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Proving once again that fact is scarier than fiction, British writer Colin Wilson presents this seam-bursting collection of depravity through the ages. From Ivan the Terrible to Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy, this haunting cast of characters will have you leaving the lights on all night. Organized by century and types of killers--assassins, pirates, serial killers, and the like--the book traces the evolution of crime within the context of greater societal changes. The author blames the birth of sex crimes on too much leisure time in the 19th century and credits big cities and their crowded conditions for the emergence of the modern serial killer. He also offers a whirlwind tour of torture and cruelty in answering the question, "What makes a monster?"
Wilson is one of the most prolific and eclectic writers of our time, with more than 80 books to his credit on subjects as varied as existential fiction, philosophy, the occult, aliens, and the life of Aleister Crowley. Though often dismissed by critics as an obsessive crackpot, Wilson maintains a large following around the world due to his captivating, conversational writing style and ability to synthesize an impressive amount of esoteric information. The Mammoth Book of the History of Murder is an illuminating volume on a dark subject, written by a born storyteller.
Kurzbeschreibung
Murder provided public entertainment for the Caesars of ancient Rome, and executions drew huge, enthusiastic crowds in Elizabethan England and at the Bastille in revolutionary France. The thirst for blood and cry for deadly vengeance lie deep in humankind, as criminologist Colin Wilson authoritatively illustrates in this millennial history of the most heinous of human crimes. Analyzing the tangle of motives behind murder and examining an astonishing variety of homicidal methods over the past twenty centuries, Wilson not only profiles infamous historical figures like Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Gilles de Rais, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, Marquis de Sade, and Jack the Ripper, but also studies particular categories of homicide and such phenomena as the Jacobean witch hunts and gangland killings of America's Jazz Age. Wilson's chronicle includes, too, the serial killings, random shooting sprees, and cult murders that have troubled more recent times. The comprehensive history and illuminating analysis of how humans kill, and why, make crime-expert Wilson's volume one that no true-crime fan or student of criminology will want to miss.
