Anatomy of Torture

by Ron E. Hassner

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Pub Date Apr 15 2022 | Archive Date Mar 31 2022

Cornell University Press

History | Politics & Current Affairs

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Description

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.

Advance Praise

"Ron E. Hassner's vital, readable, myth-puncturing work on interrogational torture by the Inquisition will likely overturn everything you think you know about the relevance, purpose, and outcomes of these barbarous practices in medieval (and, indeed, modern) times."
--Shane O'Mara, author of Why Torture Doesn't Work

"I highly recommend this courageous book for anyone who wants to understand the nature and efficacy of torture and its implications for public policy. Hassner's analysis is admirably objective on the question of efficacy."--James P. Pfiffner, author of Torture as Public Policy

"Anatomy of Torture will surprise and enlighten readers on all sides of the torture debate."--Christopher J. Einolf, author of America in the Philippines 1899–1902: The First Torture Scandal

"Hassner deftly employs data from the Spanish Inquisition to inform debate about the efficacy of interrogational torture. His argument—that torture provided reliable information but under conditions unlikely to be replicated in modern times—will be of import to everyone concerned about torture as a tool of statecraft."--Courtenay R. Conrad, coauthor of Contentious Compliance: Dissent and Repression under International Human Rights Law

"Ron Hassner has written a truly original and insightful contribution to our understanding of torture. While many readers will not be persuaded by its more controversial conclusions, the unprecedented nature of this investigation into the Spanish Inquisition and the unique methodology used here make this book required reading for anyone interested in the torture debates."
--Frank Foley, King's College London, Author of Countering Terrorism in Britain and France