“In this timely and compelling book, Laura Sparks dissects the rhetoricity of torture in the United States’ “war on terror” for insight into both the character of the country and the nature of rhetoric itself. A powerful instance of the intellectual fruit borne when bearing witness proceeds in reflective analysis.”

Ira Allen, Northern Arizona University

“Laura A. Sparks advances a perceptive and penetrating analysis of rhetoric’s complicity in the regime of torture deployed by the U.S. to combat terrorism after 9/11. She identifies key rhetorical constructions contributing to the violence of torture, focusing especially on modes of temporal manipulation, and draws on her analysis to intervene against the legitimation and practice of torture. Even as we live in a time of torture, Professor Sparks argues convincingly that the rhetorical action of digital media can serve to make a world more attentive to human rights.”

Robert L. Ivie, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, Bloomington

For its War on Terror, the Bush Administration turned to torture. How did rhetoric serve to rationalize this policy? How did the torturers toy with their victims' sense of time? Such questions still haunt us, and this book provides illuminating answers. It blends precision and passion with stunning command of rhetorical theory.

John Schilb, Indiana University, Bloomington

“Rhetoric in the Time of Torture is an important book for all social scientists concerned with human rights, language use, and specifically torture. Sparks’ precise analysis emerges in her emphasis on time: the moment when torture is inflicted on the bodies of real human beings, when it is sanctioned (and the later hidden) by our own government, when and how it is discussed by our political leaders, when documents about the incident(s) are released, and the wide array of rhetorical moments in between. The use of temporality as a central feature of her analysis discloses the myriad ways that the brutality of torture is obscured, defended, and practiced. Sparks’ analysis is clear-eyed and well-researched.”

Nicole Fox, California State University, Sacramento