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Evil: Spine-Tingling True Stories of Murder and Mayhem
A collection of the most shocking, horrifying accounts of true crime ever.
Evil knows no boundaries. In 1614, Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory died, sealed in a tiny closet in her castle. Her crimes? She was rumored to have bathed in the blood of her victims, which may have numbered in the hundreds. More recently, Russia’s Andrei Chikatilo, the United States’ Ted Bundy, and Great Britain’s Peter Sutcliffe added to the horrors humans inflict upon their fellow man. Featuring maps, callouts, and facts that follow these criminals’ trails of crime, Evil is a groundbreaking volume. It explores some of the most famous crime cases of real-life murder and mayhem.
In this epic account of history’s most infamous murder cases, leading true-crime researcher and writer Colin Wilson teams up with his son Damon Wilson to masterfully recount the shocking details of more than sixty cases of murder and mayhem. Illustrated with hundreds of color and black-and-white photos, Evil features images of criminals, forensic evidence, and key personalities and places that put each crime in historical context.
In a continuing search for the meaning in murder, the Wilsons create one of the definitive books in the field of criminology.
Evil knows no boundaries. In 1614, Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory died, sealed in a tiny closet in her castle. Her crimes? She was rumored to have bathed in the blood of her victims, which may have numbered in the hundreds. More recently, Russia’s Andrei Chikatilo, the United States’ Ted Bundy, and Great Britain’s Peter Sutcliffe added to the horrors humans inflict upon their fellow man. Featuring maps, callouts, and facts that follow these criminals’ trails of crime, Evil is a groundbreaking volume. It explores some of the most famous crime cases of real-life murder and mayhem.
In this epic account of history’s most infamous murder cases, leading true-crime researcher and writer Colin Wilson teams up with his son Damon Wilson to masterfully recount the shocking details of more than sixty cases of murder and mayhem. Illustrated with hundreds of color and black-and-white photos, Evil features images of criminals, forensic evidence, and key personalities and places that put each crime in historical context.
In a continuing search for the meaning in murder, the Wilsons create one of the definitive books in the field of criminology.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
64 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Colin Wilson
403 books1,291 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 13, 2019
-Exposición sin mucho más.-
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro A sangre fría (publicación original: Evil. Spine-Tingling Stories of Murder and Mayhem, 2011) trata de ser un acercamiento a la maldad a través de breves notas biográficas y cronísticas de asesinatos históricos, asesinos de distinta calificación, asesinos en serie, psicópatas y casos sin resolver.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro A sangre fría (publicación original: Evil. Spine-Tingling Stories of Murder and Mayhem, 2011) trata de ser un acercamiento a la maldad a través de breves notas biográficas y cronísticas de asesinatos históricos, asesinos de distinta calificación, asesinos en serie, psicópatas y casos sin resolver.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
May 19, 2018
Review in English | Reseña en español
This was just… meh. I am not sure if it is because I’ve seen a lot of true crime shows, documentaries and movies, but I found that when reading about the topic, it just falls short (to this day, I recall being a fan of Unsolved Mysteries and this show scares me for its realness when presenting unsolved crimes). In any case, I felt this book was just a compilation of famous murders and serial killers but it felt more like a listing rather than an in-depth study or presentation. Some of the stories read like Wikipedia entries so obviously this was very disappointed. Sure, the authors could not have presented a very profound analysis of each crime but then… they could have shortened the list, for example. I liked the structure of the book –which divides crimes in historical, classic cases, serial killers, and cold cases, but I think it could have achieved more and it didn’t. The title of the book itself includes the word “Evil” but I think there was no real exploration of the topic, except for very few examples. True, there are some of the documented cases that gave me goosebumps –for example, a German serial killer in the early 20th century (can’t recall the name) or Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker- but those are the exceptions than the rule. And while surely if one wants to know more about each individual committing the crimes there must be specific books about it, I insist –I felt this book missed a great opportunity to present a stronger psychological analysis in the cases.
_______________
Este libro fue bastante regular. No sé si de deba a que he visto ya demasiados programas, documentales y películas de crímenes reales pero me pasa que cuando leo sobre el tema, siento que los libros quedan a deber (hasta hoy, recuerdo con claridad ser fan del programa Misterios Sin Resolver y al hacerlo, también recuerdo el temor que me despertaba por los crímenes sin resolver). En este caso, me pareció que el libro era solo una compilación de asesinatos y los criminales, un listado más que un estudio a profundidad sobre el contexto de los crímenes. Siento que algunos de los casos parecían más artículos de Wikipedia por lo que mi decepción fue grande. SI bien es cierto que los escritores no podrían haber presentado para cada caso un estudio a profundidad, creo entonces que pudieron haber acortado la lista.
La estructura del libro me pareció buena –se dividen los crímenes en históricos, clásicos, asesinos seriales y casos sin resolver – pero creo que se pudo haber logrado más. Por ejemplo, el título hace alusión al “mal” pero creo que no hay una exploración profunda del tema, excepto por algunos pocos ejemplos. Sin duda, hubo casos que me dieron escalofríos –por ejemplo un asesino en serie de principios de siglo XX (no recuerdo el nombre) o Richard Ramírez, El acosador nocturno- pero éstos fueron más excepciones que la regla. Y aunque estoy convencida que si uno quiere tener más detalle de los asesinos o los crímenes famosos seguro ya existe un libro especializado sobre el tema, insisto –creo que este libro es una oportunidad mal aprovechada para presentar un análisis psicológico de una manera más profunda en cada uno de los casos.
This was just… meh. I am not sure if it is because I’ve seen a lot of true crime shows, documentaries and movies, but I found that when reading about the topic, it just falls short (to this day, I recall being a fan of Unsolved Mysteries and this show scares me for its realness when presenting unsolved crimes). In any case, I felt this book was just a compilation of famous murders and serial killers but it felt more like a listing rather than an in-depth study or presentation. Some of the stories read like Wikipedia entries so obviously this was very disappointed. Sure, the authors could not have presented a very profound analysis of each crime but then… they could have shortened the list, for example. I liked the structure of the book –which divides crimes in historical, classic cases, serial killers, and cold cases, but I think it could have achieved more and it didn’t. The title of the book itself includes the word “Evil” but I think there was no real exploration of the topic, except for very few examples. True, there are some of the documented cases that gave me goosebumps –for example, a German serial killer in the early 20th century (can’t recall the name) or Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker- but those are the exceptions than the rule. And while surely if one wants to know more about each individual committing the crimes there must be specific books about it, I insist –I felt this book missed a great opportunity to present a stronger psychological analysis in the cases.
_______________
Este libro fue bastante regular. No sé si de deba a que he visto ya demasiados programas, documentales y películas de crímenes reales pero me pasa que cuando leo sobre el tema, siento que los libros quedan a deber (hasta hoy, recuerdo con claridad ser fan del programa Misterios Sin Resolver y al hacerlo, también recuerdo el temor que me despertaba por los crímenes sin resolver). En este caso, me pareció que el libro era solo una compilación de asesinatos y los criminales, un listado más que un estudio a profundidad sobre el contexto de los crímenes. Siento que algunos de los casos parecían más artículos de Wikipedia por lo que mi decepción fue grande. SI bien es cierto que los escritores no podrían haber presentado para cada caso un estudio a profundidad, creo entonces que pudieron haber acortado la lista.
La estructura del libro me pareció buena –se dividen los crímenes en históricos, clásicos, asesinos seriales y casos sin resolver – pero creo que se pudo haber logrado más. Por ejemplo, el título hace alusión al “mal” pero creo que no hay una exploración profunda del tema, excepto por algunos pocos ejemplos. Sin duda, hubo casos que me dieron escalofríos –por ejemplo un asesino en serie de principios de siglo XX (no recuerdo el nombre) o Richard Ramírez, El acosador nocturno- pero éstos fueron más excepciones que la regla. Y aunque estoy convencida que si uno quiere tener más detalle de los asesinos o los crímenes famosos seguro ya existe un libro especializado sobre el tema, insisto –creo que este libro es una oportunidad mal aprovechada para presentar un análisis psicológico de una manera más profunda en cada uno de los casos.
January 14, 2017
The book was interesting, but it seemed a bit rushed. There were numerous small (and some not so small) grammar errors, and sometimes the explanations of events failed to coherently explain what actually happened or who a certain person relevant to the event was.
July 22, 2018
The vignettes were incredibly short with minimal details. Many of them were disjointed with confusing chronology. Additionally, this book could have used an editor for the missing commas and other grammatical mistakes, which made it confusing in places. Don’t waste your money on this book.
May 31, 2021
Light Reading
It is okay for someone looking for introductory material or reading on the beach. Not much in depth material just brief essays on the cases presented.
One thing that did irritate me was that in the Hillside chapter the captions for Bianchi and Buono are reversed.
It is okay for someone looking for introductory material or reading on the beach. Not much in depth material just brief essays on the cases presented.
One thing that did irritate me was that in the Hillside chapter the captions for Bianchi and Buono are reversed.
November 6, 2017
Disappointing
If you are a true crime buff who appreciates well written informative literature, then this is not for you. Not bad for someone who has not read much true crime.
If you are a true crime buff who appreciates well written informative literature, then this is not for you. Not bad for someone who has not read much true crime.
November 22, 2019
Most illuminating
A very entertaining and illuminating book of you like reading about those who commit murder. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
A very entertaining and illuminating book of you like reading about those who commit murder. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
August 25, 2020
Some of the murderers featured in this book were truly evil. I love reading about them.
March 15, 2022
Great book! But lots of grammar mistakes and sentences that weren’t finished. Throughly enjoyed reading it though.
September 21, 2011
I probably should have finished this after I woke up today, because now I can't sleep. Overall, this was a really interesting read. It was different from most of the other books on crime and serial murder I had read in that it had pictures of not just the crime scene and the killers, but also the victims, maps of important events, and additional illustrated details. Another thing I liked about this read is it not only focused on the crimes themselves, but factors leading up to them and facts that, while directly involved with them, were interesting to know and which help readers better understand the cases.
January 10, 2017
I expected better from the Wilsons.
The formatting of the ebook was off--strange margins and headers cut off from their sections--and no amount of font or don't size tweaking helped. The book actually crashed several times while I was trying to read it, and lost my place numerous times as well. There are also many editorial errors, such as hyphenated words in the middle of a paragraph.
On top of this, the book has an amazing amount of factual errors. On one page, the victim was shot twice; on the following page, that same victim succumbed to seven shots. The worst error found was mislabeled photos: Angelo Buono's photograph was captioned as Kenneth Bianchi, and vice versa.
The formatting of the ebook was off--strange margins and headers cut off from their sections--and no amount of font or don't size tweaking helped. The book actually crashed several times while I was trying to read it, and lost my place numerous times as well. There are also many editorial errors, such as hyphenated words in the middle of a paragraph.
On top of this, the book has an amazing amount of factual errors. On one page, the victim was shot twice; on the following page, that same victim succumbed to seven shots. The worst error found was mislabeled photos: Angelo Buono's photograph was captioned as Kenneth Bianchi, and vice versa.
January 28, 2013
This was my "hair drying book" as the whole thing was divided up into small chunks that could easily be taken in small doses, hence while I blow-dried my hair. Very interesting, especially since the authors took a look into ancient crimes as well as recent ones. Lots of anecdotes and very precise. Possibly a tad gruesome for some readers, however, if you are squeamish, I would guess you wouldn't be picking up a book called "Evil."
September 14, 2010
I had pretty much already read about most of the "evil" people in this book but the splashy photos are what caught my eye. It was written in a somewhat haphazard style with very poor flow. Might be ok for those who don't obsessivly read such things.The bar is a little higher for sicko's like me.
December 19, 2010
The pictures are great, and there's a decent variety of killers. It was a bit choppy but overall entertaining and interesting!
July 3, 2016
Very interesting read. I enjoyed that this book had so many different facts about different killers and not just one long blurb about one.
December 3, 2019
Interesting
Well worth reading, lots of useful information not necessarily mentioned elsewhere about well known cases. Shame it ended. Thank you!
Well worth reading, lots of useful information not necessarily mentioned elsewhere about well known cases. Shame it ended. Thank you!
Read
April 15, 2014I always like these books. I'm a weirdo like that.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews