One cannot hope that this excellent historical memoir will be read by the rival warlords of Africa, ethnic cleansers in the Balkans, or the resilient tyrant of Baghdad. It should, however, be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the distinction between the unavoidable deaths and tragic suffering of any war and war crimes […]
Everyone seems keen on hangings. Executions are living liturgy. Here is a thorough piece of social history where the ghoulish reader will find nothing to enchant him. The author takes us through the arguments and battles of the abolitionists and retentionists, culminating in the abolition of hanging as the penalty for murder in 1969.
In my brief time as a libel barrister, I often thought I should have been a criminal lawyer instead. It was more romantic and exciting, with more time in court (or on your feet, as barristers put it). That was until a criminal barrister friend of mine was severely beaten up in the holding cell […]
This timely, important and thought-provoking book opens with words spoken to St Paul by Festus, governor of Judea: ‘It seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him’ (Acts 25:27). As the means by which, historically, English judges determined whether imprisonment was just or unjust, the […]
Behind their sentimental image, the Victorians were brutally down to earth. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, irate husbands in Essex, the county with the highest murder rate in Britain, could be heard threatening to ‘whitechapel’ their spouses, who would reply with Banshee promises to ‘white powder’ them. ‘Whitechapel’ referred to the district in […]
President Bush, about to launch his country’s retaliation a few weeks after 9/11, was adamant that ‘ours is a nation that does not seek revenge, but we do seek justice’. Was that really true of the American people? Did they make that distinction? Of course not. They wanted to kill the bastards responsible for planning […]
Twice in the fitful life of the Third Republic, Paris was convulsed by a criminal scandal with a Jew at its heart that split public opinion and sent crackles of disquiet through Europe. The first of these, the Dreyfus Affair, has become shorthand for the anti-Semitism, xenophobia and venality that streaked the political culture of […]
In 1613 Henry, Lord Ros, eldest son of the Earl and Countess of Rutland, ‘sickened very strangely’. Within months, the boy was dead. His younger brother, Francis Manners, then fell ill with similar symptoms, possibly caused by epilepsy. Over the next few years eminent physicians were called in, but the child did not improve. In […]
This is a marvellous book about a fascinating subject. It is, in a sense, a portrait of a serial killer. Frantz Schmidt was employed between 1578 and 1618 as the official executioner (and torturer) of the prosperous German city of Nuremberg. Over the course of his career he personally despatched 394 people, and flogged, branded […]
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Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm