The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison

by Andy Worthington

In 2006, four years after the illegal prison in Guantánamo Bay first opened, the Pentagon finally released the names of the 773 men held there, as well as 7,000 pages of transcripts from tribunals assessing their status as 'enemy combatants'. Andy Worthington is the only person to have analysed every page of these transcripts. Drawing on these documents, as well as news reports and interviews with lawyers and released detainees, this book reveals, for the first time, the stories of all those imprisoned in Guantánamo.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2007

About the author

Andy Worthington is a freelance historian. He is the author of two books on modern British social history, and his work has also appeared in the Guardian and the Idler.

Reviews

[Leeny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthington does a through job of documenting the trajectories of the men who were "detained" at Guantanamo. This distinguishes it from other books I have read on this topic which focus largely on their lives at Guantanamo. Here the folly of the countries trafficking in men who were in the wrong places at the wrong times with the wrong skin color is clearly on display. I recommend this book for those who are interested in the back story as well as today's events.
Sometimes the details of how the men were treated are a bit too much for me so I am taking a break from this book. I will be back.

[Samra Said · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have purchased this book in an event organised by cageprisoners and Andy was there he even was kind to sign my book. The book provides detailed count of the suffering of the detainees in America's illegal Prison. Andy is great expert in this field and took a greater depth and effort to illustrate to us at least if not all the facts; most of the facts.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. An inside look at this prison and the stories of the men inside. The writing gets a bit tedious with one sad story after another, and the writing is a string of anecdotes. This definitely gave a different perspective to the War on Terror and how far the US is willing to go against their founding principles in the name of safety and security.

[Abben · Rating 2 out of 5]

In parts agonizingly unreadable. You get a blizzard of Arabic names, and you move back and forth between dozens of unrelated stories.

It does a far better job of characterizing the abuse than Thomas Ricks' book Fiasco (though Fiasco talks about Abu Graihb and TGF talks about Guantanamo.)

[Tracyene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrifying. Makes me ashamed to be an American and afraid of the consequences we're all going to have to live with for generations.

[Aman Fida · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete and full story about the torture prison that Guantanamo. Very well researched and refuting the view that these detainees were the worst of the worst. A must read