Atrocities: The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Matthew White (Author), Steven Pinker (Foreword, Contributor)

72 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0393345230

ISBN-10: 0393345238

Why is ISBN important?

Share <Embed>

Buy

$9.99

eBook features:

Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
Page numbers are just like the physical edition
Length: 689 pages
Word Wise: Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Available on these devices:

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Digital List Price: $19.95

Print List Price: $19.95 Save $9.96 (50%)‎

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group. Learn more

Quantity:

This item has a maximum order quantity limit.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

See all 9 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$22.90

$10.98

$2.21

Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.87

$5.00

“An amusing (really) account of the murderous ways of despots, slave traders, blundering royals, gladiators and assorted hordes.”—New York Times

Evangelists of human progress meet their opposite in Matthew White’s epic examination of history’s one hundred most violent events, or, in White’s piquant phrasing, “the numbers that people want to argue about.” Reaching back to the Second Persian War in 480 BCE and moving chronologically through history, White surrounds hard facts (time and place) and succinct takeaways (who usually gets the blame?) with lively military, social, and political histories.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Karl Shaw

36

Kindle Edition
$3.99
David Deutsch

191

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Steven Pinker

523

Kindle Edition
$18.99
Stewart Brand

82

Kindle Edition
$13.99
Hans Rosling

613

in Probability & Statistics
Kindle Edition
$14.99
Luo Guanzhong

27

Kindle Edition
$1.99

Try Kindle Countdown Deals
Explore limited-time discounted eBooks. Learn more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Genius.”
- NPR

“[White] doesn’t take sides so much as report the facts―and the death tolls. . . . Full of fascinating information about parts of the world little-known to most Westerners.”
- Washington Post

“White . . . gives voice to the suffering of ordinary people that, inexorably, has defined every historical epoch.”
- Military Review

“A fascinating read thanks to White’s keen grasp of history and his wry take on the villains of the past.”
- Christian Science Monitor

About the Author

Matthew White is the creator of the online Historical Atlas of the 20th Century. His data has been cited by forty-five published books and eighty scholarly articles. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Product details

File Size: 4515 KB
Print Length: 689 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (November 7, 2011)
Publication Date: October 31, 2011
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B005LW5JMQ
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,839 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #373 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Historical Study > Reference
- #884 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Reference
- #1156 in Books > Reference > Encyclopedias & Subject Guides > History

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

72 customer reviews

Review this product

Write a customer review

Showing 1-6 of 72 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

David K.

Finally! Snark returns to history

August 3, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In the dry, stuffy world of historical non-fiction, humor must be taboo. I've read enough boring, bland history books to fill a small library. I don't recall ever seeing words like "bewigged" and "sissies" or phrases like "...because nobody likes a smartass" or "another damn African civil war " in any of them. This author - even as he delves deep into the most horrific events in human history - can find the time to communicate the thoughts the reader certainly has going through their mind at the time.

Snarkiness aside, the author also delivers the cold, hard facts of murder and mayhem for a topic that is virtually- with few exceptions - glossed over in classroom history texts. He managed to put each event into chronological and political perspective that even the most knowledgeable historian, professional and couch potato alike, can learn from.

My biggest takeaway was the realization that mass murder, starvation, tyranny, and misery are the true cornerstones of the human condition. We in the west especially the USA, have lived more or less in a vacuum, a protective cocoon from that kind of pain for over a hundred years. We fail to realize how tenuous, rare and temporary this kind of peace really is. This book should be required reading in all civics, history and government classes throughout the country. Knowing how our little sliver of time fits inside the overall march of humankind's last 5,000 or so years may cause some of us to turn off the Pokemon app, put down the protest signs, and get on with doing something meaningful.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Historically, Life Has No Value …

November 11, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

ATROCITIES: THE 100 DEADLIEST EPISODES IN HUMAN HISTORY provides a blunt view at mankind’s destructive ways from the Second Persian War (480 BC) to the Second Congo War (2002). Between these two bookends are a multitude of wars, genocides, rebellions, crusades, revolts and general acts/missions of deadly cruelty that consumed hundreds of millions of lives. As astonishing as the sheer number of deaths are, even more astonishing is that author Matthew White only details and ranks (by death toll) the 100 deadliest events. What makes ATROCITIES such a worthy reference is not only the abundance of details, but the presentation of the material along with White’s mordant narration.

Organized in a chronological manner, each “episode” (war, genocide, etc.) is presented as a chapter. Each chapter includes a summary header that encapsulates the episode by including: death toll, participants, time frame, location, general reasoning behind episode, who or what’s to blame and the episode’s rank on the list of 100. Following the header, White delves into the dirty details of the event in a succinct manner that is rich with details. His witty summaries of each episode include a degree of sarcasm that somehow manages to blend the grave subject manner with a bit of humor. The humor relates mostly to how mankind’s stupidity often leads to mass death … many of the episodes presents will have readers shaking their heads. White makes the depressing topic rather enjoyable to read. There are no illustrations/pictures (other than the cover) and only a handful of maps in the book, but the text renders such visual aids unnecessary. The appendices at the end of the book provide the rationale behind the rankings, additional summarized data and the sources used to create the book.

Overall, ATROCITIES is a terrific and useful reference that brings to light many lesser-known historical events from all over the world. There were quite a few episodes that I had never heard of, especially in Africa. I have always enjoyed almanacs, older versions of the Guinness Book of World records and The Book of Lists, so this book really hit the mark with me.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

K. Rense

Man's inhumanity to man on parade! A history text ...

April 24, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Man's inhumanity to man on parade! A history text, a sociology primer, and casebook on deviant psychology superbly written and organized. Mr. White is a scholar. This, his witty, sometimes sardonic and comprehensive survey of human greed on a massive scale, teachers all one needs to know why man's defining characteristic is the willingness -- nay, compulsion -- to kill other human beings. No education is complete without a thorough reading of this delightful, appalling and altogether damning chronicle of that monster that is humankind.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Christopher Barnewolt

Fascinating, good faith effort

March 5, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Very good book, lots of fascinating information here for people interested in history, and especially the history of large-scale human violence. The author's methodology is, by his own admission, not exact, but overall he did a great job tackling a massive, complex, and fascinating subject. Rather than accept this book as the final say on anything, I would use it as a good starting point for further research, and a good summary of the generally accepted mainstream viewpoint of the events listed.

I found one small error of fact in the chapter on the Mahdi Rebellion (the British officer who converted to Islam was von Slatin, not Hicks Pasha, who I don't think was ever a convert). So again, I'd double check the details elsewhere before relying on anything too specific.

The author clearly has his own opinions on politics, religion, and history, and it comes across in his writing style. But for the most part he avoids any screeds or polemics, and sticks to a just-the-facts presentation of his data set rather than shoving his own interpretations down the reader's throat.

Would recommend.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Treatise on the Nature of Humans

January 4, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a very important informative read.
It tells us everything we need to know about human nature.
It supports my belief that until our species understands
our 'nature' we are doomed to repeat these 'atrocitites'.
Should be required reading for all senior high school
and college students.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

John August

... few years ago under its original title of The Great Big Book of Horrible Things

January 11, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I read this book a few years ago under its original title of The Great Big Book of Horrible Things. I’m re-reading it now because it’s oddly comforting to see how bad things have been in ages past. Somehow, humanity made it to 2017, so there’s a good chance we’ll make it through again.

It's not a book you sit down and read in a sitting. Instead, it's great for moments of downtime, or a few chapters before bed.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Atrocities: The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.