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Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 Deadliest Achievements Hardcover – 20 Oct 2011

by Matthew White (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 53 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 669 pages
  • Publisher: Canongate Books; Main edition (20 Oct. 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0857861220
  • ISBN-13: 978-0857861221
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 5.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 679,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

A fascinating read, hard going by necessity, but extremely thought provoking on every page (The Skinny)

Full of the sorts of facts and figures that men like to have at their fingertips when they are at the pub...I'd never heard of the Time of Troubles, but White explains the hows and whys rather brilliantly (Toby Clements Daily Telegraph)

An affecting volume (Time Out)

A serious book, written with a light touch, on the hundred worst things humans have done to each other (that we know of). (Guardian)

Book Description

<b>'Compulsively readable . . . A major work . . . White is that rare phenomenon - a serious amateur who does important scholarly work that none of the professionals have taken up. He is thorough, unbiased, sophisticated, rigorous, authoritative, and, I hasten to add, tremendously entertaining. He is a real wit, with a flair for language, and a gift for the pithy, trenchant observation. The book is outstanding.' - Steven Pinker<i></i></b>

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDark, macabre and wonderfully written... A most enjoyable read.
By The Truth TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on 26 Jan. 2012
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Atrocitology is a great little read... and when I say, little - I mean, massive. Honestly this book is huge. But somehow that feels right. Especially when you start seeing some of the numbers involved.

Some of the astronomical numbers of 'people past' in this book are simply mind-boggling, but the author, Matthew White, has a wonderful way of putting them into perspective; testament to his great writing style.

And it's that (Matthew White's writing style) which makes this book so enjoyable, lightening the mood of what could have been a very dark and heavy going book. Instead, we have a book that skips along at a most enjoyable pace bringing light to the darkness.

The subject matter is obviously macabre, but it makes for a great read. Appealing to the side of your nature that want's to slow down and have a nose at a motorway pile up, Atrocitology is an interesting, funny, dark, distasteful, fascinating and most enjoyable read.

Atrocitology's subject matter won't be to everyone's taste, but those who like a bit of gallows humour, or have a dark sense of humour themselves, should love it. It's brilliantly written, a joy to read, and packed full of history that will make your jaw drop to the floor in horror.
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4.0 out of 5 starsa book for strong stomachs and dark humours
By Mark Meynell VINE VOICE on 16 Feb. 2012
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
When The Times did a readers survey at the close of the last century for words which summed up the 20th Century. The results were revealing. On the plus side were 'moon landings', 'computer' and 'television'. On the minus side came 'genocide' and 'holocaust'. Such are the extraordinary extremes of the human heart's potential.

This is an extraordinary book that explores the latter. It is not particularly pleasant or happy reading - but it is necessary reading. How can anyone remain naĂŻve about human nature as a result? It is brilliantly written, worth reading, but also easily dippable-into.
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4.0 out of 5 starsDisturbing but Fascinating
By D Brown on 10 Jan. 2013
Format: Paperback
There's no question that mankind is the most dangerous species in the world. We're capable of a lot of devastation against and, as Matthew White's book proves, each other. White has researched our history and come up with our 100 deadliest achievements going back to Ancient Greece and continuing throughout the timelines to the twentieth century. There are no happy endings in this book but there are many frightening statistics and accounts of just how horrible our predecessors have been to each other.

White's book lists the Top 100 atrocities in order towards the end. The bulk of the book is written in chronological order with one or two pages devoted to the lesser atrocities whereas those that grace the top ten are worthy of much lengthier accounts. Each section gives you the name of the atrocity, when it took place, where it took place and the staggering death toll involved. White doesn't claim to have definitive and accurate statistics on the death tolls. What he has done is look at previous tallies from other researchers and tried to make an educated guess. Although these are estimates, the numbers are frightening.

The deadliest atrocity in history is hardly a surprising one but it still makes for grim reading going through a familiar story but such a costly one. Two individuals are joint second in the list, with 40,000,000 deaths each attributed to them! It just doesn't seem possible but worryingly it really happened. The World Wars, Vietnam and the Korean War are some of the 20th century conflicts featured here, while the Napoleonic Wars, the Hundred Years War, the Taiping Rebellion and the Punic Wars are just a selection of other struggles that make the list. Individuals include Tamerlane, Peter the Great, Idi Amin, Genghis Khan, Stalin and Mao.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe war put so many people in deadly situations that unprecedented numbers of people died in surprising & unusual ways " .
By russell clarke VINE VOICE on 15 Dec. 2011
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
I really hope I an not being too flippant when I liken Atrocitology to a Horrible Histories for adults. The reason I make this comparison is that Matthew White writes with a morbid wit and with the sly irreverence utilised by the Horrible Histories series and but also brings a touch of academic flair to the proceedings. Though I dare say it will not be enough for some tastes.
This is a weighty tome, with well over 500 pages, not including the numerous notes, and it lists in chronological order the top one hundred deadliest multicides(sic ) in history starting with the second Persian War and ending with the second Congo war taking in all the expected conflicts in between such as the two World Wars, Napoleonic Wars , Stalin , Vietnam War , the Rwandan Genocide , Genghis Khan ( or as it should be pronounced Chinggis ) The famine in British controlled India and a hell of a lot of conflicts in China.
Matthew White comes to his own conclusions on casualties from these conflicts , given that the recorded accounts are often unreliable and even though these are often well below some estimated totals they are still for the most part mind boggling . For instance would you have had any idea that Mao Zedong between 1949-76 was responsible for approximately 40,000,000 deaths?
This is not just a book of lists either , though there are undoubtedly a lot of lists within it , but Matthew White does attempt to give some authoritative intellectual background and rigorous reasoning behind his findings . Other than that it is also wonderfully informative and works fantastically as a potted world history of sorts with a plethora of wonderful facts. Did you know that the word Tory comes from the Irish word toraidhe meaning "pursued man " ?Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsbut a good and important book

Valuable, thoughtful study following his on-line statistics. Always room for statistical revisions, but a good and important book.

Published 8 months ago by David Ashton
1.0 out of 5 starsAtrocitious

If you want a superficial overview of some of the worst conflict's of human history, here's your book. If you want more insight you could read a few Wikipedia articles. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Xophe
3.0 out of 5 starsWhilst being interesting in parts this tending to drift along ...

Whilst being interesting in parts this tending to drift along & I found that at times my attention to what I was reading waned.
Not quite as interesting as I had hoped for

Published 20 months ago by Mr. Kevin P. Neal
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat summary of bad things from history

A major problem with the normal presentation of history is that it is so fragmented. We get endless documentaries about Henry VIII, but there is far too little emphasis on the... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Scorchio
4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent in parts, tedious in others

This book appealed to the ghoulish side of my nature, but it is one of those exceedingly rare books that I have failed to read all the way through. Read more

Published on 6 Sept. 2013 by Mike in Sussex
5.0 out of 5 starsA history of the whole of civilisation

A friend bought me this for Christmas. It is a collection of the world's 100 worst human-caused atrocities. Read more

Published on 12 Jan. 2013 by PeterTattersall
3.0 out of 5 starsImpersonal and unengaging. A difficult read, but well-researched...
Customer Video Review
Length: 1:44 Mins
Published on 5 Jan. 2013 by Chris Hall
5.0 out of 5 starsHuge hardback but easily absorbed. A very concise and interesting...

I am not a great reader so was a bit daunted by the bulky size of this book.

However, each atrocity is summarised so explicitly that within just a few pages you have the... Read more

Published on 18 Dec. 2012 by Pallus
5.0 out of 5 starsStunning, shocking and superb

Atrocitology is a stunning and shocking review of some of the worst events in humanity's history. In it, Matthew White sets out what he calls the '100 Deadliest Achievements' and... Read more

Published on 28 Oct. 2012 by D. Brown
4.0 out of 5 starsHumanity's 100 deadliest achievements

This book is a collection of "humanity's 100 deadliest achievements". The 100 atrocities are listed in date order, the oldest first and are all given a ranking based on the death... Read more

Published on 13 Aug. 2012 by Kindle Customer

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