***FREE EVENT***

Join Alex Adams, to discuss his brilliant new book, How to Justify Torture: Inside the Ticking Bomb Scenario, a sharp, clear polemic about how, in the wake of the authoritarian turn, torture is never justified.

With Trump and Bolsonaro endorsing the use of torture, HOW TO JUSTIFY TORTURE examines the arguments for it and the role of popular culture in disseminating the ticking bomb scenario.

If there was a bomb hidden somewhere in a major city, and you had the person responsible in your custody, would you torture them to get the information needed to stop the bomb exploding, preventing a devastating attack and saving thousands of lives?This is the ticking bomb scenario — a thought experiment designed to demonstrate that torture can be justified.

Over fifteen years since Abu Ghraib sparked the important “torture debate” on whether it could ever be justified, torture hasn’t gone away. Alex Adams disposes of the popular arguments for the use of torture with expert precision, examines the most illuminating examples — from Batman, Tom Clancy, and recently the Marvel films.

How to Justify Torture provides the ultimate exploration and rebuttal of the justifications for torture, at a time when the visceral presence of violence has never been so striking.