American torture from the Philippines to Iraq : a recurring nightmare /

D'Ambruoso (Harvard Univ.) bookends his three case studies with theoretical chapters, asking why torture persists in liberal democracies despite evidence that it does not provide accurate information. The end of the Cold War did not usher in a torture-free world; a "hypocrisy of terror" persists in American foreign policy. D'Ambruoso proposes two hypotheses to explain this longevity. The "cheaters win" hypothesis complements a "lack of specificity" explanation. He also advances leaders' foreign policy goals, desperation, intuition, racism, and domestic politics as factors. Liberal democracies perceive "nasty but safe" means of torture as justifiable, a middle ground appropriate for normative and rational reasons; they "play dirty in a nasty world." D'Ambruoso's case studies start with the US crushing of a popular uprising in the Philippines in 1898--1902. Given how little recent scholarly attention has been given to this period, the chapter is especially valuable. The use of torture in Vietnam and in the post-9/11 "War on Terror," although better known, demonstrates the longevity of torture as a "recurring nightmare." D'Ambruoso's four main takeaways include the lack of specificity, the lack of vigor in investigating torture, implicit links between harshness and effectiveness, and the broad influence of norms. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students. --Claude E. Welch, emeritus, University at Buffalo, SUNY