Twisted History: 32 True Stories of Torture, Traitors, Sadists, and Psychos… Plus the Most Celebrated Saints in History

The pages of history have always been soaked in blood, torture, and murder (and still are). This book brings some of the most gruesome together. The three sections are “Treachery and Torture,” “Saints and Sinners,” and “Murder and Mayhem.” Stories are pulled from various time periods as well as from different parts of the world. For example, the first section ranges from Brutus, murderer of Julius Caesar, to Vlad the Impaler, to Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust. Howard Watson makes quite sure to distinguish fact from myth so readers won’t be misled. It was nice to know what the myths were, though, and why they came into being. For example, the story is that Dick Turpin was an English highwayman who was supposedly handsome, genteel, and charismatic, and who only robbed ladies’ carriages and was very dashing to them. In reality, however, he mainly robbed peddler’s old carts and was really just a common thug. All the stories are accompanied by images, but as most of the events occurred before the invention of photographs, they are mainly paintings, engravings, or sketches. It is definitely not a children’s book, but it is a fascinating look at some of the more gory details of the past.