A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror
E148759
*A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror* is a historical and investigative study by Alfred W. McCoy that traces the development, methods, and global impact of U.S. psychological torture and interrogation practices from the early Cold War through the post-9/11 era.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1302892 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror Context triple: [Alfred W. McCoy, notableWork, A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror]
-
A.
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987 is a non-fiction book by investigative journalist Bob Woodward that examines the covert operations, internal politics, and controversies of the CIA during the Reagan administration.
-
B.
Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA
"Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA" is the memoir of former CIA Director William Colby, recounting his decades in U.S. intelligence and the moral and political controversies surrounding the agency’s activities during his tenure.
-
C.
Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country is a nonfiction book by Andrew Bacevich that critiques the disconnect between the American public, its political leaders, and the all-volunteer military in the era of perpetual war.
-
D.
The Decision to Intervene
The Decision to Intervene is a historical study by George F. Kennan analyzing the United States’ involvement in the Russian Civil War and the broader context of early 20th-century foreign policy.
-
E.
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War is a critical examination of how U.S. culture, politics, and religion have combined to normalize and glorify military power in American life and foreign policy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror Target entity description: *A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror* is a historical and investigative study by Alfred W. McCoy that traces the development, methods, and global impact of U.S. psychological torture and interrogation practices from the early Cold War through the post-9/11 era.
-
A.
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987 is a non-fiction book by investigative journalist Bob Woodward that examines the covert operations, internal politics, and controversies of the CIA during the Reagan administration.
-
B.
Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA
"Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA" is the memoir of former CIA Director William Colby, recounting his decades in U.S. intelligence and the moral and political controversies surrounding the agency’s activities during his tenure.
-
C.
Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country is a nonfiction book by Andrew Bacevich that critiques the disconnect between the American public, its political leaders, and the all-volunteer military in the era of perpetual war.
-
D.
The Decision to Intervene
The Decision to Intervene is a historical study by George F. Kennan analyzing the United States’ involvement in the Russian Civil War and the broader context of early 20th-century foreign policy.
-
E.
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War is a critical examination of how U.S. culture, politics, and religion have combined to normalize and glorify military power in American life and foreign policy.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
historical study ⓘ investigative study ⓘ non-fiction book ⓘ |
| addresses |
ethical implications of psychological torture
ⓘ
impact of torture on international law ⓘ |
| analyzes |
continuities between Cold War and post-9/11 interrogation practices
ⓘ
role of behavioral science in interrogation ⓘ |
| author | Alfred W. McCoy ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| criticizes |
legal justifications for coercive interrogation
ⓘ
use of torture by U.S. government ⓘ |
| examines |
CIA KUBARK interrogation manual
ⓘ
surface form:
CIA Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual
CIA KUBARK interrogation manual ⓘ CIA research into self-inflicted pain ⓘ CIA research into sensory deprivation ⓘ export of U.S. interrogation techniques to allied regimes ⓘ |
| field |
history
ⓘ
human rights studies ⓘ political science ⓘ security studies ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
development of U.S. psychological interrogation methods
ⓘ
global impact of U.S. torture practices ⓘ |
| genre |
human rights literature
ⓘ
political history ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | critical of U.S. security policy ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| notableFor |
documenting global dissemination of U.S. torture techniques
ⓘ
linking academic research to operational interrogation programs ⓘ |
| publisher | Metropolitan Books ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Abu Ghraib prison
ⓘ
surface form:
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay ⓘ
surface form:
Guantánamo Bay detention camp
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control ⓘ
surface form:
Project MKUltra
|
| subject |
Central Intelligence Agency
ⓘ
Cold War ⓘ U.S. foreign policy ⓘ Global War on Terrorism ⓘ
surface form:
War on Terror
human rights ⓘ interrogation ⓘ psychological torture ⓘ torture ⓘ |
| timePeriodCovered |
early Cold War
ⓘ
post-9/11 era ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror Description of subject: *A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror* is a historical and investigative study by Alfred W. McCoy that traces the development, methods, and global impact of U.S. psychological torture and interrogation practices from the early Cold War through the post-9/11 era.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Alfred W. McCoy
→
notableWork
→
A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror
ⓘ