Ounce for ounce as insane as her Roman counterpart, Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar surpassed Caligula' s legendary cruelty a million times over. Beginning in 1828, her 35-year reign was measured in bodies: a million of her own subjects were ritually executed; ten thousand slaves perished in a week. Female Caligula tells the true story of the bizarre court life (which involved guests picking lice from each other' s hair during dinner), a well as the outrageous costumes and extravagances (including living quarters decorated entirely with silver bells) behind Ranavalona' s famously bloody reign. Female Caligula is a must-read for anyone interested in one of the few women who joined history' s rogues' gallery of insane despots.

Keith Laidler, PhD (County Durham, UK), is the author of the bestselling The Last Empress (paper: 0-470-87155-5; cloth: 0-470-84880-4).