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Good factual/history books about fairly grizzly subjects

Started by iamcoop, February 15, 2018, 04:41:24 PM

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iamcoop

I'm a bit of a sucker when it comes to reading books about weird/dark/grizzly subjects.

I've just finished The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris which is an enjoyable bloodstained  romp through the history of surgery in England during the latter stages of the 19th century. I've also just finished Killing For Company by Brian Masters which is about the Dennis Nilson case (probably the best book about a serial killer I've read.)

Next I'm going to read Killers Of The King by Charles Spencer which details the fallout and revenge killings that took place after the excecution of Charles I which is a subject I've always been fascinated by.

As you can probably tell I have a bit of a soft spot for good historical books and biographies that detail the darker and more blood splattered periods of history.

Anyone got any good recommendations? Could be about general bizzare incidents, unsolved mysteries, serial killers etc. All that trashy shit basically..

nedthemumbler

Less bloody and more semeny and flares wearing, In Plain Sight is a definitive account of Jimmy Savilles misdeeds, plus lots of detail and context.

iamcoop

Quote from: nedthemumbler on February 15, 2018, 04:57:35 PM
Less bloody and more semeny and flares wearing, In Plain Sight is a definitive account of Jimmy Savilles misdeeds, plus lots of detail and context.

Great recommendation but I've already read it. A quite terrifying book. Right in my wheelhouse though!

NoSleep

grisly (grĭzˈlē)
    adj.
    Inspiring repugnance; gruesome.

grizzly (grĭzˈlē)
    adj.
    Grayish or flecked with gray.

iamcoop


Keebleman

Batavia's Graveyard by Mike Dash.  An account of the aftermath of a sixteenth century shipwreck in the Indian Ocean, where the man who assumed responsibility for - and command of - the two hundred or so survivors who had washed up on a few small islands instigated a regime of such hideous, random and almost entirely gratuitous brutality against men, women and children that it's surprising the story isn't better known.  (It may well be in Holland, as it was a Dutch ship.)

Keebleman

And then there's Eric Jager's The Last Duel which tells the story of the last ever judicial duel in France.  It took place in the 14th century but the historical record is remarkably well preserved.  One knight accused another of raping his wife; the accusation was denied.  The two men were to fight to the death, God would ensure that the righteous party would be victorious.  Just to make the stakes that little bit higher, if the accusing knight were to lose, his wife, as she had sworn that the accusation of rape was true, would be burnt at the stake for perjury.

Scorsese has the rights to the book and you can see why it would appeal, because not only is the story innately dramatic to the highest degree, but the description of the duel is incredibly detailed, extremely gory and - to make it even better from a cinematic point of view - even though there were literally thousands of spectators, they were ordered under pain of death to be silent while the fight was in progress.

bgmnts

Quote from: Keebleman on February 15, 2018, 11:42:27 PM
And then there's Eric Jager's The Last Duel which tells the story of the last ever judicial duel in France.  It took place in the 14th century but the historical record is remarkably well preserved.  One knight accused another of raping his wife; the accusation was denied.  The two men were to fight to the death, God would ensure that the righteous party would be victorious.  Just to make the stakes that little bit higher, if the accusing knight were to lose, his wife, as she had sworn that the accusation of rape was true, would be burnt at the stake for perjury.

Scorsese has the rights to the book and you can see why it would appeal, because not only is the story innately dramatic to the highest degree, but the description of the duel is incredibly detailed, extremely gory and - to make it even better from a cinematic point of view - even though there were literally thousands of spectators, they were ordered under pain of death to be silent while the fight was in progress.

Who won????

Wet Blanket

I mentioned in another thread that I've been reading Past Mortems by Carla Valentine, which is an unblinking account of her career as a mortuary technician. She's not a murderer but it turns out in the day-to-day world of autopsies there's enough accounts of faces being pulled off, limb bins and eyes in bags of brains to make me, at least, glad that I never intend to die.

a peepee tipi


iamcoop

Quote from: Keebleman on February 15, 2018, 11:42:27 PM
And then there's Eric Jager's The Last Duel which tells the story of the last ever judicial duel in France.  It took place in the 14th century but the historical record is remarkably well preserved.  One knight accused another of raping his wife; the accusation was denied.  The two men were to fight to the death, God would ensure that the righteous party would be victorious.  Just to make the stakes that little bit higher, if the accusing knight were to lose, his wife, as she had sworn that the accusation of rape was true, would be burnt at the stake for perjury.

Scorsese has the rights to the book and you can see why it would appeal, because not only is the story innately dramatic to the highest degree, but the description of the duel is incredibly detailed, extremely gory and - to make it even better from a cinematic point of view - even though there were literally thousands of spectators, they were ordered under pain of death to be silent while the fight was in progress.

This sounds really interesting - thanks for the recommendation!

Hobo With A Shit Pun

Erik Larson's The Devil In The White City tells the story both of the Chicago World's fair of 1893 and the serial killer H H Holmes, as interwoven popcultural events. Strangely, it's from the former strand that I came away with prized facts that I remember: That they held a competition to beat the Eiffel tower, and Eiffel entered with the design of an even bigger tower (losing out to Mr Ferris, and his wheel), and that the musical cue for "vaguely middle-east/North African" that goes "da da da da da, da da da-da da-da da" (y'know, that one) was composed for the Algerian Village exhibit.

marquis_de_sad

Quote from: Hobo With A Shit Pun on February 16, 2018, 02:04:08 PM
the musical cue for "vaguely middle-east/North African" that goes "da da da da da, da da da-da da-da da" (y'know, that one) was composed for the Algerian Village exhibit.

Got a youtube link? Can't think of which tune you mean.

Cuellar

Quote from: Keebleman on February 15, 2018, 11:32:22 PM
Batavia's Graveyard by Mike Dash.  An account of the aftermath of a sixteenth century shipwreck in the Indian Ocean, where the man who assumed responsibility for - and command of - the two hundred or so survivors who had washed up on a few small islands instigated a regime of such hideous, random and almost entirely gratuitous brutality against men, women and children that it's surprising the story isn't better known.  (It may well be in Holland, as it was a Dutch ship.)

This sounds great and I intend to buy it. Thanks!


Possibly not quite gruesome enough, but the Surgeon of Crowthorne (by Simon Winchester) sprang to mind.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surgeon_of_Crowthorne  It's very well-written; if you haven't read it, it's about an American surgeon who was committed to Broadmoor in the 1870s after killing someone.  Not only was he a prolific contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary - the editor of which was quite unaware that he was in an institution for many years - but also found time to cut off his own penis.  A man of many talents. 

studpuppet

A couple of Gordon Burn books: Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son (on the Yorkshire Ripper) and Happy Like Murders (the Wests).

Also Forty Years Of Murder by Prof. Keith Simpson - it's more forensics than gruesomeness, but I seem to remember one chapter entitled 'Raped By A Bicycle', which even reading as a male had me smarting.



iamcoop

Quote from: studpuppet on February 16, 2018, 07:13:17 PM
A couple of Gordon Burn books: Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son (on the Yorkshire Ripper) and Happy Like Murders (the Wests).

Also Forty Years Of Murder by Prof. Keith Simpson - it's more forensics than gruesomeness, but I seem to remember one chapter entitled 'Raped By A Bicycle', which even reading as a male had me smarting.

I have SHSS and it's excellent so I'll be sure to check out Happy Like Murders.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Hobo With A Shit Pun on February 16, 2018, 02:04:08 PM
Erik Larson's The Devil In The White City tells the story both of the Chicago World's fair of 1893 and the serial killer H H Holmes, as interwoven popcultural events. Strangely, it's from the former strand that I came away with prized facts that I remember: That they held a competition to beat the Eiffel tower, and Eiffel entered with the design of an even bigger tower (losing out to Mr Ferris, and his wheel), and that the musical cue for "vaguely middle-east/North African" that goes "da da da da da, da da da-da da-da da" (y'know, that one) was composed for the Algerian Village exhibit.

This is a fantastic book, and like a lot of people I probably went in on it because of the HH Holmes stuff but ended up finding the Worlds Fair stuff really quite captivating and by the end of it I think I was more interested in that than the Holmes stuff. I know someone who was only interested in the Holmes stuff so skipped the Fair chapters entirely and I think they really did themselves over there.

zomgmouse

I'm currently midway through 10 Rillington Place and it's excellent. The level of detail and analysis is phenomenal and utterly captivating.


newbridge

The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Salisbury is a great account of what is reasonably described in its blurb as "one of the most gruesome episodes of World War II." The Nazis blockaded Leningrad for nearly 900 days and starved most of the population to death, resulting in a few million deaths from starvation or bombardment, reports of cannibalism, and generally a fun time for all. There may be better books about it, this one is pretty old, but it was good when I read it.

From Wikipedia, an NKVD report from the time outlines "thirteen cases which range from a mother smothering her eighteen-month-old to feed her three older children to a plumber killing his wife to feed his sons and nieces."


Icehaven

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a main forerunner of this type of stuff and a brilliant read too.

Brundle-Fly

I've only read the first book. Grim.

The titles did make darkly chuckle as it reminds me of Leonard Nimoy's autobiographies, I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock.



nedthemumbler

On the Vietnam shout, Dispatches by Micheal Herr is pretty incredible.

iamcoop

Lords of Chaos is a very interesting (albeit pretty sensationalised) account of the early 90s Norwegian Black metal scene. Church burnings, petty jealousy, some frankly ridiculous photos and loads and loads of murder. You don't need to be a fan of music to get something out of it (in fact I'd argue it would be a more entertaining read if you were coming at it from a non fan point of view.)

It also covers a lot of the religious history of Scandinavia in an attempt to understand the motives behind a lot of the shenanigans that took place.

It gets let down by an over reliance on interviews with a lot of the key players that seem overly keen to talk a lot of hyperbole and rubbish in attempts overly sensationalise what was a pretty nasty chain of events. One of the authors also seems pretty questionable in his beliefs in the whole thing as well.  If you can get a copy cheaply I recommend. Quite fun to dip in and out of.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Chaos_(book)

jobotic

This probably doesn't count as it's a novel, but I believe that most of the events (and a lot of the characters) are factually based: Mario Vargas Llosa - Feast of the Goat. It tells the story of the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic and the bloody aftermath when his arsehole son Ramfis got his revenge on most of the conspirators.

I'd like to read a decent non-fiction account if anyone knows of one. Johnny Abbes, Trujillo's security advisor (who later did the same for Papa Doc Duvalier) is a monstrous figure - can imagine him in the American Tabloid novels.