What a Way to Go: The Guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death

I BOUGHT THE BOOK PRIMARILY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT A POSSIBLE 15th CENTURY GERMAN ANCESTOR, NAMED JOHN OF BAVARIA, WHO INVENTED THE 'DIELE' . . . A RATHER CRUDE EARLY VERSION OF THE GUILLOTINE - SOMETHING I NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE. PRIOR TO THIS NEW DEFINITION OF 'DIELE' I HAD MERELY KNOWN IT MEANT A SMALL ROOM OR ENTRYWAY IN GERMAN. ONCE I READ THAT CHAPTER THE REMAINDER OF THE BOOK WAS INCREASINGLY IRRESISTIBLE. THERE WERE SOME FORMS OF PRIMITIVE EXECUTION I HAD KNOWN OF ALREADY - WHILE MOST I DID NOT. A BOOK THAT SHOULD BE READ BY THE MILDLY CURIOUS AS WELL AS THOSE WHO ARE MORE ACQUAINTED WITH THE SUBJECT. IT'S REASSURING TO KNOW, THAT FOR THE MOST PART, WE HAVE EVOLVED BEYOND THAT SORT OF BEHAVIOR. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Geoffrey Abbott points out that there is no limit to Man's fiendish imagination, and his point is proven in this collection of horrible executions. It must have been an exhausting process for him to write this book. It is extremely thorough, extremely detailed, and impossible not to react to on physical and emotional levels while reading. His attempts at adding touches of humour here and there are appreciated, but do little to distract from the horrible tortures and deaths outlined in this book. In gruesome detail, through eyewitness narratives and historical documents, there are plenty of horrific, nightmarish deaths here for anyone who is interested. A very thorough collection, including old favourites like the guillotine, broken on the wheel, gibbet and hung/drawn/quartered; newer ideas like the gas chamber and lethal injection; and then more "exotic" concepts: the brazen bull, the thousand cuts, the hideous 'scaphismus', fried to death, sawed in half... and this barely skims the surface. Oh, it's all here, and it is very well explained. This being said, it's hardly a relaxing, bedtime read. It's very difficult not to project yourself into the different deaths, almost mentally weighing the pros and cons of which methods, should YOU have to face them, would be "preferable". It's hard not to pity the people who had to endure these tortures. It's hard not to wonder about the sanity of humanity in general back when public butchery was considered entertainment. It's hard not to feel very physically uncomfortable reading about these levels of physical suffering. At the same time it is absolutely fascinating. Be prepared when you begin to read this book. Abbott doesn't dance around the subject, which is what makes this book great, but don't be surprised by it. If you read the chapter called "Twenty Four Cuts", you will be told very plainly which parts of the body are removed with each cut. As another reviewer mentioned - reading this book on the subway will definitely make you, or people who notice over your shoulder, uncomfortable. :) A really good read, but be ready for it!

This book definitely cheered me up. There is nothing like reading about mind-bendingly horrendous torture after a hard day on the job. I recommend this to all who dwell on the dark side.

In this excellent work, the author makes the statement that "... [the human] ability to conjure up methods of torture and death is .... infinite". Indeed, after reading this book, one cannot agree with him more. In a rich and most elegant (and often tongue-in-cheek) prose, the author clearly describes in excess of 69 ways used throughout history to officially execute human beings, frequently with various accompanying methods of torture. These execution methods are presented in alphabetical, as opposed to chronological, order; hence, the book can be read all at once or in dribs and drabs without any loss of continuity. The descriptions are agonizingly detailed and, well, quite colorful. In many cases, several fascinating anecdotes are provided to further enrich the reader's reading experience; these include personal information on some of the executioners and their many clients, the nature of the crimes committed and the attitudes of the attending crowds - all this weaved in the backdrop of the times in which these people lived (and died). This well-written book should be of interest, not only to those interested in the gory, the horrific and the macabre, but also to ordinary history buffs.

Surprisingly considering the topic of historical references to torture and execution techniques, this tome is a enthralling well written look at how it was applied in western society over the centuries. The book is arranged in alphabetical order with the sizes of each entry varying based on available information and to a degree frequency of usage. The fascination is typically with the smaller sized less known entries. Though more information is valuable on the "popular" techniques such as Madame Guillotine, lethal injection, or hanging, the methods that most people have never heard of like being sewn inside an animal's stomach, the Spanish Donkey or Flayed alive, etc., which are relatively one or two paragraphs are the ones that hook the audience. Though the Guantomino crowd might insist this book is barbaric, history buffs will appreciate this deep look at the darker side of governments and societies. Harriet Klausner