I was disappointed with The Grand Inquisitor's Manual – in an effort to connect the atrocities of history with more modern events, author Jonathan Kirsch overreaches with his thesis (and subtitle) "terror in the name of God."

While the book is generally readable, it is incredibly repetitive. For example, Kirsch points out that the Roman Catholic Church still has an Inquisition "department" that's been renamed; he mentions it four times in ten pages, and reminds us of it at various times throughout the rest of the book. He also tends to use the works of a handful of scholars but only rarely does he go straight to the primary sources. It's fine as a general overview for someone who doesn't want to delve into hundreds of footnotes.

The last two chapters try to present the Inquisition as a still-present underlying current in modern society. He points out Nazi Germany and the Stalinist purges. He also offers as examples the Salem witch hunts, the McCarthy communist scare, and modern methods of "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on prisoners of the "war on terror." Of these, only the Salem incidents could be called "terror in the name of God," but it's not on quite the same scale as the thousands killed during the Inquisition. (Using the Taliban as a modern example might have fit slightly better, although currently their reach is more limited than the continent-spanning Inquisition.)

This would have been a far better overview of the Inquisition without those final chapters. Alternatively, Kirsch should have shortened the Inquisition chapters to just set the stage, and then argued about how often groups (countries or organizations) target and demonize those who don't share one's views. It's easy to think that the Inquisition is some far-flung historical event that could never happen again, but after reading this book, you'll be seeing an inquisition around every corner.

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LT Haiku:

"Think the way we do!"
underlies worry that past
may be here again. ( )

It was just a coincidence that I started reading this book the first day of a conference I attended where the first speaker was explaining why we need theocracy, then disingenuously explained that he didn't know what would be done with the non-Christians. Perhaps he should read this book. The Inquisitions are what has been done in the past with not only non-Christians but with wrong Christians - in other words, Christians who failed to see the world through the explicit dogma of the church. While everyone thinks about the Spanish Inquisition, this was only one small part of the entire Inquisition machinery that started outside of Spain and at an earlier time. The main thing about the Spanish Inquisition is that it was the first time the church had claimed jurisdiction over other religious traditions. This is a well-written, well-researched, very readable book on the history of the Inquisition, continuing to the modern era, where the author explains how the techniques, tools, and mind set of the Inquisition continued into Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and even into 21st century America. Read this book if you think the theocrats might have a point about needing to mix their church with your state; it will give you some heads up on what will happen to those outside the dominant paradigm - or even to those deemed insufficiently inside or incorrect in their thoughts. ( )

The Inquisition of the Middle Ages, the Spanish Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition provided for centuries of terror, torture and well documented strategies in annihilating mostly innocent people for heresy. While the original objective of the Inquisition was the Roman Catholic Church's fear of losing control over the thoughts and beliefs of Christians, the inquisitors, the Church and later, the kings of Spain and France, turned it into a strategy in profiteering and later, genocide.

Cloaking themselves with a language that played down what they were actually doing to the victims, the Inquisition laid the path for modern inquisitions such as the Nazi regime, the Soviet Gulag, the witch trials, the Japanese American internment, the McCarthy anti-Communist hunt and the American military proceedings in Abu Ghraib.

It's horrifyingly interesting to read how the Inquisition made heretics wear large fabric crosses on their garments to humiliate them, even if they had been released from trial, and that this practice was used by Hitler with the Jews in WWII. The practice of getting neighbors, friends, and relatives to spy on and denounce each other, and the purpose of a trial to get victims to name others were used also by the Nazis and McCarthy's committee. Even the Inquisition's practice of spreading imagined depravities against the targeted victims continues to be used today to build disgust and fear against them.

Even the tools of the Inquisition have not been destroyed or left to gather dust in some dark museum. Some of them have been used through the centuries and some, such as the water torture, now renamed waterboarding, and the humiliating dunces cap, are being used today.

It was appalling to see how easily it's been to press the panic button in people, and once pressed, how very quickly it can be to spread fear, distrust and the belief that inhumane treatment of those we fear is acceptable, because they are now seen as being less than human. Once the panic button is pressed, how ready are we to relinquish common sense, embrace the flimsiest of excuses to legalize the torture and incarceration of our imagined enemies.

Covering some very distasteful details of mainly the Inquisitions' strategies and practices, this is, however, a really good documentation of man's need to control that which he fears. It certainly made me realize that not only does history repeat itself, but that there are some who will actually try to justify evil actions. ( )

Portrays the full extent of the Inquisition, both in terms of historical scope in Europe and in America. ( )