The photographs from Abu Ghraib triggered a debate on torture in the United States that has been led with a significant amount of visibility. What has been noticeably absent, however, is a thorough historical contextualization of US torture following September 11, 2001. The Shadow of Torture analyzes the debates on torture during the Vietnam War and the Philippine-American War and shows that the current controversy did not arise out of a political vacuum but reflects and draws upon pre-existing discursive contexts and practices.

The Shadow of Torture investigates debates on US torture during the Philippine-American War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War with the aim to provide a historical contextualization of the torture debate in the United States in the wake of Abu Ghraib. It argues that there are significant continuities, contrary to popular claims to exceptionalism.