A Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers

During the past fifteen years, one of the most vexing issues facing fledgling transitional democracies around the world--from South Africa to Eastern Europe, from Cambodia to Bosnia--has been what to do about the still-toxic security apparatuses left over from the previous regime. In this now-classic and profoundly influential study, the New Yorker's Lawrence Weschler probes these dilemmas across two gripping narratives (set in Brazil and Uruguay, among the first places to face such concerns), true-life thrillers in which torture victims, faced with the paralysis of the new regime, themselves band together to settle accounts with their former tormentors.

"Disturbing and often enthralling."--New York Times Book Review

"Extraordinarily moving. . . . Weschler writes brilliantly."--Newsday

"Implausible, intricate and dazzling."--Times Literary Supplement

"As Weschler's interviewees told their tales, I paced agitatedly, choked back tears. . . . Weschler narrates these two episodes with skill and tact. . . . An inspiring book."--George Scialabba, Los Angeles Weekly

Author: Lawrence Weschler
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 07/01/1998
Pages: 322
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.26w x 0.71d
ISBN13: 9780226893945
ISBN10: 0226893944
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | International Relations | General
- Political Science | History & Theory | General
- History | Latin America | South America