History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The History of Torture & Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present

Average customer rating:

The History of Torture & Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present
Jean Kellaway
Manufacturer: Mercury Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1904668038

Book Description

Throughout history, cultures around the world have found justice for the most extreme crimes by condemning the guilty to death. Retribution has been served by many methods, from beheading, garroting, entombment, and burning, to modern means such as electrocution and lethal injection. And in the process of inflicting tortuous pain, even more ingenious devices have been employed. While torture has usually been carried out behind closed doors, it is only recently that executions have ceased to be a popular and public spectacle. The History of Torture and Execution examines these fascinating but grisly subjects by time, region, and method. Beginning with the often crude methods of meting out justice used by early and first millennium civilizations, and evolving from the sadistic tools of the medieval age to the modern search for humane execution, controversial issues are authoritatively covered.

The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present

Average customer rating:

Great idea but bad result
A Waste of Money
Not Quite Deep Enough
History. No. Introducing Torture And Execution.
A must for fans of corporal punishment

The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present
Jean Kellaway
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Early Civilization | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1585746223

Book Description

A full-color history of the cruel and violent ways in which humans have meted out punishment--from early civilizations to the present.

Customer Reviews:

Great idea but bad result.......2006-04-18

This is not a fun book to read. Absolutely not.

Because it shows the human race from its very worst sides, our bizarre creativity and unbelievably superior ingenuity when it comes to figuring out new ways and methods to torture and kill our fellow man. The human being is capable of amazing achievements - of course we all know that - but we're just as skilled in being evil as we are in being good, and Kellaway's book shows the reader a part of human nature that many people probably will have great difficulties accepting.

It's actually quite mind-boggling how brutal man can be, but there's no point ignoring reality, and no matter how disturbing the book might be; its content is still of utmost importance, and, well, it doesn't get a whole lot easier to deal with knowing that many of the barbaric practices are still being carried out in this day and age. Studying the human race without including its evil sides is completely pointless, and hopefully The History of Torture and Execution will make people think a little more about this world and its people. These thoughts might be both dark and negative, but then again, isn't that sometimes the exact kind of thoughts needed for change to occur?

However, there is more or less no depth whatsoever in this book. Every page has large and impressive illustrations and photographs, and if these images had been removed the result would have been a book with extremely few pages. Sure, Kellaway makes sure to include as much human suffering as possible on each page and in each chapter, but not once is the reader offered any sort of depth or real perspective, and is quite irritating, to say the least. Human behavior and belief systems are complicated matters, and there are more sides to even the goriest of stories, but you'll have to look elsewhere if you're interested in these sides.

For instance, the horrific ethnic cleansing that have taken place in Africa during the last few years are mentioned in two (2) sentences, and this is simply embarrassing. The lack of depth and extremely selective content really does lower the end result, and no, unfortunately this is not a well-written book at all. Regardless of its highly important content.

A Waste of Money.......2005-03-09

If you have no idea. If you have never read widely or if you are fairly unaware of man's inhumanity to man as applied by the great arbiter of justice: the law, then this is the book for you.

However, if you are reasonably well read, or have some idea of the creativity man wastes on causing pain to his fellow man, then it is a total waste of money. I bought it as my first book on a subject that I know little about and yet found nothing new and some incorrect and if i wanted to look at pictures I could have looked up El Jazeer.

Perhaps the "Golden Book of the History of Judicial Murder" might be a better title.

I was and am quite disappointed.

Not Quite Deep Enough.......2003-07-23

Actually this book is a skim over things you already know. Not a complete waste of time, but I am certain there are more comprehensive texts available.

History. No. Introducing Torture And Execution........2003-06-07

This book is more of an overview of torture and execution than it is a history. A very good introduction/starting point to the depraved ways of mankind (man-un-kind). However, since I spent [item price] on this I don't have the luxery of refering a better title to you, just yet, sorry. But on the sunny side there are quite a few pretty pictures to look at and go "wow that's gross." If you are looking for an introduction to the worst parts of human creativity, by all means, get this (I understand the paperback has been released and there is no need for this large sum of money to be spent, thanks alot guys). And there is so much more that could have been said about some of the practices in here, I was so disapointed to see that impalement barely had one sentance written on it. I remember hearing that impalement wasn't done on sharpened stakes, instead they were screwed into the back, victim proped up, face to the sky and then the weight of his own body would pull him down (thus also puncturing everything on the way through). I wanted to see if that was true but like I said prior, one sentance. A bad aspect to any history book however, is when the author puts their own two cents in. We all know this is not a pretty subject and we do not need to be reminded. Like I said, this is a good introduction to torture and execution, but sadly, that's all it is.

A must for fans of corporal punishment.......2001-05-12

One of the best in-print works on the history of torture and basic human nastiness. The focus with this book has been on the visual, and there is at least one picture on every page. The authors are a little short on the how-to info, but anybody with the time and the inclination can figure out the details pretty easily.

I also found it interesting that the authors spend the last 52 pages of this work---over a quarter of its 192 pages---focused on the dilemas of torture and execution in modern society. While entirely worthy of philosophical discussion, contemporary cruelty pales in comparison to that of previous societies, and as such is less interesting.

Visually, the only book currently available that can compete is Michael Kerrigan's The Instruments of Torture. Since Kerrigan's book is also stronger on the verbal side of things, I'd recommend that as a starting point for those with an interest in the subject. Which isn't to say you shouldn't get this book (4 stars, baby), just that there is a better work out there that you should get first.

For those in search of more detailed verbal accounts of torture techniques, I highly recommend Daniel Mannix's exemplary work, The History of Torture. Or, if you can find a copy, Fuad Ramses' masterwork Ancient Weird Religious Rituals, which goes into great detail about Old World cruelties such as the Blood Feast.

Average customer rating:

Not an easy read, erudite, but fascinating

Theology, Art, Medieval Studies & Criminal Justice converge

A few words from the author

The Thief, the Cross, and the Wheel: Pain and the Spectacle of Punishment in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Mitchell B. Merback
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Suspended Animation: Pain, Pleasure and Punishment in Medieval Culture

Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc

The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present

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Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture

ASIN: 0226520153

Book Description

Christ's Crucifixion is one of the most recognized images in Western culture, and it has come to stand as a universal symbol of both suffering and salvation. But often overlooked is the fact that ultimately the Crucifixion is a scene of capital punishment. Mitchell Merback reconstructs the religious, legal, and historical context of the Crucifixion and of other images of public torture. The result is a fascinating account of a time when criminal justice and religion were entirely interrelated and punishment was a visual spectacle devoured by a popular audience.

Merback compares the images of Christ's Crucifixion with those of the two thieves who met their fate beside Jesus. In paintings by well-known Northern European masters and provincial painters alike, Merback finds the two thieves subjected to incredible cruelty, cruelty that artists could not depict in their scenes of Christ's Crucifixion because of theological requirements. Through these representations Merback explores the ways audiences in early modern Europe understood images of physical suffering and execution. The frequently shocking works also provide a perspective from which Merback examines the live spectacle of public torture and execution and how audiences were encouraged by the Church and the State to react to the experience. Throughout, Merback traces the intricate and extraordinary connections among religious art, devotional practice, bodily pain, punishment, and judicial spectatorship.

Keenly aware of the difficulties involved in discussing images of atrocious violence but determined to make them historically comprehensible, Merback has written an informed and provocative study that reveals the rituals of medieval criminal justice and the visual experiences they engendered.

Customer Reviews:

Not an easy read, erudite, but fascinating.......2005-10-04

This is not an easy read, but it is definitely worth the effort. It takes the development and representations of the crucifix in Medieval, early renaissance art - taking in the late 15th early 16th century and how the the public may have viewed it.

Given that executions were public in this period, the language of teh pictures, the symbolism and the emotions these pictures evoked would have different to how we see it now. Death is not a public spectacle.

The image of the crucifixion is also removed from our language in that we have less of an association with religion itself. It was a powerful centre society in this time.

I found the language of the book to more like that of an academic treatise rather than one of the readably approachable non-fiction books which are around now. It is a fairly difficult subject, I think, in a lesser fashion. The language of religious history and art necessarily needs to be accurately described.

The amazing thing about this book is that it really is a unique subject. Art history - the depiction of the crucifiction, the angesl, the symbolism, perspective and motif are examined alongside the representations of Pain itself. The function and language of religion are described along with the renderings of the understandings of society.

In the conclusion the artist asked about how, in our society today, we would render our own executions in art if we were to be made public. It really struck me in this conclusion, just how powerful his language was. I would not recommend this to everyone, but it is really worth the effort if you are interested in trying something that is completely different, erudite and interesting.

I was quite interested to see the author himself has written a review which is probably below this one somewhere and recommend you read that before you buy this book.

Theology, Art, Medieval Studies & Criminal Justice converge.......2000-12-19

This book is learned yet readable, of interest to scholars in a range of fields and disciplines. As one whose interest is death in Christian religious reflection and devotion, I found it fascinating to learn the connections between capital punishments as people actually witnessed them ("witnessed" is the right word- these were religious events as well as legal ones!) and the way the 2 thieves were portrayed in art intended to enhance devotional practice and imagination. Where is the viewer in the scenes of Calvary? The author answers this and many other questions, relating these to penitential practice, and the way bodies in pain were compassionately experienced during the heyday of pre-Reformation Europe. I recommend this book highly to scholars, but it makes grisly reading and leads us to question our own sensibilities and tolerance for different kinds of bodily display.

A few words from the author.......2000-09-13

Why are the doors of America's prisons suddenly swinging open and catering to our most base, voyeuristic impulses? How soon will it be before television cameras are allowed to move freely through the facilities of our nation's death-houses and bring us, live, into the death-chambers themselves? Will the current uncertainties about the "fairness" of capital punishment bring a halt to this process, or will America's proclivity to have "rough justice" done soon translate into a desire to SEE justice done, done before our eyes and in our living rooms? Will we soon see a new form of public execution--the criminal's death as media spectacle?

As an art historian who has always felt restless asking purely art-historical questions, I have long been fascinated by the notion that vision itself has a history, and that our capacities for visual experience are opened--but also disciplined--by the kinds of sights available to us. This book is about one kind of sight, the sight of violent death, seen and experienced within the context of the rituals of criminal justice in the Middle Ages. The visual material I've drawn together for this book is not, however, the same as that traditionally used by criminologists and legal historians to "illustrate" the history of capital punishment. Rather, my principle subject is the iconography of the Passion of Christ and its centrepiece, the scene of the Crucifixion. In the later Middle Ages (roughly 1300 until the German Reformation), northern European painters expanded the scenography of the Crucifixion with a riotous cast of characters, some with biblical credentials, others as pure invention. Somewhere between these two extremes were the figures of the Good Thief, Dysmas, and the Bad Thief, Gestas, who hang in hideous abjection, crucified, on either side of Christ. While both suffer horrible tortures--their limbs are often shattered and twisted around the cross-beams--one is redeemed, to join Jesus in Paradise, the other is damned eternally (see Luke 23). And painters visualized this difference in a stunning variety of ways (to see for yourself, go to the "See Larger Photo" cue next to the book's cover above, point and click).

Throughout the book I ask the question: what kind of sight did the spectacle of each antithetical character's death constitute for medieval viewers? Was this all just gratuitous violence, used only to attract the curiosity of people with a penchant for violence? Or did it serve another purpose, one commensurate with the larger purposes of religious imagery and indoctrination at this time?

As you can easily guess, I opt for the latter, and more complex, explanation--but I match it with another question, one that relates the experience of looking at the pain and suffering of another person in the fictionalized space of the religious image, and the lived experience of the seeing the same kind of sight in the public theatre of criminal justice. Rituals of punishment in the Middle Ages were carefully staged spectacles, one in which the authorities and the spectators, the executioner, the confessor and the victim all had special parts to play. Authorities hoped to impress upon spectators the majesty of the law; the church drew from the lamentable end of this "poor sinner" lessons about proper moral conduct; spectators hoped to see the criminal die a "good" (that is, confessed and shriven) Christian death; and the executioner did his tremulous best to carry out the sentence skillfully, or risk the fury of the populace, who saw mistakes and mishaps as ill-omens to be avenged. In its heydey (the later fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries), the medieval paradigm of criminal justice provided an opportunity for witnessing good and bad deaths, simple hangings, ceremonial decapitations, and the most horrific of all penalties, breaking with the wheel.

At the center of my book is the observation that many later medieval artists used the crucifixion of the Good Thief and the Bad Thief as a kind of screen, upon which they might project something of their experience as spectators in the theatre of public punishments. In particular, I find some shocking similarities between the bodily distortions imposed upon the Two Thieves in Passion imagery, and the medieval procedure for breaking with the wheel. Thus my title. There is a little discussion in the book about the procedures for both the medieval punishments and their ancient counterparts (archaeologists have a pretty clear picture of how the Romans must have crucified Jesus). But I hoped to make this book something more than an exercise in ghoulish antiquarianism, in stomaching the atrocious imagery of ages past or tracking obscure motifs through 1000 years of Christian art. Rather, by studying systems of punishment, to paraphrase the sociologist Emile Durkheim, we gain a privileged access into the deep structure of a society, and come to grasp its hidden, sometimes terrifying logic. How the history of visuality has played into the rise and fall of our own civilization's systems of punishment, and thus its regimes of domination, is my real subject. At the end of the book you'll see why.

Average customer rating:

Nicely illustrated but uninformative

Read it if you dare...

broad and shallow

Beautiful yet horrifying

Creepy coffeetable book

History of Punishment & Torture: A Journey Through the Dark Side of Justice
Karen Farrington
Manufacturer: Hamlyn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present

The Instruments of Torture

Execution: The Guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death

ASIN: 0600600351

Book Description

The history of punishment and torture makes for macabre and mesmerizing reading: retribution without mercy, medieval justice, hellish prisons, and ingenious methods of inflicting torment upon the body and mind. Trace a path from the days of harshest penalties to more modern methods of reforming wrongdoers. Images graphically capture the plight of prisoners forced to walk treadmills till they went insane; bodies nailed to crosses; suspects tied to ducking stools; and the courts of the Inquisition, which left no stone unturned in their efforts to exact a confession. Discussions of human sacrifice, ordeal by fire or water, the dark days of juvenile justice, the pillory, and capital punishment reveal the astonishing array of clever and cruel sentences devised by those determined to deliver the ultimate punishments.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely illustrated but uninformative.......2007-03-01

A ghoulish item for the coffee table with lots of pictures but little in information. Of no use to the scholar of this subject or of history in general.

Overall, not very good.

Read it if you dare..........2006-04-06

This is a dare-kind of book, full of excellent illustrations, line drawings and plates. And when a picture is worth a thousand words, then few additional words are required. Ms. Karen has stuck to this rule, and has been mercifully brief.

Not that she doesn't like writing or can write well. The 180-odd pages are full of full-page and half page illustrations, most of them of high quality. The accompanying write-up is also of good quality. It tends to be descriptive / narrative. Not much analysis is added, but then none is expected in a book of this kind.

The title of the book indicates a claim of universality: History of Punishment and Torture. However, as happens with most works of this kind, the history is only partial and limited to Western Christian societies. For instance, there is no mention of torture in non-Christian societies such as Arab countries, or Japan, China, India or South-east Asia or many of the tribal societies. American Indian tribes are also not covered. Russia is briefly mentioned but Mongolia has been left out, not even mentioned. So really, the book should have had a sub-title: History of Punishment and Torture - Last 2000 years in the Western Societies.

However, there are some gaps even in this. Nazi torture of Jews has been left out. Some juicy tid-bits of the Colonial period have also not been covered. Perhaps the author's intention is to throw a good scare into the ordinary Western reader, and in this she appears to have won hands down.

The book has been designed around seven main headings, including one on inquisition, another on witches, and then a rather long one on capital punishment. Each of the headings is sub-divided into topics. The style of writing is racy - Ms. Karen is a journalist, so this comes easy.

All in all, a good buy. Try to avoid reading it before or after a heavy meal, though.

broad and shallow.......2003-06-10

The book is both broad, covering a lot of ground, but intensely shallow. The pictures are almost worth the price of admission, but the details are seriously lacking. Reads like a Time/Life book which tantalizes but does not produce anything. I bought it as research for a novel in progress and was very dissatisfied.

Beautiful yet horrifying.......2002-10-29

The book is very well illustrated and done in full color throughout. It is fascinating and gory; a great reminder of how civilized we have become and how safe a world we live in now. Read it in doses because too much of it at once is apt to make you sick and disgusted with the human animal.

Creepy coffeetable book.......2001-01-02

This is a wonderful starting-point for research into the history of crime and punishment. It's chock-full of illustrations. Frankly, it's the illustrations you want to see when reading about a subject like this. There are photos and descriptions of torture implements, woodcuttings of torture chambers, and observers' accounts.

Average customer rating:

grisly and fascinating

Tortures of the Tower of London
G. Abbott
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

grisly and fascinating.......1999-12-06

This book by a former Beefeater at the Tower is a good introduction to what happened in the danker regions of the Tower. Suffice it to say that today's criminals should thank their lucky stars that times have changed.

Some of the tortures will make your skin tingle, but they are all told with a measured British voice. A pleasant and informative book.

Average customer rating:
Burma: Extrajudicial Execution and Torture of Members of Ethnic Minorities

Manufacturer: Amnesty International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Myanmar | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0862101476

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Chronicles Of Newgate, History of England's Most Notorious Gaol, Famous Criminals, Tortures, Executions & Punishments Practiced There from the 13th C to 1881 Closure
Arthur (one of H. M. inspector of prisons) Griffiths
Manufacturer: Dorset Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NDMVKG

Average customer rating:
The History of Torture & Execution
Jean Kellaway
Manufacturer: Lyon's Press/Thalamus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UDGTQG

Product Description

Oversized glossy tradepaper (192 pages) Lyon's Press/Thalamus Publishing (2003). Book Description A full-color history of the cruel and violent ways in which humans have meted out punishment--from early civilizations to the present. From the Back Cover Throughout history, cultures around the world have found justice for the most extreme crimes by condemning the guilty to death. Retribution has been sought by many methods, from beheading, garroting, entombment, and burning to modern means such as electrocution and lethal injection. For the infliction of torturous pain, even more ingenious devices have been employed. While torture has usually been carried out behind closed doors, it is only recently that executions have ceased to be a popular public spectacle. The History of Torture and Execution examines these fascinating but grisly subjects by time, region, and method. Beginning with the often crude methods of meting out justice used by early and first-millennium civilizations, and evolving from the sadistic tools of the medieval age to the modern search for humane execution methods, controversial issues are authoritatively covered. More than 180 black-and-white and color images illustrate the many and varied engines of this final punishment, and the inclusion of stories told by the victims themselves gives chilling insight into the horrors faced by prisoners condemned to die for their crimes.

Infernal Device: Machinery of Torture and execution

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Infernal Device: Machinery of Torture and execution
Erik Ruhling
Manufacturer: Disinformation Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1932857893

Book Description

Erik Ruhling assembles an unmatched array of torture tools invented exclusively for the infliction of pain and the ending of life, each carefully researched with an accompanying full-color, highly detailed rendering. This beautifully presented book features classics like the Iron Maiden and the Guillotine, as well as more rarified connoisseur's fare such as the Scavenger's Daughter and the Ear Chopper. And if the Tongue Tearer is not to your taste, there's always the Breast Ripper or the Drunkard's Cloak.

Erik Ruhling is a graphic designer and the curator of www.occasionalhell.com. He holds degrees in anthropology and English and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, in a house without a dungeon (unfortunately).

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