Book ID: CBB586193994

Anatomy of Torture (2022)

unapi

Ron E. Hassner (Author)


Cornell University Press


Publication Date: 2022
Physical Details: 200
Language: English

Does torture work? Can controversial techniques such as waterboarding extract crucial and reliable intelligence? Since 9/11, this question has been angrily debated in the halls of power and the court of public opinion. In Anatomy of Torture, Ron E. Hassner mines the archives of the Spanish Inquisition to propose an answer that will frustrate and infuriate both sides of the divide. The Inquisition's scribes recorded every torment, every scream, and every confession in the torture chamber. Their transcripts reveal that Inquisitors used torture deliberately and meticulously, unlike the rash, improvised methods used by the United States after 9/11. In their relentless pursuit of underground Jewish communities in Spain and Mexico, the Inquisition tortured in cold blood. But they treated any information extracted with caution: torture was used to test information provided through other means, not to uncover startling new evidence. Hassner's findings in Anatomy of Torture have important implications for ongoing torture debates. Rather than insist that torture is ineffective, torture critics should focus their attention on the morality of torture. If torture is evil, its efficacy is irrelevant. At the same time, torture defenders cannot advocate for torture as a counterterrorist quick fix: torture has never located, nor will ever locate, the hypothetical ticking bomb that is frequently invoked to justify brutality in the name of security.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB586193994/

Similar Citations

Book Anita Guerrini; (2022)
Experimenting with Humans and Animals: From Aristotle to CRISPR (/isis/citation/CBB030333227/)

Article R Gregory Lande; (2020)
American Civil War medical practice, the post-bellum opium crisis and modern comparisons (/isis/citation/CBB124135559/)

Article Dan Aalbers; (2022)
The Hoffman Report in historical context: A study in denial (/isis/citation/CBB377237221/)

Book Janet Vertesi; (2020)
Shaping Science: Organizations, Decisions, and Culture on NASA’s Teams (/isis/citation/CBB479510656/)

Thesis Alla Edouardovna Babushkina; (2022)
The King’s Sick Body: The Spiritual and Social Implications of Arnau of Vilanova’s Regimen sanitatis (/isis/citation/CBB962843293/)

Book Elizabeth T. Hurren; (2021)
Hidden Histories of the Dead: Disputed Bodies in Modern British Medical Research (/isis/citation/CBB995981550/)

Chapter Lorenzo Beltrame; (2015)
Cellule e ordine sociale: il dibattito italiano sulle cellule staminali (/isis/citation/CBB813029159/)

Article Forrest L. Marion; (2019)
Comparing and Contrasting USAFCENT's Air Advising Mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2005-2015 (/isis/citation/CBB552400116/)

Book Sasha Mullally; David Wright; (2020)
Foreign Practices: Immigrant Doctors and the History of Canadian Medicare (/isis/citation/CBB114184842/)

Article Jeremy Davies; (2012)
The Fire-Raisers: Bentham and Torture (/isis/citation/CBB331716309/)

Article Clarke, Morgan; (2007)
Children of the Revolution: Ali Khamenei's “Liberal” Views on in vitro Fertilization (/isis/citation/CBB001030948/)

Book Melissa Graboyes; (2015)
The Experiment Must Continue: Medical Research and Ethics in East Africa, 1940-2014 (/isis/citation/CBB450282816/)

Article Ticktin, Miriam; (2011)
The Gendered Human of Humanitarianism: Medicalising and Politicising Sexual Violence (/isis/citation/CBB001212656/)

Book Emiliano Treré; (2019)
Hybrid media activism : Ecologies, imaginaries, algorithms (/isis/citation/CBB953847626/)

Authors & Contributors
Forrest L. Marion
Emiliano Treré
Hyrkäs, Eve-Riina
Arellano Escudero, Nelson
Babushkina, Alla Edouardovna
Jeremy Davies
Concepts
Medicine and ethics
Medicine and politics
Human body
Torture
Pain
Medicine
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
Early modern
Modern
Places
United States
Spain
Italy
Middle and Near East
Afghanistan
Iraq
Institutions
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
American Psychological Association
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona
United States. Department of Defense
United States Air Force (USAF)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment