A miracle, a universe : settling accounts with torturers /

A repressive doctrine known as National Security--implemented by generals following military coups and characterized by massive intimidation of the native citizenry and a strong anti-Communist ideology--put a stranglehold on Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s. As these nations slowly return to a semblance of democracy, the previous regimes' massive detentions of anyone presumed "subversive" and the indiscriminate use of torture for political ends, remain haunting reminders of the past and omens of things to come. (With a general amnesty for the perpetrators of vicious acts of torture, citizens in these countries can run into their own brutalizers in the streets of Montevideo.) In Brazil, Weschler, a staff writer for the New Yorker, interviewed the anonymous but heroic authors of Brasil Nunca Mais, a secret, in-depth report on torture that became the biggest-selling book of nonfiction in Brazil's history. In Uruguay, he followed the events surrounding a nationwide referendum to determine whether an amnesty for the military should stand. Weschler's thorough knowledge of his subject, his access to key individuals, and his lucid and compelling commentary contribute to the excellence of his account of shaky political transitions. Notes, references; index. --Benjamin Segedin

After the demise of Brazil's repressive military regime, a group of ex-prisoners, all former torture victims, banded together to document their captors' atrocities--arbitrary arrests and ``disappearances,'' the torture of thousands, murders. Their 1985 book, which holds the U.S. responsible for helping to create Brazil's dictatorship, became a bestseller in that country. In the first half of his dispassionate report, New Yorker staff writer Wechsler records his conversations with the survivors. Brazil's one-time torturers, he notes, have risen to positions of power. In the book's second half, he describes Uruguay's massive but unsuccessful petition campaign--spearheaded by ex-torture victims and human rights activists--to bring to justice the toppled Uruguayan military regime's butchers. Though Wechsler underestimates the U.S. role in reversing Uruguay's democracy, he points out that the State Department issued bland assurances that the police state in Uruguay was a temporary response to an emergency situation. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Systematic political torture is a relatively recent phenomenon in world politics. Weschler, a New Yorker staff writer, chronicles an era of torture in Brazil and Uruguay. He bases his Brazilian account on over one million pages of archives kept by the military, which includes accounts by survivors. He also tells the story of the not-wholly successful efforts to bring Uruguayan officials to justice. Individual accounts of torture, however, are only a small part of the book; instead, Weschler recounts the story of whole societies as victims. Previously excerpted in a five-part series in The New Yorker , this is a compelling book that draws attention to a political truth that is too easily avoided. Highly recommended for public and university libraries.-- Andrea Bonnicksen, Eastern Illinois Univ., Charleston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A probing, philosophical inquiry into torture--and its effects--in Latin America; by the author of The Passion of Poland (1984), etc., a New Yorker staff writer. Focusing on the specific experiences of Brazil and Uruguay, which he visited to research this book, Weschler endeavors to explain why citizens tortured in secret by agents of military dictatorships feel compelled to expose publicly the atrocities of their tormentors. Through careful understatement and the piling of fact upon fact in a dry, reportorial style, he slowly reveals the Alice-in-Wonderland quality of governments that wantonly--and often randomly--use torture to subdue their own populations. Weschler concludes that Latin torture has historic roots in the Spanish Inquisition, and thus has acquired the flavor of a religious ritual. Borrowing from the scholarly work of Elaine Scary, he further concludes that torture degrades its victims precisely because it forces them to adopt the words and thoughts of their torturers. It thus turns reality on its head, and strips the tortured individual of the ability even to think freely. Weschler ultimately holds that regardless of whether vengeful citizens ever succeed in bringing their former torturers to justice--in Brazil and Uruguay, such efforts have failed--the mere process of unveiling their horrid crimes serves at once to cleanse and to safeguard civil society. Along with some trenchant insights, Weschler offers new cause for thanks that, thus far at least, our own military has bent to the rule of constitutional law. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.