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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Political control & influence > Political oppression & persecution

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A Miracle, A Universe (Paperback, Univ of Chicago PR ed.) Loot Price: R815
Discovery Miles 8 150
A Miracle, A Universe (Paperback, Univ of Chicago PR ed.): Lawrence Weschler

A Miracle, A Universe (Paperback, Univ of Chicago PR ed.)

Lawrence Weschler

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Loot Price R815 Discovery Miles 8 150 | Repayment Terms: R76 pm x 12*

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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. (Kirkus Reviews)
During the past fifteen years, one of the most vexing issues facing fledgling transitional democracies around the world--from South Africa to Eastern Europe, from Cambodia to Bosnia--has been what to do about the still-toxic security apparatuses left over from the previous regime. In this now-classic and profoundly influential study, the New Yorker's Lawrence Weschler probes these dilemmas across two gripping narratives (set in Brazil and Uruguay, among the first places to face such concerns), true-life thrillers in which torture victims, faced with the paralysis of the new regime, themselves band together to settle accounts with their former tormentors. "Disturbing and often enthralling."--New York Times Book Review "Extraordinarily moving...Weschler writes brilliantly."--Newsday "Implausible, intricate and dazzling."--Times Literary Supplement "As Weschler's interviewees told their tales, I paced agitatedly, choked back tears...Weschler narrates these two episodes with skill and tact...An inspiring book."--George Scialabba, Los Angeles Weekly

General

Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of origin: United States
Release date: July 1998
First published: July 1998
Authors: Lawrence Weschler
Dimensions: 136 x 204 x 20mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 322
Edition: Univ of Chicago PR ed.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-89394-5
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > General
Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > General
Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Political control & influence > Political oppression & persecution > General
Books > Biography > General
LSN: 0-226-89394-4
Barcode: 9780226893945

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