Customer Reviews

History of Torture

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Well, this isn't the sort of book you find yourself reading to the kiddies, that's for sure. This book, first published in 1940, approaches torture through the ages by looking into the psychological aspects of the act itself, history, and technique. Mass torture, prison torture, masochism, sadism, self-torture, crucifixion, water torture (the real one, not the silly crap you see on television), squassation - it's all here, in vivid detail, along with enough illustrations to put it on the top shelf when the in-laws are over.

Scott approached this work sympathetically. He writes that the work is presented to inform, not titillate. He argues that only by recognizing the cruelties inflicted in the past can we hope to eliminate them in the future.

330 pages of very interesting reading, and well worth putting yourself on the waiting list for.

I got this book secondhand because I enjoy history and historical accounts. I did learn something from this book. However, the book was written in the 1940's and I found that the writing style was not as "readable" as a book written today might be. Certain parts were out of date as expected. Also the subject matter was a bit too gruesome for my tastes. I guess I need to shy away from this subject in the future. But I wanted to try it first and see for myself.