Table of Contents

Ariel Dorfman: Foreword: The Tyranny of Terror: Is Torture Inevitable in Our Century and Beyond?
Acknowledgments
1: Sanford Levinson: Contemplating Torture: An Introduction
Part I: Philosophical Considerations
2: Henry Shue: Torture
3: Michael Walzer: Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands
4: Jean Bethke Elshtain: Reflection on the Problem of "Dirty Hands"
Part II: Torture as Practiced
5: John H. Langbein: The Legal History of Torture
6: Jerome H. Skolnick: American Interrogation: From Torture to Trickery
7: Mark Osiel: The Mental State of Torturers: Argentina's Dirty War
Part III: Contemporary Attempts to Abolish Torture through Law
8: John T. Parry: Escalation and Necessity: Defining Torture at Home and Abroad
9: Supreme Court of Israel: Judgment Concerning the Legality of the General Security Service's Interrogation Methods
10: Miriam Gur-Arye: Can the War against Terror Justify the Use of Force in Interrogations? Reflections in Light of the Israeli Experience
11: Oona A. Hathaway: The Promise and Limits of the International Law of Torture
12: Fionnuala Ní Aoláin: The European Convention on Human Rights and Its Prohibition on Torture
13: Oren Gross: The Prohibition on Torture and the Limits of the Law
Part IV: Reflections on the Post-September 11 Debate about Legalizing Torture
14: Alan Dershowitz: Tortured Reasoning
15: Elaine Scarry: Five Errors in the Reasoning of Alan Dershowitz
16: Richard A. Posner: Torture, Terrorism, and Interrogation
17: Richard H. Weisberg: Loose Professionalism, or Why Lawyers Take the Lead on Torture
18: Charles Krauthammer: The Truth About Torture
19: Andrew Sullivan: The Abolition of Toture
Contributors
Index

About the Author

Sanford Levinson is the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr., Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Previous books include Constitutional Faith; Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies; and Wrestling with Diversity. A frequent contributor to academic and popular journals, he has also been a long-time reviewer for the History Book Club.

Reviews

"This superior collection of essays by 17 leading scholars provides a timely, penetrating investigation into this morally challenging but important topic.... It is a pleasure to read an edited book in which the chapters speak to each other. This is a well-crafted study in political ethics."--Choice
" Few of this book's contributors want to engage in polemics, and few--to their credit--ever seem completely comfortable with their own conclusions."--The New York Times Book Review
"[C]omprehensive and thought-provoking." --The American Lawyer
"Sanford Levinson has done us all a tremendous service in compiling this rich set of essays on a highly compelling and timely topic." -- Ethics and International Affairs
"Conceived wll before the Abu Ghraib story broke, Levinson's collection of essays by philosophers and lawyers provides a cooler, though not dispassionate, look at the issues surrounding torture. Contributors include Jean Bethke Elshtain, Richard Posner, Michael Walzer, and the inevitable Alan Dershowitz.... The collection considers the conditions under which torture might nonetheless be acceptable--notably, the 'ticking bomb' scenario, when the quick extraction
of information can save many lives. Dershowitz argues that the normative case against torture remains strong but that under such conditions inhibitions will be overcome--and that it is best that any
torturous interrogation be explicit and controlled. His critics denounce such a move as bringing torture into the realm of the legitimate. Other problems are raised, such as identifying the point at which pressure becomes torture."--Foreign Affairs
"Closely argued, well written, and quite readable, these essays jointly constitute a valuable contribution to the field."--Library Journal
"This superior collection of essays by 17 leading scholars provides a timely, penetrating investigation into this morally challenging but important topic.... It is a pleasure to read an edited book in which the chapters speak to each other. This is a well-crafted study in political ethics."--Choice
"What's most striking about these essays is that despite their abstract and theoretical content, they generally do not contradict the depiction of actual interrogators.... The wall between the liberal campus and a conservative, utilitarian-minded military breaks down because the questions are so serious that few of this book's contributors want to engage in polemics, and few--to their credit--ever seem completely comfortable with their own
conclusions."--The New York Times Book Review
"These 18 essays from lawyers, political theorists, and social scientists, include contributions from Alan Dershowitz, Ariel Dorfman, and Richard Posner. Edited by University of Texas Law School professor Sanford Levinson, the book is comprehensive and thought-provoking. Levinson divides the essays into four sections. The first, 'Philosophical Considerations,' includes an essay by Michael Walzer, who explores the notion of 'dirty hands'--how leaders remain
faithful to moral principles. In the second, 'Torture as Practiced,' authors write about the history of torture in the United States, Europe, and South America. The third section, 'Contemporary Attempts to
Abolish Torture Through Law,' explores the Israeli General Security Service's interrogation methods. In the last, 'Reflections on the Post-September 11 Debate About Legalizing Torture,' Dershowitz, Posner, Elaine Scarry, and Richard Weisberg debate torture in the 21st century.'--The American Lawyer
"Conceived wll before the Abu Ghraib story broke, Levinson's collection of essays by philosophers and lawyers provides a cooler, though not dispassionate, look at the issues surrounding torture. Contributors include Jean Bethke Elshtain, Richard Posner, Michael Walzer, and the inevitable Alan Dershowitz.... The collection considers the conditions under which torture might nonetheless be acceptable--notably, the 'ticking bomb' scenario, when the quick extraction
of information can save many lives. Dershowitz argues that the normative case against torture remains strong but that under such conditions inhibitions will be overcome--and that it is best that any
torturous interrogation be explicit and controlled. His critics denounce such a move as bringing torture into the realm of the legitimate. Other problems are raised, such as identifying the point at which pressure becomes torture."--Foreign Affairs
"Closely argued, well written, and quite readable, these essays jointly constitute a valuable contribution to the field. Recommended for all libraries."--Library Journal