Book Review: Emanuele Saccarelli and Latha Varadarajan, Imperialism: Past and Present and Roger Hardy, The Poisoned Well: Empire and Its Legacy in the Middle East
| Author | Nikos Christofis |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917719408 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsOther Areas |
679
Hinton explores how an ordinary man could
Patrick Hein
commit extraordinary crimes. Far from think-
(Meiji University, Japan)
ing of him as a monster, Arendt concluded that
© The Author(s) 2017
Eichmann was ‘terrifyingly normal’. Similar to
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Arendt’s assessment, Hinton asserts that ‘Duch
DOI: 10.1177/1478929917714958
is clearly a thinking man’ (p. 295), who ‘was
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
not pathological’ (p. 289). Yet the carefully
chosen title of the book ‘Man or Monster?’ puts
the reader in an uncomfortable situation as he is
Other Areas
compelled to take sides and choose between
black and white, which as Hinton argues is nei-
Imperialism: Past and Present by Emanuele
ther ethical nor desirable or responsible.
Saccarelli and Latha Varadarajan. Oxford:
According to the author, it is wrong to
Oxford University Press, 2015. 256pp., £16.99
amalgamate man and monster. To do so would
(h/b), ISBN 9780199397891
be to apply the same destructive categories
that Duch used to dehumanise the S-21 vic-
The Poisoned Well: Empire and Its Legacy
tims. He consciously dehumanised his vic-
in the Middle East by Roger Hardy. London:
tims, knowing that they would ultimately die.
C. Hurst & Co., 2016. 256pp., £20.00 (h/b), ISBN
As Hinton writes, the only reason to keep
9781849046398
prisoners alive was to coerce them to confess
to their alleged crimes. Duch made detailed
In Imperialism: Past and Present, Emanuele
annotations to the confessions of prisoners
Saccarelli and Latha Varadarajan highlight the
and kept meticulous records on every importance of imperialism, demonstrating its
detainee. It did not matter how the prisoner
relevance for today by associating American
confessions were obtained or whether the
policies with structures of ‘neo-imperialism’.
confessions were true or fabricated.
Indeed, imperialist agendas and actions are per-
Duch was also the key...
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