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jessimuhka's review against another edition
5.0
Audio book.
Compelling, disturbing and damning. Amazing look at the slide into torture after 9/11, as well as the few officials who tried to fight against it.
Compelling, disturbing and damning. Amazing look at the slide into torture after 9/11, as well as the few officials who tried to fight against it.
franschulman9's review against another edition
5.0
The book tells the story behind the Bush Administration's use of detention, torture and rendition after 9/11. Very detailed, with discussions of legal issues, political in-fighting, and treatment of individual suspected terrorists. Interesting there were many in the administration, intelligence agencies and military opposed, but Cheney was the force that made it happen and made it stick. Recommend for those interested in subjects related to terrorism, but, if a Bush fan, the book doesn't portray his decision making skills favorably.
unionmack's review against another edition
5.0
Kinda worried I’ll overhype it for some people by saying this, but here we go any way: this is the best book on the Bush Administration’s worst sins I’ve ever read and I’d go so far as to call it essential reading. Jane Mayer’s an amazing writer and journalist and she documents how the US became monsters to fight monsters with unrelenting and disturbing clarity and detail. There were moments throughout the book, particularly to do with the Abu Ghraib photos, that made me physically sick. Remarkably (and frighteningly), none of the people she handles comes across as either a helpless victim or a sinister devil. In the war on terror, everyone is afraid and on the attack—in other words, everyone is still uncomfortably human. This book also doubles as the most compelling argument I’ve ever come across against the use of torture, both ethically and pragmatically. I can’t say enough good things about it, definitely check it out.
aunnalea's review against another edition
Overlooks some of the atrocities that the U.S. committed in the past in order to establish her point about "American Ideals" but good nonetheless, in a really terrible way.
robynrambles's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
allisonthurman's review against another edition
4.0
This is a somber but necessary book, well written and researched about the ways the Bush administration exploited 9/11 to increase executive power and how led to the approval of torture against suspected terrorists. Still relevant because the Obama administration has done nothing to curb or limit the powers gained and may arguably have exploited them more (drone attacks).
It's not all doom and gloom though - this book also records the efforts of some lawyers and insiders to resist Cheney/Addington's power grab.
It's not all doom and gloom though - this book also records the efforts of some lawyers and insiders to resist Cheney/Addington's power grab.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
Regardless of political preference, few can see the turn of the US from being an international advocate of inalienable human rights to a practitioner and implicit advocate of torture for POWs and terrorist suspects must be seen as one of the most important developments of the new century. Jane Mayer presents the story in a tone of horror -- she is not keeping a balance between the needs of fighting terror and human rights concerns -- at what in her telling is an extraordinary tale of intellectual arrogance (Addington) and disinterest (Bush). A cautionary tale in the fragility of constitutional democracy.
wictory's review against another edition
5.0
A scary and fascinating look at how we came to be fighting the war on terror with secret prisons and enhanced interrogation techniques. Mayer expertly distills the complex legal operations of the government and executive branch into clear and engaging language. Terrifying and educational, this book explains what happened, how it happened and how it certainly doesn't seem to be helping.
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