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.
Industry Reviews
"[A]n admirable and worthwhile enterprise... his humility comes across as refreshing, and his statistical analysis of the demographics, methods, and results of Inquisition torture yields results that even specialists of the period or subject matter will find compelling and possibly groundbreaking." - Journal of Military History "Hassner has leveraged a fascinating dataset for his study in Anatomy of Torture...having analyzed hundreds of cases, he reaches a shocking conclusion: '"Torture works," he writes,"but not the way you think it does."" - Der Spiegel "Hassner rightly calls for more research, especially archival research, on interrogational torture. As the first political scientist who has explored such material to examine torture's efficacy, he has advanced that agenda by demonstrating the difficulties that lie on the road ahead." - Perspective on Politics "Invaluable for both ethical and policy reasons, Hassner has done academics and policymakers a great service. He dared to ask whether torture worked, despite his philosophical abhorrence for it, which he strongly hints at in the epilogue. Anatomy of Torture dares us to ask questions that make us and others uncomfortable. It is in these forbidden interstices that science presents the power to uncover greater truths." - Human Rights Quarterly
