Book Reviews Cassese, Antonio. Inhuman States: Imprisonment, Detention and Torture in Europe Today. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996. Pp. ix, 141. This slender, elegantly-written volume is an excellent translation of a book that appeared in Italian in 1994. It describes the author's experience during his five years as the first President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, established by a Council of Europe Convention and endowed with unique on-site inspection powers. While the work of the Committee is confidential, Cassese cannot resist the urge to `repeat what the establishment wishes to keep hidden from the public eye'. He reconciles this with his `vows' by omitting the names of the countries and towns visited, except where such information is already in the public domain. Much of the action, but by no means all, is clearly set in Turkey. This is a moving and highly readable account of the dilemmas of being an internationally sanctioned human rights monitor with limited powers, confronted by a deep-rooted tradition of torture and abuse of detainees that is still remarkably commonplace throughout Europe. Mara Bustelo European University Institute
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