Torture

Persuasion at its Most Gruesome

  • Imprint: Summersdale
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • Price: £9.99
  • Publication date: 14 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9781849538800

About the book

How did it feel to be faced with the prospect of being branded, pressed to death or boiled alive in oil?

In this classic account of the history of torture, Geoffrey Abbott guides us through some of the worst torture methods known to man, from chilli powder punishment to needles under nails, with a style both chilling and full of dark humour. Prepare to be shocked to the core with this gruesome collection of tormenting tales that span from the early days of the Normans right up to the late nineteenth century.

About the author

Geoffrey Abbott served in the RAF for 35 years before becoming a ‘Beefeater’ at the Tower of London. He wrote more than 24 books on torture and execution, appeared in numerous TV documentaries as consultant or executioner and, by invitation, wrote entries on torture and execution for the Encyclopedia Britannica. He once stood on the ‘drop’ trapdoors in the execution chamber of Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow (as a fact-finding author, not a convicted criminal!) and also experienced having a noose placed around his neck by a professional hangman – the late Sydney Dernley, a man endowed with a great, if macabre, sense of humour!