Thugs by Micah D. Halpern

My books seem to be getting more and more about non-fictional things, historical events & figures. Although a good novel can mend a bad day a historical biography can keep me up all night turning the pages waiting for the moment in history where the world stopped. I have just finished reading the book 'Thugs' by Micah D. Halpern, written in 2007 in the United States.

Thugs is basically a brief analyse on the thugs since the time of Alexander the Great to those who still hold power, or did in 2007. His choice is sometimes unforgiving. He put Czar Alexander III and first lady Imelda Marcos in there, which I found quite strange. He can be forgiven however as he also had the most famous tyrants of history, those we love to hate; Henry VIII, Julius Caesar & Ivan IV.

His grammar is at times poor with him miss spelling Vladimir as Valdimir several times. The book is a good brief overview of the most notorious despots in history but not the best source for a scholarly essay.

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