The mammoth book of murder - Colin Wilson

At the dawn of the second millennium, Colin Wilson offers a fascinating and often shocking view of mankind's violent history spanning some two thousand years, from the 'games' of ancient times to modern-day serial killers.
Starting with the horrifying entertainments of Ancient Rome, the author moves through the centuries illuminating such infamous figures as Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, Gilles de Rais, Countess Elizabeth Bathory and the Marquis de Sade. Jacobean witch hunts, the gaslit Victorian underworld of Jack the Ripper and the gangland killings of the Jazz Age lead up to the serial killers of the modern day, among them Fred West, Jeffry Dahmer, the Russian Chikatilo as well as gruesome cannibal killers, random spree gunmen and the growing phenomenon of murder and the occult.