The Instruments of Torture by Michael Kerrigan

by Michael Kerrigan

This text looks at torture tools and techniques used throughout history and upto 20th century inventions, such as the use of electrons to administer electric shocks, as well as enduring instruments such as the rack, which was first mentioned in Ancient Greece.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Crime, Historical

Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Michael Kerrigan is a seasoned freelance writer and editor with over thirty years of experience across a wide spectrum of publishing work, from advertising and catalogue copy to book blurbs and specialist nonfiction. A prolific author, he has written around sixty full-length books on subjects ranging from ancient warfare and Slavic myth to modern architecture and the science of consciousness, all aimed at a general readership. He contributed a weekly Books in Brief column to The Scotsman for two decades and has reviewed extensively for the Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and Financial Times.

Reviews

[Claudia Loureiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Kerrigans feelings and interest for the medival instruments and history, really comes to the surface with this book. It is a book, which is easy to read and understand, and it has all the most interesting facts and histories within. It also gives a scaring view, of the tortures, which are used even in our time. ... I can also recomend the book, for any educational purposes.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bought for scholarly research. Details of function are good but details of construction/materials are lacking.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuando uno piensa en instrumentos de tortura casi de inmediato vienen a la mente imágenes de la inquisición. Sin embargo esta práctica no ha estado limitada a la religión: reyes, dictadores, policías, militares, religiosos y casi cualquiera que ha ostentado el poder de manera brutal ha hecho uso de estos artefactos nefastos. Desde la cruz hasta la silla eléctrica, el hombre ha buscado la manera de hacer daño a sus semejantes para conservar o conseguir dominación sobre los mismos. La tortura, ya sea física o psicólogica, implica técnicas que se pueden resumir en privación de la libertad, estiramiento y suspensión, presión, calor, agua, frío, animales, golpes, cortes y perforaciones, hasta el empleo de la electricidad y finalmente la ejecución.

Michael Kerrigan reune algunos de estos métodos y aparatos en un libro que, desgraciadamente, se queda corto en cuanto a lo que las mentes enfermas han podido crear a lo largo de la historia para causar dolor. Las ilustraciones y fotos ayudan a imaginar lo que jamás se podrá conocer a menos que se haya tenido la desgracia de vivir en carne propia.

Adicionalmente va un buen jalón de orejas para editorial Lectorum por haber dejado pasar gran cantidad de errores en su edición en Español.

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and readable introduction to the history and methodology of torture. It is, however, not a scholarly work. It lacks footnoting and doesn’t seem to cite original sources. This is popular press, but still worth reading for those unaware and nature of the crime.

Quite coincidentally I read this while taking on Steven Pinker’s “The Angels Of Our Better Nature”, which devotes pages to torture and other forms of violence as well as explaining the possible causes of it...and why it has declined.

[Robin Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5 stars.

I counted more than a few typos, which was something I could ignore although influenced me to think that the author loses some credibility. However, the bibliography is extensive and sites a lot of rare books on torture so perhaps that’s my own bias and just indicates a lack of proofreading.

All things considered, I found the book engrossing. I meant to read a chapter each day, but I ended up finishing the entire book in one day.

[Faisal AL-Bader · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب بحثي جميل ومرجع ممتاز عن أدوات التعذيب ... اذا اندمجت فيه تجد نفسك تتعذب لما يذكر فيه من أمور يشيب لها الولدان .

[Erkki · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick and short surface guide to the ingenuity of man in infliction pain to others.

[Kas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, bit graphic in parts but very interesting

[Cara Rees · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to understand and very graphic to the point it made me feel queasy 😂 Great book for an introduction to torture methods.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fascinating to see what people have done to each other and the contraptions they thought up for the sole purpose of pain. This was a great book, I gave it only three stars because the subject matter gives me bad mojo and I can never recall a thing so horrific as the iron maiden, for example, happily. If I could spare myself the emo, it probably would have ranked higher.

[Breanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book accomplished what it sets out to do. Gives one the history of various torture methods in a nice and concise, coffee table format. I think it did a great job in that regard, but I will say that some of the descriptions of scenes and devices were too vague at points, so much so that I felt I had no idea what was being described, even after reading an entire paragraph about it.

[Angelos Printzios]

George Carlin once said...
“No, you don’t see a chicken strapping some guy into a chair and hooking up his nuts to a car battery, do you? When’s the last chicken you heard about come home from work and beat the shit out of his hen, huh? Doesn’t happen, ’cause chickens are decent people.”

extremely interesting book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly well written and the final chapter of hope that torture would end was a nice way to end the book.

[Nada · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's very interesting. I'm fairly knowledgeable about the topic but I benefited from it.

[Paul Mesler · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far a very interesting read. The book is well written, and the author seems to have researched his material thoroughly.