A Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers

A Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers by Weschler, Lawrence. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780394582078.

During the past fifteen years, one of the most vexing issues facing fledgling transitional democracies around the worldâ from South Africa to Eastern Europe, from Cambodia to Bosniaâ has been what to do about the still-toxic security apparatuses left over from the previous regime. In this now-classic and profoundly influential study, the New Yorkers Lawrence Weschler probes these dilemmas across two gripping narratives (set in Brazil and Uruguay, among the first places to face such concerns), true-life thrillers in which torture victims, faced with the paralysis of the new regime, themselves band together to settle accounts with their former tormentors. "Disturbing and often enthralling."â New York Times Book Review "Extraordinarily moving. . . . Weschler writes brilliantly."â Newsday "Implausible, intricate and dazzling."â Times Literary Supplement "As Weschlers interviewees told their tales, I paced agitatedly, choked back tears. . . . Weschler narrates these two episodes with skill and tact. . . . An inspiring book."â George Scialabba, Los Angeles Weekly