Tanks roaring over farmlands, pregnant women tortured, 30,000 individuals disappeared--these were the horrors of Argentina's Dirty War. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year and Finalist for the L.L. Winship / PEN New England Award in 1998, A Lexicon of Terror is a sensitive and unflinching account of the sadism, paranoia, and deception the military junta unleashed on the Argentine people from 1976 to 1983.

This updated edition features a new epilogue that chronicles major political, legal, and social developments in Argentina since the book's initial publication. It also continues the stories of the individuals involved in the Dirty War, including the torturers, kidnappers and murderers formerly granted immunity under now dissolved amnesty laws. Additionally, Feitlowitz discusses investigations launched in the intervening years that have indicated that the network of torture centers, concentration camps, and other operations responsible for the desaparecidas was more widespread than previously thought. A Lexicon of Terror vividly evokes this shocking era and tells of the long-lasting effects it has left on the Argentine culture.


A magisterial work on a great subject. This is a book everyone should read.--Susan Sontag

A major work that deserves to stand among the very best accounts of state terror and those who had the strength and luck to survive it.--Foreign Affairs

Feitlowitz writes with a fearful grace and subdued eloquence; [this is] a work of a literary art in the analytical literature...but [the book] goes much further--and here is her originality and genius.--Edward Peters, Human Rights Review

Ms. Feitlowitz does an excellent job of combining moving, personal accounts of the Dirty War with insightful glimpses into the complexity of current events in Argentina.--Dr. Jose Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch/Americas

The most important book to appear so far on the consequences of the vicious cycle of terror and violence the enveloped Argentina in the 1970s... the wealth of empathy and understanding, the depth of knowledge and the intensity of the scholarship that Feitlowitz brings to this book will enrich everyone who cares about Argentina. - Buenos Aires Herald