For millennia, mankind has devised ingenious and diabolical means of inflicting pain on fellow human beings. This deplorable but seemingly universal trait has eaten away at mankind's very claim to civilisation. Despite how repugnant the practice of torture appears to us today, for at least 3,000 years it formed part of most legal codes throughout Europe and the Far East. The Big Book of Pain is an exploration of the systematic use throughout the ages of various me...

If you could go back in time and ask any historical figure for advice on how best to manage your business or staff, who would it be? Benjamin Franklin, Niccolo Machiavelli, Elizabeth I or Helena Rubinstein? Well, they are all here, and more ... Featuring nearly 20 figures from across two and a half millennia, this fascinating book brings you peerless advice on, and insights into, the essential nature of leadership and the human condition. Presented in their own words - thr...

Cannibalism is unquestionably one of the oldest and deepest-seated taboos. Even in an age when almost nothing is sacred, religious, moral and social prohibitions surround the topic. But even as our minds recoil at the mention of actual acts of cannibalism there is some dark fascination with the subject. Appalling crimes of humans eating other humans are blown into major news stories and gory movies: both Hitchcock's Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ...

'Highly enjoyable' – Ancestors'A fascinating recreation of the Tower as the life-and-death blood of the nation' – Oxford TimesServing as both a palace and a prison, the Tower of London has been at the centre of more intrigue, terror and crucial turning points in history than any other site in England. Diehl and Donnelly take us behind the grim, grey walls which circumscribe England's grea...

• Full-color, revised edition• Plans for weddings, holiday parties, and Renaissance fairs• Ideas for properly decorating the dining hall• Lyrics and music for songs and dances• Recipes for food and drink• Patterns for period costumes• Games and plays

Legendary figures of the Golden Age of PiracyStories of great battlesGlossary of pirate ships and nautical itemsFrom the earliest days of the Colonial era until the end of the Revolution, New Jersey''s coastline swarmed with pirates who sailed back and forth across the Atlantic in search of plunder and rich prizes. Full of high adventure, dastardly deeds, and newly uncovered lore, this book features such famous characters as Capt. William Kidd and the notoriously cru...

High adventure, dastardly deeds, and newly uncovered lore.

High adventure, dastardly deeds, and newly uncovered lore.

36 projects for historic benches, chairs, tables, cupboards, chests, shelves, beds, and doors, all done with simple woodworking tools.

The Tudors were an odd bunch, even weirder than their subjects, perhaps. When they weren't beheading wives and enemies they were threatening to, or going around earning themselves nicknames like 'Bloody Mary' and 'The 9 Day Queen'. 'The Tudors: A Very Peculiar History; tells the story of the Tudor monarchs, their castles, their lives and their subjects in a time when it was fashionable to slash up your clothes for that 'fresh from battle' look. The book details each monarch's reign and cas...

'The sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to whence you came, and from there to a place of lawful execution, there to be hanged by the neck till you be dead, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul'-Extract from judicial death sentence, England c.16th-20th centurySocieties throughout history have adopted many and varied methods of meting out the ultimate sanction of capital punishment to their more unruly mem...

The streets of London flourish like possibly no other city on earth, with stories from its rich history, stories of death - fire - disease, of riots, and grisly murders, but also of tales of happiness, determination and success. Behind every story and every street however, are the people who lived, worked, played, and even murdered there.Everyone thinks they know of the legend of Dick Turpin, the gentleman highway robber, but Turpin was far from being the gentleman he was portrayed...