variations More...
Nov 10, 2008
I put this book on my wish list because, though it's obviously going to be a hard read, it looks like an exceptional study of modern history via the evolution of torture. Intriguingly, the author argues that it's not the dictatorships that continuously push torture forward: it's the democracies. While dictators resort to torture more often, and less discriminately, democracies are consistently responsible for developing the most innovative torture techniques. Having begun his research for this b
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Feb 29, 2008
Corbin
rated it: 
This has been a long, albeit good read on the history of torture, the techniques, and it's migration. It is written more on the academic side than I first expected, but any audience should be able to grasp it. I find an annoying repetition when he describes the migration of techniques from one country to the other, which gives me an almost dejavue feeling that I've read it before (but not quite as cool).
The connection he makes between penitence and the desire for confession in Ch More...
The connection he makes between penitence and the desire for confession in Ch More...
Jul 27, 2011
Rob
rated it: 
In a time of demonization and paltry rationalizations there could not be a more essential text. Here is a study that lays bare history and the modern use of torture. Rejali exposes the modern breaking of the body and shattering of Western moral authority. The heinous acts are not perpetrated in the countries far off. The moral desert is our own. It is we that bend the body to breaking. Here is an excellent shock to thought and a stunning history of the present. This should be required reading
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Nov 14, 2010
Mirza
rated it:
Shows in amazing detail how the forms of torture we identify as uniquely "modern" were created not by the Third Reich and the USSR but by the Western democratic states.
No coverage of isolation detention however,which is a bit of an oversight.
No coverage of isolation detention however,which is a bit of an oversight.
May 10, 2010
Amy
rated it:
I read this book for a class I took specifically on Torture last year in graduate school. While this is probably the most gruesome piece of work I have ever read (and at over 700 pages long you cannot avoid it), it is the most comprehensive published work on the topic. In the age of 24 and the utilization of hot button talking points rather than intelligent debate, this work does not preach about the horrific nature of torture -- it illustrates it (and its inability as a practice to produce re
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Aug 07, 2008
Tom
rated it:
Very good, very in-depth scientific review of the history and facts of torture. No sensationalism or emotional appeals; strictly academic. Very useful for the pragmatic opponent of torture.
Tends to be a little long-winded/verbose.
He also has a very unique perspective on how torture has come to its current station in society, namely that torture in its current form and democracy go hand-in-hand practically. However, that is a a gross over-simplification.
Tends to be a little long-winded/verbose.
He also has a very unique perspective on how torture has come to its current station in society, namely that torture in its current form and democracy go hand-in-hand practically. However, that is a a gross over-simplification.
Mar 21, 2008
Matthew
rated it:
An important and timely book...all 800+ pages of it. It can become tedious at times, but with a quickly roving eye and an aggressive pursuit of a single line of thought, the reader can find a decisive statement on what are and are not the boundaries of the *real* issue of torture. Illuminating and truly critical.
Jun 29, 2008
José-antonio
rated it:
What a fascintating and haunting read! It turns out that most of the effective torture methods used by the Nazis and Soviets to get confessions from political prisoners were first developed by American cops in places like Chicago and New York in the early 20th century.
Aug 07, 2008
This book is almost nine hundred pages in length. It is thicker than both my shins. As Ed McMahon would say, everything you ever wanted to know about torture and democracy is in this book. I am going to be one happy camper when I finally finish it.
Aug 03, 2008
This mother is torturously massive, and I can guarantee I'll never read the whole book, but I would like to have a look at at least some of it, because it's about two of my favorite things!
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