Anatole Deibler, France’s official executioner from 1899 to 1939, once remarked, “To kill in the name of one’s country is a glorious feat, one rewarded by medals. But to kill in the name of the law, that is a gruesome, horrible function, rewarded with scorn, contempt, and loathing.” Deibler not only knew his craft—he took part in 395 executions and trained his favorite nephew to follow in his footsteps—he also knew that modern society needed and even wanted torturers and executioners, but that it did not like to talk about them. READ MORE >>
I Would Prefer Not To—What Paperwork Means in Modern Life
Accounted For: The Origins of Modern Finance
History as Fantasy
Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and NationsBy Norman Davies (Viking, 830 pp., $40) READ MORE >>
Note This
Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information Before the Modern Age By Ann M. Blair (Yale University Press, 397 pp., $45) READ MORE >>
