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Title: The Evil 100 by Martin Gilman Wilcott, Stephen J. Spignesi, Martin Gilman Wolcott ISBN: 0-8065-2269-0 Publisher: Citadel Trade Pub. Date: June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: Good, at times lurid, but not comprehensive
Comment: The editors of this book have put together a list of 100 undoubtedly evil people (mostly men, but including poisoner Catherine de Medici and real-life vampiress Elizabeth Bathory as well as one or two other women)distilled down to 2-3-page summaries covering their lives, their actions, and usually a little bit about their motivations, though frequently these are facile one-sentence comments such as "infidels cannot be allowed to live." Most notable are the frequently lurid descriptions of the actions of these people, some of which, such as the uncensored reprinting of mocking (and graphic)letters murderer Albert Fish wrote to the parents of two children he had killed, cooked, and eaten, are not for the easily sickened. Though body count and continuing influence are important factors, the editors also use a somewhat nebulous "glee factor" and the depravity of a subject's action when determining rank.

The usual suspects among this world's tyrants and democides top the list (Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and so on, as well as terrorist bin Laden and a group listing for the tyrannical Taliban), but after about 30 it quickly shifts to a list of mass murderers, including the well-known (Dahmer, Bundy, Manson, Gacy, Berkowitz), the not-as-well-known (satanist Richard Ramirez, white-hater Mark Essex), and the unknown (The Boston Strangler, Jack the Ripper). Places on the list also go to Columbine shooters Harris and Klebold and a general listing for computer virus writers.

Some villains of the medieval period rank surprisingly highly, Genghis Khan, Attila, and Ivan the Terrible all appear among the top 10. Though Khan, who conquered most of Asia in a very brutal manner, probably deserves to be there, and perhaps Ivan, who set a pattern for repressive government in Russia also does, but Attila, brutal as he was, was largely unrealized possibility, for after his defeat at Chalons the odds of his dominating Europe vanished if ever they were there, and I question the high ranking of such an ephemeral person. Likewise highly rated is Basil the Bulgar-slayer, who blinded 14,000 captured prisoners, but was no more a tyrant than most to sit on the throne in Constantinople. One crime, it appears, can sometimes vault one very high on the list, though it may not have tremendous influence. Enver Pasha and Talat Pasha, who engineered the genocide of the Armenians in the Turkish Empire, share a high spot on the list, certainly merited, although none of the sultans appear.

That leads to the question of whether the editors of this book cast their nets wide enough, and turned too quickly to lurid and perhaps topical 20th century murderers to fill out the list. Though no one can deny what the Columbine shooters did was both insane and evil, they were essentially bullied kids who hit back much too hard. No one can also deny that virus writers cause many problems, but almost never death. Yet both are mentioned. Castro, however, is not, nor are Nicolae Ceacescu, Enver Hoxha, nor almost any of the other Cold War dictators, many of whom were even worse to their own people than any Communist ruler save Hitler and Mao. Chile's Pinochet makes the list, but not his counterpart in Argentina Juan Peron, of the days of helicopters departing full over the seas and returning empty and other "disappearances." Saddam Hussein makes the list, but not his opponent Ayatollah Khomeini, who sent Iranian teenagers in human-wave attacks against Iraqi tanks and bombers. Mithridates of Pontus, who murdered 100,000 Romans, and Francisco Lopez, who led the nation of Paraguay into a triple-front war in the 1800s that reduced his own population from 1,400,000 to 229,000 and killed 1,000,000 Argentinians, Brazilians, and Uruguayans, all in the name of megalomania, get no mention at all. Likewise, terrorists Yasser Arafat, Jomo Kenyatta, who led the vicious Mau Mau movement in Kenya, and Roger Casement, father of the IRA, get no mention at all.

In sum, although the book paints a very good picture of 100 evil people, it is by no means complete or comprehensive.