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Extremely Loud
Sound as a Weapon
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Descripción editorial
“Everything you ever suspected or feared about music as a weapon, sound as torture . . . Disturbingly illuminating in the possible ramifications” (Kirkus Reviews).
In this troubling and wide-ranging account, acclaimed journalist Juliette Volcler looks at the long history of efforts by military and police forces to deploy sound against enemies, criminals, and law-abiding citizens. During the 2004 battle over the Iraqi city of Fallujah, US Marines bolted large speakers to the roofs of their Humvees, blasting AC/DC, Eminem, and Metallica songs through the city’s narrow streets as part of a targeted psychological operation against militants that has now become standard practice in American military operations in Afghanistan. In the historic center of Brussels, nausea-inducing sound waves are unleashed to prevent teenagers from lingering after hours. High-decibel, “nonlethal” sonic weapons have become the tools of choice for crowd control at major political demonstrations from Gaza to Wall Street and as a form of torture at Guantanamo and elsewhere.
In an insidious merger of music, technology, and political repression, loud sound has emerged in the last decade as an unlikely mechanism for intimidating individuals as well as controlling large groups. “Thorough and well researched,” Extremely Loud documents and interrogates this little-known modern phenomenon, exposing it as a sinister threat to the peace and quiet that societies have traditionally craved (Publishers Weekly).
“Extremely Loud makes you shiver, or cover your ears, at the technological buildup now at the service of the most sophisticated forms of repression.” —Libération
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Be it in the form of acoustic weapons capable of dispersing unruly crowds, as a means of intimidating or confusing enemy combatants, or to aid in interrogation, sound has increasingly been employed as a tool of subjugation and control in modern warfare. French journalist Volcler postulates that these developments "scramble the boundaries between war, culture, and games," and, in a media-saturated environment, they have become palatable nonlethal methods of repression and aggression. Indeed, many of the world's major powers, including the U.S., Germany, and the former Soviet Union, have sought to develop acoustic weapons. Despite mixed results, such work has led to the development of many technologies, such as the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sound cannon that was used in 2009 by the Pittsburgh, Pa., police against G20 protestors. More pernicious, however, was the U.S. military's use of songs by AC/DC, Metallica, and other heavy metal bands to rattle enemies in the field of battle and as part of "enhanced interrogation" techniques during the war in Iraq. Thorough and well researched, this is a timely glimpse into the development of these revolutionary technologies and approaches.