Liberal democracies like the United States agree that the use of torture is abborhent, distasteful and wrong. Our very identity rests on the understanding that we uphold human rights and do not engage in the cruel savagery of older or other governments. And yet the use of torture in this country, and the ways in which those in power have justified it, goes back as far as our founding.
In his new book (Belknap Press/2018) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill history professor argues Americans allow or overlook practices otherwise deemed barbaric when our existence or security seems threatened. Host Frank Stasio talks with Brundage about his book and how Americans have justified the use of torture in the name of American institutions and democracy.
