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Cover art: Torture of the English Prisoners at Amboyna in 1622.
Blurb: “However civilized it appears, almost every human society in recorded history has used pain to exert power over its members. The justifications vary. For
the Aztecs torture was part of religious ritual, for the witch-hunters of Christian Europe it was a form of punishment.
Even in our own times, the inhumanity of man continues.
In this grimly fascinating book, George Ryley Scott chronicles the use of torture over a period of more than two thousand years. Through wide ranging research, and with over fifty illustrations, he builds up a picture of the techniques used, the extent to which they were practised, and the underlying psychology of the act.
Scott's intention is not to titillate but to inform. He argues that it is only by recognising the cruelties inflicted in the past that we can hope to eliminate them in the future.