The subtitle for Gory & Gruesome History (Raincoast, $23.95) says it all. The horrible truth about illness, punishment, disaster -- and death! Jim Hatfield's juicier morsels, along with his cartoon-style illustrations, reveal that an old Roman test for death was to chop off a finger to see if it bled. In 1919 in Boston, 21 people were killed when a storage tank burst and sent millions of liters of black treacle flowing through the streets. Margarine was originally made of beef fat, milk and minced cow's udders. 0-7496-3120-1

[BCBW SUMMER 1999]