Bloody History of London: Crime, Corruption and Murder

The city of London, England has been occupied for over 2000 years. With a history that long, it is no surprise there are so many bloody incidents through those years. Celtic Queen Boudica led her army of 20,000 against the Romans beginning in 61 AD and grew her army to 80,000 before being defeated, flogged, and killed. Royalty through the years were often executed in terrible ways or did a lot of executing. Edward II was purportedly killed with a hot poker. And how many wives did Henry VIII have executed? Then there were the serial killers. Everyone knows of Jack the Ripper, but who knows of Amelia Dyer? She was thought to have killed more than 400 babies! Of course there were riots, fires, wars, and more.

Author John D. Wright has done some wonderful research and collected most interesting stories. His writing is top-notch and accompanied by photographs, drawings, clippings, and more. There is not a dull page anywhere in this non-fiction tome. History fans and true-crime fans, at least those who are not very squeamish, will love this book. It’s a terrific compendium of all the bad a city can hold.