Mannix lays out a brutal, fascinating tour through humanity’s darkest inventions, charting how cultures across history have used pain—ritual, judicial, or outright sadistic—as a tool of power. From ancient punishments and medieval inquisitions to more “civilized” modern refinements, he mixes grisly detail with sharp commentary on the politics and psychology behind each method. It’s grim, compulsively readable nonfiction, revealing not just what people have done to each other, but how easily cruelty becomes tradition. A stark, unsettling dive into the mechanics of suffering.
