atrocitology humanity's 100 deadliest achievements

Equally, categorising the Armenian genocide as part of the First World War is likely to create controversy on both sides. Author Matthew White makes the point very clearly that one atrocity being smaller than another atrocity does nothing to reduce its impact, but some will certainly see it that way. Naturally, this is a potentially highly controversial book. You might be misled into thinking they are sketchy, until you discover the 100 pages of notes and other apparatus at the back of the book, many of them quite extensive and going into significant detail not otherwise covered in the text. Some of the sections, especially the earlier historical events, are quite brief. More people died, for example, in the Roman Gladiatorial Games than in Pol Plot's regime in Kampuchea, under Idi Amin and under Saddam Hussein added together, while the famines in British India, albeit over a much longer period, cost more lives than than all of Stalin's victims. As importantly, Atrocitology enables us to put history into a different kind of context from the one we ordinarily absorb. For example, as a matter of public policy, we need to understand whether going to war against Saddam Hussein saved more lives than it cost, or not simply because we may be faced with a similar choice in the future. But the subject is much more important than settling arguments. (The answers are, about 10% of them are, and directly yes but indirectly no). If you've ever opined in a pub that wars are caused by religion, or that Stalin killed more people than Hitler, or been annoyed by the people who do, then this book at the very least will settle those questions.

As importantly, it is never polemical and attempts to present the most balanced picture possible. Although the style is conversational, this book, about the very worst of mankind, is never glib. Atrocitology is an overview account of the 100 worst atrocities in history, supported by an analysis of common factors and a discussion of what constitutes an atrocity and how we should compare the figures for one with the figures for another.

Atrocitology humanity's 100 deadliest achievements