McCoy, Alfred W

"... historian Alfred W. McCoy explores America's rise as a world power--from the 1890s through the Cold War--and its bid to extend its hegemony deep into the twenty-first century through a fusion of cyberwar, space warfare, trade pacts, and military alliances. McCoy then analyzes the marquee instruments of US hegemony--covert intervention, client elites, psychological torture, and worldwide surveillance. Peeling back layers of secrecy, McCoy exposes a military and economic battle for global domination fought in the shadows, largely unknown to those outside the highest rungs of power"--Back cover.

An account of the use of torture by the United States intelligence service, its legalization under Bush, and the damage caused to morality, law, and the future of the United States by Obama's granting impunity to the torturers.

Reveals the CIA's secret fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, explaining how psychological torture has been used in interrogations over the years.