American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination.

AMERICAN METHODS: TORTURE AND THE LOGIC OF DOMINATION

By Kristian Williams

South End Press, 2006

IN HORRIFYINGLY impeccable detail, author Kris-tian Williams argues that U.S. policymaking, even before Sept. 11, actually pivots on the use of torture. He shows how U.S. torture tactics in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and U.S. prisons are strikingly similar, employing systemized racism, misogyny and rape.

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However, Williams often misses opportunities to more thoroughly explain power, empire, American exceptionalism, race, masculinity and certain claims about Arab and Muslim views on, for example, sexuality. His conclusion on the political usefulness of torture is fascinating but could rely more heavily on Elaine Scarry's Body in Pain (which is included in the book's suggested reading list). Scarry argues that pain is useful for conferring legitimacy to a fragile regime, thus underscoring Williams's claims that the U.S. state needs torture to convince its victims of its strength.

American Methods cogently gives the reader evidence of how the U.S. uses torture to control society and to protect U.S. hegemony, compelling us to rethink power and to question the terror enacted in the name of "democracy."