Title: Cruel modernity /
Authors: Franco, Jean, 1924-
Year: 2013
Subjects: State-sponsored terrorism Latin America History; State-sponsored terrorism Latin America History; Latin America Politics and government; Latin America Politics and government
Abstract: "Jean Franco indicts the orchestrated mass cruelty that has become a hallmark of late modernity. Incubated in modern militaries, kidnapping, torture, rape, and dismemberment became codified skill sets. Cruelty's trained agents disperse into society, staffing gangs, cartels, police forces, and militias, institutionalizing an extreme masculinity expressed in unspeakable brutality, especially against women. Drawing on vast testimonial archives, Franco unfolds the story case by case across Latin American, insisting on detail, rejecting resignation while confronting the possibility of a civilizational breakdown that makes extreme cruelty a condition of everyday life. A powerful, chilling book." -- Mary Louise Pratt, author of Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation.
Contents: The "insignificant incident" and its aftermath -- Alien to modernity -- Raping the dead -- Killers, torturers, sadists, and collaborators -- Revolutionary justice -- Cruel survival -- Tortured souls -- The ghostly arts -- Apocalypse now -- Afterword. hypocrite modernity.