Exposing Torture: Centuries of Cruelty

Gr 9 Up—Covering everything from spike chairs to waterboarding, Marcovitz presents a thematic overview of various methods of torture, the international response to it, and its impact on victims and society. Throughout, Marcovitz intersperses concise profiles of perpetrators and victims from nearly every continent and time-period, enabling readers to connect with the subject. The highly publicized examples of torture, such as Abu Ghraib, are contextualized for readers. The inclusion of fraternity and sorority hazing, while brief, is timely and thought-provoking. Drawings and photographs extend the narrative, and many are not as graphic as the frank descriptions in the text. Though the writing is repetitive and disjointed in spots, Marcovitz succeeds in bringing focus to the larger issue of torture and the plight of individual victims around the world. Students doing research will find depth in this book and its extensive back matter.—Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KY