Those who live by the sword don't necessarily die by it, according to "The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011). In it, Matthew White tracked the fates of the leaders most responsible for the 100-deadliest human events. A majority, he found, lived out their natural life spans in peace.

There is an important distinction to be made between a great book and a great gift book. Last month, the curious minds at W.W. Norton published a fascinating nonfiction keeper called The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Guide to History's 100 Worst Atrocities. In its own thoughtful way, it is genius. But you couldn't, in good faith, put a bow on it.

David Shrigley, Matthew White, and Stephen Greenblatt

Richard White op-ed: Since we are bringing back so much of the Gilded Age — corruption, shocking inequities of wealth and financial scandal — it would be helpful to bring back the era’s artful language. It could help clarify things. The Gilded Age, after all, invented the corporate lobby.

California's proposed high-speed rail project is a costly boondoggle.

With its stylishly lurid graphics and goofy asides, “The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History’s 100 Worst Atrocities” may seem more like an aspiring classic of macabre bathroom reading than a serious effort. But Mr. White’s book, published this week by W. W. Norton, arrives trailing some impressive scholarly affirmation, including a ringing foreword from the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker.

Image from the Sunday Review of the NYT showing Deaths from International Wars

An amusing (really) account of the murderous ways of despots, slave traders, blundering royals, gladiators and assorted hordes.

Op-ed by Richard White. We seem to be channeling the Gilded Age.

according to the most recent compendium of history’s worst atrocities, Matthew White’s Great Big Book of Horrible Things (Norton, 2011), religions have been responsible for 13 of the 100 worst mass killings in history, resulting in 47 million deaths. Communism has been responsible for six mass killings and 67 million deaths. If defenders of religion want to crow, “We were only responsible for 47 million murders—communism was worse!,” they are welcome to do so, but it is not an impressive argument.

While White tells many horrifying and entertaining stories about corruption and incompetence, his overarching argument is primarily about the fundamental characteristics of capitalism and modernity. For White, “modernity” has nothing to do with bureaucratic rationality and efficiency. Rather, in the transcontinentals he sees a blundering form of corporate capital that reorganized everyone’s lives “but did so unevenly and chaotically,” such as by rendering distances “radically unstable” as shipping costs became “an ever-changing realm of mystery”—even for the corporations whose “whims” they seemed to reflect. Modernity was “a world dominated by large, inept, but powerful failures whose influence could not be avoided,” and it remains “as much a product of disaster as of success; both can bring the new into being.”

The world's first transcontinental railroads were built in America after the Civil War. Considered one of the greatest technological feats of the 19th century, the transcontinentals transformed American life. But historian Richard White says this happened as much by their failure as success. He draws on twelve years of research to cut through myths about the opening of the west and the evolution of corporations. We talk about the economic, social, political and environmental consequences, and he draws parallels with the economic crises we face today.

Richard White talks about how the transcontinental railroads transformed the nation in the late 19th century. His book Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America focuses on railroads as the first corporate behemoths, and how their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating panics in the U.S. economy. The railroads also remade the landscape of the West and opened new worlds of work and ways of life.

This recipe is adapted from The Summer Shack Cookbook by Jasper White (W.W. Norton, 2007). White says these serve 4 to 6 as an appetizer. The truth is, after making this recipe I actually ate the entire quantity myself in one frenzied sitting, and I wasn't even winded, although at least I didn't finish off the whole stick's worth of butter sauce. Let's compromise and say it serves two as a main dish. We'll assume you're reasonable people who eat nice salads and maybe some potato salad with your clams.

There's no shortage of intrepid tales about the advent of the American rail system: starting in the 1860s, rail companies built one track after another, across mountains and deserts, from the Midwest to California. Brilliant engineering combined with the muscle of immigrant labor unified America — or so the story goes.

But that's not the story Richard White tells in his new book Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. White describes how the rail corporations shaped the U.S. economy as we know it today — and not entirely for the better.

Richard White is a Thorstein Veblen for our times. Veblen (1857-1929) was an academic economist too radical for his own day. He and White share contempt for the business community; it was Veblen who invented such phrases as "conspicuous consumption" and "businesslike mismanagement." There are differences: White is a more engaging writer than Veblen, less given to windy circumlocutions, and he grounds his charges in deep and thorough research. Dripping with venom, this book is nonetheless a model of the historian's use of primary sources, narrative skill, and insightful reinterpretation of the Gilded Age. It is easily the best business history I have read, and it carries a weight of argument and evidence that cannot be denied. Another difference is that Veblen was dismissed by Stanford University for his "immorality" and unpopular views, while White is one of that university's most honored professors.

Op-Ed by Richard White.

An Interview with Jenny White

Alexander McCall Smith chooses SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD. William Dalrymple chooses IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS. Christopher Brookmyre chooses THE ABYSSINIAN PROOF. Janice Galloway chooses MURIEL SPARK: THE BIOGRAPHY.

Turkish Hour TV filmed the book party for Jenny White's "The Sultan's Seal". The video includes interviews with Jenny White, Amy Cherry (Norton Executive Editor and Vice President), and members of the audience.

THE SUMMER SHACK COOKBOOK: A chef provides excellent New England-tinged advice on cooking with sea creatures, and on morning baking. Recommended recipe: blueberry pie.