Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture [Hardcover]

Karen Farrington (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Engel, an award-winning mystery writer, has written a scholarly history of executions and executioners, with an emphasis on England and the Commonwealth countries. Notable beheaders' and hangmen's lives are presented with their thoughts and beliefs on how executions should be carried out. Engel briefly discusses capital punishment in Europe and the United States. In so far as he states that he is in favor of abolishing executions but has attempted to be unbiased, he fails. In his discussion of the death penalty in the United States, he uses cases that were causes celebres among opponents of the death penalty: Barbara Graham, Caryl Chessman, Ted Bundy, etc. Nevertheless, academic libraries should consider this title because it contains material that is rarely covered: capital punishment in Canada and women who have been sentenced to death. Unlike Engel, Farrington, a writer and ex-Fleet Street journalist who worked for several years at London's Central Criminal Court, has written a concise survey of "justice" through the ages. The punishments and tortures discussed, seen as barbaric today, were once considered appropriate for the particular time. Heavily illustrated, this book is not for those with a weak stomach. The major drawback is the use of red pages with black words and black pages with white words, which makes the text difficult to read. In addition, there is no bibliography. Despite these flaws, this is a good purchase for popular true crime and history collections.?Michael Sawyer, Clinton P.L., Ia.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Smithmark Pub; First Edition edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765199106
• ISBN-13: 978-0765199102
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent cross-selection of crime and punishment, January 18, 2000

By 

Shantell Powell "The ShanMonster" (Kitchener, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful starting-point for research into the history of crime and punishment. It's a coffee-table sized book, and is 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.

This is not the stuff of pleasant dreams, but it is what thousands of people have experienced.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Facinating, shocking, beautiful images, but too quick a read, July 30, 2009

By 

pinksquare - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture (Hardcover)

Dark Justice is an oversize coffee table book with very large pictures and bite size articles that is fun and interesting to read. The book covers ancient forms of punishment up to our present. It's very intriguing though the book doesn't go too much in depth, choosing rather to gloss over large periods of time or focus on very specific personal stories regarding specific people. As a coffee table book this is acceptable, and considering the subject matter it's probably appropriate not too get too fixated on the details. But it'll leave you wanting to know more, which may or may not be a good thing considering how much time you may have.

My favorite section is the first half of the book, from ancient times to the French Revolution. The ancient Greeks' forms of punishment are especially shocking.

Some stories will definitely catch your attention. Such as Caligula's realization he can have anyone beheaded at his whim or the only known person in recorded history that actually survived an electric chair execution.

If I have a complain is that all the people executed are referred to as victims. Surely we can agree that a 9-year-old boy being hanged for stealing a loaf of bread is excessive but more unsavory characters were also executed. I am against the death penalty personally but the author's bias is definitely something that comes through the book, which may alienate some readers.

0 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About DARK JUSTICE, February 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture (Hardcover)

DARK JUSTICE is a book for an older person. This book is about what they did to people in the Middle Ages and earlier. It tells what a person would suffer if he was a warlock or she was a which. Any crime that you could think of is in this book. It tells also what would happen to the person if he or she was to commit a crime. Usually it was a painful and slow death. This bood is definitaly for older people.