Torture and the Ticking Bomb. Bob Brecher.

This timely and passionate book is the first to address itself directly to the arguments for legalizing the limited use of interrogational torture. Brecher confronts those arguments head-on, examines their efficacy, and exposes their flaws. Brecher draws out the practical implications for policy as well as the ethical implications of these proposals for the kind of society we live in.

Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable. David Cole, ed.

This collection provides an unfiltered look at the tactics approved for use in the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and at the incredible arguments advanced to give them a green light. In his introduction, editor and renowned legal scholar give readers the story behind the memos.

Torture: a collection. Sanford Levinson, ed.

This collection represents penetrating exploration of into this morally challenging but important topic in a series of of essays by leading scholars that seems to be in dialogue with one another.

A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Alfred McCoy.

In his sober inquiry into the flaws and evils of torture, McCoy shows how, since 1950, the CIA and various nations have supplemented traditional physical torture with psychological abuse techniques.

The Phenomenon of Torture: readings and commentaries. William F. Shulz, ed.

This book begins with a sweeping view of torture in Western history, before tackling an examination of the most evocative questions raised by the subject of torture.

Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad. Marnia Lazreg.

This book is nothing less than an anatomy of torture—its methods, justifications, functions, and consequences. It looks at the intimate relationship between torture and colonial domination through a close examination of the French army’s coercive tactics during the Algerian war from 1954 to 1962. Marnia Lazreg also sheds new light on the United States and its recourse to torture in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror. Mark Danner.

This book presents a documentary history of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-torture scandal. Using a paper trail of policy statements, reports, and other materials concerning prisoner treatment, Danner discusses the political dimension of the scandal and raises questions about government responsibility and accountability.

The Question. Henri Alleg.

This book, which details the arrest and torture by the French military of Henri Alleg, a French journalist living in Algiers in the 1950s, remains powerful and relevant today.