Crime down the ages

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 20

Crime down the ages

A Criminal History of Mankind. By Cotin Wilson. Panther paperback, 1985. 702 pp. $14.95 (Reviewed by Ken Strongman) Colin Wilson’s productivity is amazing. He has written about 50 books, many very long, and packed full of information and ideas. He splits himself liberally between fiction and analyses of crime, sex, psychology, parapsychology, philosophy, literature, music and even alcohol. “A Criminal History of Mankind” is Wilson at his best, putting together ideas from psychology, philosophy, criminology, sociology, and history not only to trace patterns of crime through the ages, but also to attempt to explain why crime exists and why it has changed its character from time to time. At one level, this is an extraordinarily thorough book. Almost in passing, in developing the argument, crime is described in great detail from the Greeks through to the Yorkshire Ripper. It is so detailed that at times it seems as though every crime there has ever been is mentioned, or at least exemplified. In enormous sweeps, Wilson has actually produced a new type of historical text that looks at the development of mankind from a perspective that has not been taken often. Vast amounts of material are included, but they rarely become dull. Before embarking on his historical passage, Wilson spends 150 pages or so dealing with the psychology of human violence. In this, he analyses, in his

idiosyncratic way, the interrelationships between dominance will, the “right man” who will never admit to being wrong, self-destruction, psychopathy, sadism, religion, and the relationship between self-consciousness and the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain. In his final chapter he returns again to a consideration of the psychologically-based reasons for criminal acts. Consistent with his usual arguments he explains crime as a way of focusing the will, and achieving personal evolution under certain conditions. In the end though, his thesis implies that had we, as a species, never developed ' self-consciousness, then we might not have developed also the vicious criminality of the modern world. Wilson’s arguments are compelling but the one problem is the usual one with his works. He makes no attempt to refute his own ideas and like a number of writers on the fringes of psychology (such as Lorenz, Ardrey and Morris), he makes selective use of evidence to support his points. . Although this is not the acceptable way of science, nor indeed of any type of intellectual, academic analysis, scientific or not, Wilson’s work is so thorough, erudite and well-thought out that the temptation is to forgive the biases. Many of the ideas are expressed cogently enough to be tested by others, and if they are worthy other theorists can attempt to refute them.