Exorcising Terror: The Incredible Unending Trial of General Augusto Pinochet

By Ariel Dorfman

Book Overview

Renowned author Ariel Dorfman, obsessed for twenty-five years with the malignant shadow General Pinochet cast upon Chile and the world, followed every twist and turn of the four year old trial in Great Britain, Spain and Chile as well as in the U.S., the country that had created Pinochet.

Told as a suspense thriller, filled with courtroom drama and sudden reversals of fortune, Exorcising Terror at the same time addresses some of today's most burning issues, made all the more urgent after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. What are the limits of national sovereignty in a globalizing world? How does an ever more interconnected world judge crimes committed against humanity? What role do memory and pain and the rights of the survivors play in this struggle for a new system of justice?

Above all, the author, by listening carefully to the voices of Pinochet's many victims, explores how we can purge ourselves of terror and fear once we have been traumatized, and asks if we can build peace and reconciliation without facing a turbulent and perverse past.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583225420
• ISBN13: 9781583225424
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Essential reading

This is essential reading for anyone wanting to comprehend the crimes of Pinochet and the complicity of the United States government. As is always the case with Dorfman's books, it is beautifully written.

Exorcising Terror: The incredible unending trial of Augusto

This book is basic to understand from a personal perspective how the chilean people suffered under this animal regime. It shows how all bullies, those who get theirs kicks hurting other human beings become pathetic cowards when they are asked to pay for their acts.

A good synopsis of the trial of Pinochet

One should keep in mind that this is a personal and political view of the Pinochet case. The book is good in the fact that it is a personal account of a man who had friends who are among the disapeared of Chile. If you are interested in a personal account than by this book, however if you are interested in an acccount of Pinochet policies by a book exclusivly about his regime.