In Sacred Violence, the distinguished political and legal theorist Paul W. Kahn investigates the reasons for the resort to violence characteristic of premodern states. In a startling argument, he contends that law will never offer an adequate account of political violence. Instead, we must turn to political theology, which reveals that torture and terror are, essentially, forms of sacrifice. Kahn forces us to acknowledge what we don't want to see: that we remain deeply committed to a violent politics beyond law. "An extended meditation on the contemporary debate about torture and terrorism that forces the reader to grapple with troubling issues that we would prefer to ignore."
—Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law and Professor of Government, University of Texas "A provocative, thoughtful, and learned exegesis of the relationship of torture, terror, state violence, and sovereignty."
—Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, Swarthmore College Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights. Cover Illustration: "Abu Ghraib 67, 2005" by Fernando Botero. Courtesy of the artist and the American University Museum. |
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On the Web Paul Kahn's website Read: Review Law and Politics Book Review
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