If you read Van Heller's Loins of Amon or Roman Orgy, you'll know what to expect from The Whip, The Rack and The Sword. The book is loaded with historical material, but more interesting is its extraordinarily vivid evocation of the brutal, immoral mood of Imperial Rome. The society that thrived on the buying and selling of slaves and condoned-nay, revelled in - their punishment and misuse, is forcefully recreated here by Kenneth Harding, unquestionably America's leading authority on flagellation in both its disciplinary and sexual aspects.