"trenchant... a definitive account of the way torture has been represented in narrative texts before and after 9/11, and of how these representations have reinforced and challenged policy. ... an engaging, rich and valuable book."

Journal of American Studies

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“Alex Adams’ book could not be a more timely intervention into the practices of torture that so trouble [Naomi] Klein and many, many other political commentators, policy-makers, academics, and concerned people in all parts of the world. His examination of torture is exemplary… Adams provides a most comprehensive account of the ways that torture is framed in a range of popular culture texts, and for this we should be grateful to him. ... It is a most impressive achievement.”

Simon Philpott, in the Series Editors' Preface

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Published by Routledge in 2016, as part of their Popular Culture and World Politics Series. The book was reissued in paperback in 2019 (this version is substantially more affordable, which makes me feel much better about publishing with an academic press).

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**All proceeds from sales of this book are donated to Freedom From Torture, a UK-based charity that works with torture survivors.**

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Website Blurb:

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Political Torture in Popular Culture argues that the literary, filmic, and popular cultural representation of political torture has been one of the defining dimensions of the torture debate that has taken place in the course of the post-9/11 global war on terrorism. The book argues that cultural representations provide a vital arena in which political meaning is generated, negotiated, and contested.

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Adams explores whether liberal democracies can ever legitimately perpetrate torture, contrasting assertions that torture can function as a legitimate counterterrorism measure with human rights-based arguments that torture is never morally permissible. He examines the philosophical foundations of pro- and anti-torture positions, looking at their manifestations in a range of literary, filmic and popular cultural texts, and assesses the material effects of these representations. Literary novels, televisual texts, films, and critical theoretical discourse are all covered, focusing on the ways that aesthetic and textual strategies are mobilised to create specific political effects.

 

This book is the first sustained analysis of the torture debate and the role that cultural narratives and representations play within it. It will be of great use to scholars interested in the emerging canon of post-9/11 cultural texts about torture, as well as scholars and students working in politics, history, geography, human rights, international relations, and terrorism studies, literary studies, cultural studies, and film studies.

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Contents:

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Introduction

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PART ONE: CONTEXT

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1: The Torture Debate

Torture

Islamophobia

Representation

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2: Camp, Colony, Counterterrorism

Space

Power

Bodies