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The Question | 
| Author: Henri Alleg
Creators: Ellen Ray, James D. Le Sueur, Jean-paul Sartre, John Calder
Publisher: Bison Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $13.22
You Save: $3.73 (22%)
New (26) Used (18) from $4.96
Rating:  4 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Bison Books Ed
Pages: 74
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.3
ISBN: 0803259603
Dewey Decimal Number: 965.0467
EAN: 9780803259607
ASIN: 0803259603
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Originally published in 1958, The Question is the book that opened the torture debate in France during Algeria’s war of independence and was the first book since the eighteenth century to be banned by the French government for political reasons. At the time of his arrest by French paratroopers during the Battle of Algiers in June of 1957, Henri Alleg was a French journalist who supported Algerian independence. He was interrogated for one month. During this imprisonment, Alleg was questioned under torture, with unbelievable brutality and sadism. The Question is Alleg's profoundly moving account of that month and of his triumph over his torturers. Jean-Paul Sartre’s preface remains a relevant commentary on the moral and political effects of torture on both the victim and perpetrator. This Bison Books edition marks the first time since 1958 that The Question has been published in the United States. For this edition Ellen Ray provides a foreword. James D. Le Sueur offers an introduction.
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| Customer Reviews:
Beautifully Written, Brutally Honest May 2, 2008
Jose C. Tejeda Jr. (Camp Casey, South Korea)
The Question is, without doubt, the single best argument against torture under any circumstances. It is a brutally true and personal account of a man caught up under the circumstances beyond his control during the Algerian War of Independence. It was a time when the French, desperate to maintain control over Algeria, had allowed its army to use torture in order to obtain information about its main insurgent enemy, the FLN (Front Liberation Nationale). The author literally puts the reader into his shoes, and one can literally feel the pain of electric shock, the suffocating hell of water boarding, or the miserable mind warping experience of truth drugs.
In wars such as the current GWOT (Global War on Terror) as well as in Algeria, there is always the temptation by politicians to use acts like torture in order to gain an advantage over an insurgent enemy. However, make no mistake. Just as the revelations of torture had undermined the perceived legitimacy of the French cause in Algeria, the same danger also exist in today's struggle in the GWOT.
Regardless of one's opinion on the matter, one must read this simple book in order to gain an understanding of what a torture victim goes through. The book is beautifully written as well as brutally honest. One can easily read it in a day.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that there is no politics in this book. It is just an account of the hard reality of man's inhumanity against man.
The Question of Torture March 24, 2008
Michael I. Goldman
If you are interested in what exactly waterboarding is, and the physical and moral impact on victim and torturer, you need to read this book.
AMAZING , THE FRENCH NOT FOR LIBERTE February 6, 2007
F. I. Khattab
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
tHIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF EUROPEAN HYPOCRACY, LIBERTE, FRANTERNITE ET EQUALITE. THIS BOOKS REVEALS THAT THE ABOVE SOLOGAN IS FOR ONLY CERTAIN PEOPLE OF THE WORLD,BUT NOT FOR AFRICANS. ONCE, AGAIN THIS BOOK REVEALS THAT NOT ALL FRENCHMEN AGREED WITH THE DE GUALLE GOVERNMENT OFOPRESSION.ADDITIONALLY,IN READING THIS BOOK AND OTHERS OF THIS NATURE,SHOULD REINFORCED THE STOPPING OF TORTURE ADN NOT MATTER WHEN IT HAPPEND THERE SHOULD NOT BE A STATUE OF LIMITATION. PROSECUTION SHOULD MANDATORY AND THOSE GUILTY SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
 The Question of Torture persists December 28, 2003
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I read _The Question_ when I was in high school, back in 1958 or 1959. It made a major impression on me, more than most of the books I was reading at the time. The subject is the use of torture in dealing with terrorism and the author did not sugarcoat the subject. He was fairly graphic about the techniques used. The book is short, less than 100 pages, but it gets the point across. What makes the book timely today is the combination of the publication of _The Battle of the Casbah_, two years ago, wherein one of the French Army's practioniners of torture tells his story for the first time and the fact that the United States is now engaged in fighting a war against terrorism. For those who believe that the issue of torture as an element in fighting terrorism has not been surfaced in the past, the fact is that for those who wanted to know, the information was available all along. As we ask ourselves about this interrogation "technique" it is good to go back and review what has been said in the past.
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