This book argues that literary, filmic, and popular cultural representation of political torture has defined the torture debate that has taken place during the post-9/11 global war on terrorism. The author explores whether liberal democracies can ever legitimately perpetrate torture, with assertions that torture can function as a legitimate counterterrorism measure coming into conflict with human rights-based arguments that torture is never morally permissible. He examines the philosophical foundations of pro- and anti-torture positions, reads their manifestations in a range of literary, filmic and popular cultural texts, and assesses the material effects of these representations.
