Readers' rating:
Published Nov 2019
296 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
Firsthand testimonies from Guantánamo Bay, inspiring future generations to never repeat the human rights violations of the detention center.
Law scholar and Witness to Guantánamo founder Peter Jan Honigsberg uncovers a haunting portrait of life at the military prison and its toll, not only on the detainees and their loved ones but also on its military and civilian personnel and the journalists who reported on it.
Honigsberg conducted 158 interviews across 20 countries so that the people who lived and worked there could tell their heartbreaking and inspirational stories. In each one, we face the reality that the healing process cannot begin until we start the conversation about what was done in the name of protecting our country. These are a few of them. Many alleged operatives in Guantánamo were purchased by the United States for ransom from Afghan and Pakistani soldiers. Brandon Neely, a prison guard who processed the first group of suspected operatives to arrive in Cuba, flew to London to embrace the detainees he guarded after leaving the military. Navy whistleblower Matt Diaz covertly released the names of 500 detainees by sending them in a greeting card to a lawyer in New York. Journalist Carol Rosenberg committed the past 17 years of her career to documenting life at Guantánamo. And Damien Corsetti, an interrogator who came to be known as the "King of Torture," received ribbons and awards for the same cruel actions for which he was later prosecuted.
In startling, aching prose, A Place Outside the Law shines a light on these unheard voices, and through them, encourages the global community to embrace humanity as our greatest tool to make the world a safer place.
"A well-documented, hard-hitting, necessary exposé." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A Place Outside the Law, Peter Honigsberg's report on US torture at Guantánamo, conveys the torture message with a fierceness and presence unlike any other. The reader hears the plaintive, tormented voices of both sides of the cruelties, tortured and torturer—or, as Nietzsche wrote, when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back." - Lawrence Wilkerson, colonel, US Army (retired), and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell
"A Place Outside the Law makes an indispensable contribution to accountability for the multiple transgressions of the rule of law that the United States has committed—and continues to commit—in the Global War on Terror...Honigsberg's book adds human voices and touching stories to show us why we need to insist on the US government's obligation to investigate, reveal the truth, and prosecute and punish the perpetrators, especially those bearing the greatest responsibility for these crimes." - Juan Mendez, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
"Many Americans have forgotten the horrors of Guantánamo, perhaps unaware that the prison still operates today. Honigsberg interviews not only detainees, but generals, interrogators, JAGS, chaplains, and guards. Their compelling, human stories paint a rich and complex picture of a deeply controversial chapter in America's history." - Jennifer M. Granholm, former governor of Michigan
"This is the definitive account of what happened at Guantánamo...What makes this book unique and compelling is that it is the story of what it does to people's lives to create 'a place outside the law.' Through his countless interviews, Professor Honigsberg describes the impact of Guantánamo on those who have been part of it: soldiers, medical personnel, lawyers, interrogators, torturers, detainees. It is the story of what happens when a country abandons the rule of law." - Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
This information about A Place Outside the Law was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Peter Jan Honigsberg is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and the founder and director of Witness to Guantánamo. His research and teaching focuses on the rule of law and human rights violations that occurred in the detention center in Guantánamo, as well as on the study of terrorism and post-9/11 issues. His books include Our Nation Unhinged: The Human Consequences of the War on Terror and Crossing Border Street: A Civil Rights Memoir. Honigsberg lives in Berkeley, CA.
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