Atrocitology by Matthew White

The premise of Atrocitology seems morbid, at the very least. Author Matthew White has compiled a list of humanity’s 100 deadliest ‘achievements’, ranked by death toll. But he has a reason: he runs a website called the Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century, within which the atrocity statistics were one of the most widely viewed and discussed sections.

So this book sets out a list of atrocities by statistics, and the author discusses his methods of compiling them at every opportunity. For example, number one on the list is the Second World War, with around 66 million killed. Immediately, there will be dispute about that total. But the author consistently uses the same methods for calculating the death tolls, looking first at financial records, because whilst governments may wish to exaggerate or minimise death tolls, tax records and the like can’t function with basic efficiency without proper figures. Debatable, true, but it is one of the better principles for universal application. The more this book is consulted, the more this focus on numbers proves an significant shift away from a focus on empires or rulers. It’s a fascinating read, hard going by necessity, but extremely thought provoking on every page.