What do you think?
Rate this book
The History of Murder
A compelling and remarkable history spanning two thousand years of murder, from the 'games' of ancient times to modern day cannibal killers, including coverage on random 'spree' gunmen as well as the growing phenomenon of murder with an element of the occult.
639 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 24, 2012
For the first few chapters of this book I was enthralled and thought, "Wow, this will be a five-star book for sure." Alas, no. The further I read, the further its star rating slipped, and by the end I had utterly lost confidence in it. Here's why:
1. The book is riddled with inaccuracies. Most of them were minor, piddling things, but of course they made me doubt the veracity of the whole. The Jack the Ripper chapter contains serious errors. For instance, Wilson repeats the old myth about Mary Kelly being pregnant (and he gets her name wrong, calling her Mary Jeanette Kelly instead of Mary Jane Kelly). He also says he believes in the "Jack the Ripper diary," which has been exposed as a forgery.
2. The book is very repetitive. It's as if Wilson was writing each chapter as a separate entity and forgot they were supposed to be part of a whole. Details of cases are repeated throughout the book, sometimes twice in the same chapter even.
3. There were a lot of typos, in particular word repetitions, that were annoying.
4. Wilson has a tendency to make grand, sweeping statements that are either false or impossible to prove. For example: "All serial killers come from underprivileged backgrounds, lower-middle-class or below" and: "No artist has ever committed a sadistic murder." I can think of a few serial killers who came from middle-class or affluent families -- Charles Ng, for example, was the son of a wealthy executive. And there are many serial killers who haven't been caught so we don't know what sort of economic background they came from. And I don't know about violent artists, but it seems unlikely that NOT ANY artist has EVER committed that type of crime. Though he is extensively read on murder, Wilson can't claim to have read about every single homicide in the world, so his statement about artists cannot be considered a fact.
5. There was no appendix, notes or bibliography, so I have no idea of most of Wilson's sources. I suspect he used just one source for many of his stories, which would explain why there were so many errors.
All that said, I still liked the book pretty much. It contains details of historical cases that you're not likely to find elsewhere, and Wilson has some very intriguing, if not entirely convincing, theories on the causes of violent crime. But I would have serious reservations about recommending this book to others. Pity. It started out so well.
1. The book is riddled with inaccuracies. Most of them were minor, piddling things, but of course they made me doubt the veracity of the whole. The Jack the Ripper chapter contains serious errors. For instance, Wilson repeats the old myth about Mary Kelly being pregnant (and he gets her name wrong, calling her Mary Jeanette Kelly instead of Mary Jane Kelly). He also says he believes in the "Jack the Ripper diary," which has been exposed as a forgery.
2. The book is very repetitive. It's as if Wilson was writing each chapter as a separate entity and forgot they were supposed to be part of a whole. Details of cases are repeated throughout the book, sometimes twice in the same chapter even.
3. There were a lot of typos, in particular word repetitions, that were annoying.
4. Wilson has a tendency to make grand, sweeping statements that are either false or impossible to prove. For example: "All serial killers come from underprivileged backgrounds, lower-middle-class or below" and: "No artist has ever committed a sadistic murder." I can think of a few serial killers who came from middle-class or affluent families -- Charles Ng, for example, was the son of a wealthy executive. And there are many serial killers who haven't been caught so we don't know what sort of economic background they came from. And I don't know about violent artists, but it seems unlikely that NOT ANY artist has EVER committed that type of crime. Though he is extensively read on murder, Wilson can't claim to have read about every single homicide in the world, so his statement about artists cannot be considered a fact.
5. There was no appendix, notes or bibliography, so I have no idea of most of Wilson's sources. I suspect he used just one source for many of his stories, which would explain why there were so many errors.
All that said, I still liked the book pretty much. It contains details of historical cases that you're not likely to find elsewhere, and Wilson has some very intriguing, if not entirely convincing, theories on the causes of violent crime. But I would have serious reservations about recommending this book to others. Pity. It started out so well.
August 17, 2017
It has been said that man is the most violent creature on earth. Read this book and you’ll be convinced this thought is true. Wilson writes a history of homicide, covering a couple thousand years—quite a literary achievement. And he does so in very thoughtful ways. I read this book because I am a writer of mystery fiction; murder, death, ghosts, humanity are all part of my stories and exploration. If you study murder or are curious about the psychology of violence (or like to read about the dark side of life) this is one to add to your list. At over 600 pages and two inches thick, this is like an encyclopedia, but Wilson makes it more personal and sometimes philosophical. He explores why man is a killer. Wilson begins with Ivan the Terrible, Nero, Vlad the Impaler and the spectacular sadist Tamerlane. Lots of details that were a bit disturbing for me, especially Countess Elizabeth Bathory who enjoyed soaking in bathtubs filled with the human blood of young murdered girls. Moving on to Murder Elizabethan Style with a poisoned crucifix, disembowelments, castrations, beheadings, Jack the Ripper, British murders, sex crimes and serial killers. A lot to handle. Best way to read this is in small bites. I like Wilson’s narrative style and will likely read some of his fiction titles. At the end, Wilson says “in spite of three thousand years of cruelty and slaughter, there is still hope for the human race.” Read this book and you’ll know why.
November 9, 2025
Moderately interesting. This is more an encyclopedia relating various murders. There is some attempt to explain why people kill, but not enough to convince me. People are just crazy and greedy and are willing to kill to get what they want.it was interesting to learn how many serial killers were mistreated as children or drank a lot.
November 4, 2016
So this book by far was one of the more interesting books I have ever read. This book has no main characters because the author has this more as facts and stories. This is all about different types of murder and what some punishments were for some people after they were found guilty. Now this book isn't for kids I would recommend this book to anyone under like 13-14 age group. This book was given 5 stars because this was very interesting and some of is was a little dark. This book was very interesting and some stories were dark to read.
December 28, 2014
Fascinating history of murder from its earliest records to the modern day by one of the most respected crime writers around. Hard to put down.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews