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Thirty years have elapsed since I wrote the preface to the first edition of Madmen of History. Although I believe my contentions at that time accurately reflected the nature of the individuals treated in the book, I have now reached the conclusion that madness today is rather more group-oriented than individualistic. To be sure, many of our present-day “madmen” still exhibit features of clinical and legal insanity as they strive by brutal means to accomplish some ideal or political objective and often, in so doing, have greatly affected history. However, the trend is now often to view these deranged persons as part of larger groups that influence them. Outside any relatively “benign” group, such as the traumatized, the clinically insane, the truly victimized, the physically ill, or the economically disadvantaged stand vicious organizations such as Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.

Professional observers of “madness” are today no closer to agreement on a definition than I was in 1975. Can it be pinned down to a “disease” in much the same way we diagnose cancer or even alcoholism? Is madness really little more than a social construct, a way of viewing people who are “different,” mentally “confused,” or temporarily insane? Can religious fanaticism be a cover for outright evil and thereby provide the adherent with a pass for violent actions? Unless and until we find explanations for these issues, the question about the real nature of insanity remains an open one.

The famous 18th-century English physician and President of the Royal College of Physicians William Battie (sometimes Batty—an alternate spelling, not a pun) (1703-1776) has asserted, in his A Treatise on Madness (1758), that madness can be divided into two varieties, original and consequential. The former is incurable—though today certainly treatable; the latter is generally curable. If identifying the two forms were only not such an insuperable problem, proper judicial, humanitarian and preventive measures could be undertaken and such questions could be answered as, for example: Should John Hinckley be released from prison? Is there a “crazy” side to Saddam Hussein that will prevent him from getting a fair trial? If Osama bin Laden is ever captured, will he be treated as a thoroughly rational person and punished accordingly?

A representative list of modern-day madmen might include Timothy McVeigh, the bomber of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995; youthful murderers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and Jeff Weise of the Red Lake, Minnesota, school massacre; Slobodan Milošović, the unrepentant former president of Yugoslavia, incarcerated since 2001 in a U.N. prison in Holland; Kim Jong II, the drab, diminutive but ruthless, god-king-like ruler of North Korea, whose disastrous agricultural and economic policies have caused one of the worlds longest, deadliest famines; Fidel Castro, the nearly immortal despotic head of Cuba; Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind bomber of the World Trade Center; the villainous Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, who, at age 81, threatens to live and iron-hand his country until he is at least 100; the murderous Madrid train bombers; the many suicide bombers, particularly in Israel and Iraq; Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, both named earlier.

Bin Laden’s abhorrence of Americans and Jews is palpable. This arch-terrorist is, in fact, determined to make Americans and Jews taste the same bitterness of humiliation and intellectual decline that Muslims claim to have undergone in the four hundred years since their defeat at the hands of Christians reclaiming their land and of Jews in more recent times who have professedly seized Arab lands and mistreated the people.

Of assassins, would-be assassins, and mass murderers there are also plenty of new ones since those treated in the original edition of this book. Recall Sirhan Sirhan, who murdered Attorney General Robert Kennedy; John Hinckley, President Reagan’s would-be killer, already mentioned; Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981; Yigal Amir, the assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; Hafez Assad, late president of Syria, who had long vowed to chase the Jews into the sea and take over Israel; arch-terrorist Arafat, whose real name was Mohammed Yasser Abdel-Ra’ouf Qudwa Al-Hussaeini; Muslim radical Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker of 9/11. There are, of course, still others, and prominent among them are the masterminds of the fiendish destruction of life and property of September 11, 2001.

Of those in Part III there continues to be an abundance of what somebody once jocularly called my collection of “assorted nuts.” Many are strongly affected by their religion, witness David Koresh of the Branch Davidians, as well as those Muslims willing to take their own lives in order to kill “the infidel” in exchange for an imagined reward in the afterlife. They are not unlike Mishima, who, though giving no thought to heaven, targeted his own self-destruction for political reasons.

Is there a common denominator in madness even though we cannot define the malady? Yes, it is the reach for power. That ingredient can be found in every individual and circumstance we face in this book. It is power for less than benevolent purposes, though often under that cover. The acquisition of too much power invariably corrupts and frequently metamorphoses into madness.

If there is at least a partial solution to the proliferation of madmen in our day and time, it is the international promotion of democracy, and its consequent dilution of power, throughout governments and institutions. Power is based on ego, without which society would founder. But we must redouble our efforts to construct and maintain minds, souls, and spirits that embody moral responsibility. We need regulated egos; madness is not an attractive alternative.

I remind the readers of this new edition that these chapters are segments of real history that can assist in understanding the necessity of spotting, and later bringing to justice, would-be tyrants, assassins, and fanatics. This book is not fiction, just as neither are the ongoing examples of tyrannical behavior, assassination, and fanaticism seen all about us so frequently in these last thirty years.

An understanding of history is insurance against its repetition. We need to ask ourselves who among the upcoming tyrants exhibits traits of, say, Hitler or Robespierre or Alexander VI. Does the spread of permissiveness and scandal in churches today stand in equally frightening contrast to Torquemada’s unchecked inquisitorial zeal? Are terrorists merely assassins on a large scale or also something more along the lines of Quantrill? Are there ways of curbing religious excesses that lead to massive loss of life? There are helpful clues in the mini-biographies of this book to the recognition and control of dangerous behavior in our day.

You may ask: Why are the “madmen” of today not part of this revised edition? First of all, the use of the word “history” in the title precludes accounts of living persons. Secondly, there are cogent reasons for not writing in detail about persons still living, not the least of which is a lack of perspective. But do note the list of budding madmen that I have set down and watch to see how many become enshrined in my next Madmen of History.

Donald D. Hook

July 2005