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conversations.value: What is a description for a book titled The History of Torture about DIV>'Morality, I>The, History with the genre: Humor & Entertainment, Humor?
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conversations.value: <DIV>'Morality is nothing more than an expression of expediency' a notorious torturer reportedly once replied to objections about his profession. From the primitive snake pit to sophisticated methods of brainwashing, literally thousands of techniques have been devised to distort both the body and the mind - and to satisfy the sadistic needs of those who command, perform and witness human torture. In <I>The History of Torture</I>, the author examines with honesty and thoroughness every aspect of torture: the professional torturers, many of them history's most famous men and women; their theories and techniques; the role torture has played in history; and the refinements brought to the practice of torture by individual fanatics, religious groups, the military and entire cultures. The result is information on the infliction of pain for punishment or coercion from pre-history to modern times. <P>This remarkable work discusses not only the history of torture but its moral implications as well. Everyone interested in the long and difficult course of human rights, personal and political freedom and in the history of crime and punishment will find the book fascinating and enlightening.</P></DIV>
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conversations.value: Reverse the sentences.
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conversations.value: </P></DIV>. Everyone interested in the long and difficult course of human rights, personal and political freedom and in the history of crime and punishment will find the book fascinating and enlightening. <P>This remarkable work discusses not only the history of torture but its moral implications as well. The result is information on the infliction of pain for punishment or coercion from pre-history to modern times. In <I>The History of Torture</I>, the author examines with honesty and thoroughness every aspect of torture: the professional torturers, many of them history's most famous men and women; their theories and techniques; the role torture has played in history; and the refinements brought to the practice of torture by individual fanatics, religious groups, the military and entire cultures. From the primitive snake pit to sophisticated methods of brainwashing, literally thousands of techniques have been devised to distort both the body and the mind - and to satisfy the sadistic needs of those who command, perform and witness human torture.<DIV>'Morality is nothing more than an expression of expediency' a notorious torturer reportedly once replied to objections about his profession
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conversations.value: What is the first five paragraphs for this book?
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conversations.value: The History of Torture
  In France, the brand mark was at first the fleur de lis. Later this was replaced by the letters 'TF', indicating travaux forces – hard labour. A different punishment was ordained for the Comtesse Jeanne de La Motte Valois. In 1786 she stole and sold a magnificent diamond necklace that Louis XV had ordered, before his death, for his mistress Madame du Barry. She was sentenced to be birched naked in public, and then branded on each shoulder with the letter 'V', for voleuse (thief). However, after one shoulder had been marked she twisted violently, and the hot iron fell on her naked breast.
  Cruder methods were also used. A 1624 account of an interrogation by the Dutch in the East Indies described how:
  Such cruelty, although officially outlawed, has continued into the twentieth century. For the past 100 years, many police officers have had the means of torture readily available in their pockets: cigarettes and lighters. In 1990, Sehmus Ukus, a Turkish Kurd, was arrested in Greece. He claimed that the police had cuffed his hands behind his back, and then burned the soles of his feet and his genitals with a cigarette lighter before beating him. When a senior officer asked why he was being beaten, the answer was 'He is a Turk'. In 1991, Indian shopkeeper Manzoor Ahmed Naikoo reported of his captors how 'after tying me down, they removed my pyjamas. They tied cloth to my penis and set it on fire.'
  An earlier torture was roasting alive on a gridiron. This was the martyrdom of St Lawrence, put to death by the Romans in ad 258. It is said that as he lay in agony he called out to the executioner: 'This side is roasted enough; decide whether roasted or raw thou thinkest the better meat!'
  There were other ways of exploiting heat in torture: boiling water, oil or tallow, or molten lead were often employed. Usually these were only a part of the torture, but they might also be used as a final punishment. In England in 1531, Richard Roose poisoned 17 members of the Bishop of Rochester's household, two of whom died. A special Act of Parliament was passed, by which he was sentenced to be 'boyled to deathe withoute havynge any advauntage of clergie'. The Act remained on the Statute Book for 16 years, and in 1541 a maidservant, Margaret Dawe, suffered the same fate for a similar crime.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is five more paragraphs? Start with the sentence 'Thereupon ordered the executioner to entirely loosen the accused; had him carried on a mattress before a fire, where he regained consciousness with the help of the surgeons, and the cordials they administered him'.
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conversations.value: Thereupon ordered the executioner to entirely loosen the accused; had him carried on a mattress before a fire, where he regained consciousness with the help of the surgeons, and the cordials they administered him. Read over to him the present report, and after interrogating him generally as to all the facts, he again answered that he had not committed any robbery either alone or with accomplices.
  A French variant of the horizontal rack was the wheel. Victims were strapped to its circumference with their hands tied in advance of their heads, and their feet fettered to the floor. As the wheel was turned, they were stretched, just as on the rack.
  The Englishman John Coustos, who fell into the hands of the Inquisition in Lisbon in 1743, suffered the same fate. He was accused of being a Freemason, and ordered to reveal the secrets of freemasonry. He was laid on the rack on his back with his neck in an iron collar, and his feet were fastened with ropes drawn tightly through two iron rings. Two ropes the thickness of a little finger were wound around each arm and leg, and passed through holes in each side of the rack framework. Four times the executioners tightened the ropes, until Coustos fainted from pain and loss of blood. He was then taken back to his dungeon.
  Six weeks later, when his wounds were partly healed, Coustos was brought back to the torture chamber. This time he was bound to a different type of rack. He was made to stretch his arms horizontally behind him, fastened so that the palms of his hands were turned outward. The rack gradually drew his arms together until the backs of his hands touched. Both shoulders were dislocated, and blood gushed from his mouth. He still kept silent, and was carried to the dungeon, where surgeons reset his bones.
  Two months later he was tortured again. He was made to stand against a strong wooden wall, at each end of which was a pulley. A chain was wound twice round his stomach, and ended in rings fastened to his wrists. Ropes were attached to these rings, and led through pulleys to a roller. As the roller was turned his arms were gradually dragged once more from their sockets, and at the same time the chain bit deeply into his naked flesh. Despite this fearful torture, Coustos still refused to divulge the secrets of freemasonry. The incident caused an outcry in England, and led to diplomatic intervention.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the last four paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: In addition, although the Convention establishes the right of individuals to complain directly to the CAT, this can only take place when a state has made a separate written declaration that it recognizes the competence of the CAT to consider individual complaints. By 1995, only 35 states had made such a declaration of consent.
  As a result, Amnesty International renewed its campaign, setting up a network of non-governmental organizations to assemble allegations of torture, and report annually to the Commission on Human Rights. It drew up a 12-point Program for the Prevention of Torture, and advanced from mere denunciation to demands for specific measures.
  Amnesty International's third international campaign against torture began in 1998. As Professor Nigel Rodley, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has written:
  It is a dismal reality that, despite impressive non-governmental and inter-governmental action over nearly a quarter of a century, torture is still a widespread problem. We are becoming increasingly aware of its perpetration, not only on political opponents, but also on ordinary criminal suspects. This campaign will again bring the glare of international publicity to bear on the issue and, it is hoped, stimulate new thinking and new ideas on how to combat it.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Reverse the sentences.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: This campaign will again bring the glare of international publicity to bear on the issue and, it is hoped, stimulate new thinking and new ideas on how to combat it.. We are becoming increasingly aware of its perpetration, not only on political opponents, but also on ordinary criminal suspects. As Professor Nigel Rodley, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has written:
  It is a dismal reality that, despite impressive non-governmental and inter-governmental action over nearly a quarter of a century, torture is still a widespread problem.
  Amnesty International's third international campaign against torture began in 1998. It drew up a 12-point Program for the Prevention of Torture, and advanced from mere denunciation to demands for specific measures.
  As a result, Amnesty International renewed its campaign, setting up a network of non-governmental organizations to assemble allegations of torture, and report annually to the Commission on Human Rights. By 1995, only 35 states had made such a declaration of consent.In addition, although the Convention establishes the right of individuals to complain directly to the CAT, this can only take place when a state has made a separate written declaration that it recognizes the competence of the CAT to consider individual complaints