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The Subject of Murder: Gender, Exceptionality, and the Modern Killer
By Lisa Downing. 2013
The subject of murder has always held a particular fascination for us. But, since at least the nineteenth century, we…
have seen the murderer as different from the ordinary citizenOCoa special individual, like an artist or a genius, who exists apart from the moral majority, a sovereign self who obeys only the destructive urge, sometimes even commanding cult followings. In contemporary culture, we continue to believe that there is something different and exceptional about killers, but is the murderer such a distinctive type? Are they degenerate beasts or supermen as they have been depicted on the page and the screen? Or are murderers something else entirely?In "The Subject of Murder," Lisa Downing explores the ways in which the figure of the murderer has been made to signify a specific kind of social subject in Western modernity. Drawing on the work of Foucault in her studies of the lives and crimes of killers in Europe and the United States, Downing interrogates the meanings of media and texts produced about and by murderers. Upending the usual treatment of murderers as isolated figures or exceptional individuals, Downing argues that they are ordinary people, reflections of our society at the intersections of gender, agency, desire, and violence.Hockey Night Fever
By Stephen Cole. 2015
A wildly evocative chronicle of the decade that changed hockey forever. "Lady Byng died in Boston" read a sign in…
the Garden arena in 1970, a cheery dismissal of the NHL trophy awarded the game's most gentlemanly player. A new age of hockey was dawning. For 30 years, hockey was an orderly and (relatively) well-behaved sport. There was one Commissioner, six teams and five colours--red, white, black, blue and yellow. Oh, and one nationality. Until 1967, every player, coach, referee and GM in the NHL had been a Canadian. And then came NHL expansion, the founding of the WHA, and garish new uniforms. The Seventies had arrived: the era that gave us not only disco, polyester suits, lava lamps and mullets but also the movie Slap Shot and the arrest of ten NHL players for on-ice mayhem. But it also gave us hockey's greatest encounter (the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit), its most splendid team, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, and the most aesthetically satisfying game--the three-all tie on New Year's Eve, 1975, between the Canadiens and the Soviet Red Army. Modern hockey was born in the sport's wild, sensational, sometimes ugly Seventies growth spurt. The forces at play in the decade's battle for hockey supremacy--dazzling speed vs. brute force--are now, for better or worse, part of hockey's DNA. This book is a welcome reappraisal of the ten years that changed how the sport was played and experienced. Informed by first-hand interviews with players and game officials, and sprinkled with sidebars on the art and artifacts that defined Seventies hockey, the book brings dramatically alive hockey's most eventful, exciting decade.The Riverton Rifle
By Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke. 1976
"It all comes down to making the right life choices," says the NHL's legendary Reggie Leach, and this intimate biography…
lays bare the decisions that led him to become one of the best snipers in hockey history. Nicknamed the Riverton Rifle for his thrilling speed and deadly shooting skills, Leach overcame a childhood marked by poverty and racism to rise through the NHL, playing for the Stanley Cup-winning 1975 Philadelphia Flyers. Through Leach's own recollections, The Riverton Rifle traces his trajectory from humble beginnings to NHL stardom, and follows the dramatic fall caused by his drinking problem and his subsequent rebirth as a successful businessman, family man, and pillar of the Aboriginal community.We, the People: Insights of an activist judge
By Albie Sachs. 2016
This stirring collection of essays and talks by activist and former judge Albie Sachs is the culmination of more than…
25 years of thought about constitution-making and non-racialism. Following the Constitutional Court?s landmark Nkandla ruling in March 2016, it serves as a powerful reminder of the tenets of the Constitution, the rule of law and the continuous struggle to uphold democratic rights and freedoms. We, the People offers an intimate insider?s view of South Africa?s Constitution by a writer who has been deeply entrenched in its historical journey from the depths of apartheid right up to the politically contested present. As a second-year law student at the University of Cape Town, Sachs took part in the Defiance Campaign and went on to attend the Congress of the People in Kliptown, where the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955. Three decades later, shortly after the bomb attack in Maputo that cost him his arm and the sight in one eye, he was called on by the Constitutional Committee of the African National Congress to co-draft (with Kader Asmal) the first outline of a Bill of Rights for a new democratic South Africa. In 1994, he was appointed by Nelson Mandela to the Constitutional Court, where he served as a judge until 2009. We, the People contains some of Sachs? most memorable public talks and writings, in which he takes us back to the broad-based popular foundations of the Constitution in the Freedom Charter. He picks up on Oliver Tambo?s original vision of a non-racial future for South Africa, rather than one based on institutionalised power-sharing between the races. He explores the tension between perfectability and corruptibility, hope and mistrust, which lies at the centre of all constitutions. Sachs discusses the enforcement of social and economic rights, and contemplates the building of the Constitutional Court in the heart of the Old Fort Prison as a mechanism for reconciling the past and the future. Subjective experience and objective analysis interact powerfully in a personalised narrative that reasserts the value of constitutionality not just for South Africans, but for people striving to advance human dignity, equality and freedom across the world today.My Prison Without Bars
By Pete Rose, Rick Hill. 2004
Pete Rose holds more Major League Baseball records than any other player in history He stands alone as baseball…
s hit king having shattered the previously unbreakable record held by Ty Cobb He is a blue-collar hero with the kind of old-fashioned work ethic that turned great talent into legendary accomplishments Pete Rose is also a lifelong gambler and a sufferer of oppositional defiant disorder For the past 13 years he has been banned from baseball and barred from his rightful place in the Hall of Fame-- accused of violating MLB s one taboo Rule 21 states that no one associated with baseball shall ever gamble on the game The punishment is no less than a permanent barring from baseball and exclusion from the Hall of Fame Pete Rose has lived in the shadow of his exile He has denied betting on the game that he loves He has been shunned by MLB investigated by the IRS and served time for tax charges in the U S Penitentiary in Marion Illinois But he s coming back Pete Rose has never been forgotten by the fans who loved him throughout his 24-year career The men he played with have stood by him In this his first book since his very public fall from grace Pete Rose speaks with great candor about all the outstanding questions that have kept him firmly in the public eye He discloses what life was like behind bars discusses the turbulent years of his exile and gives a vivid picture of his early life and baseball career He also confronts his demons tackling the ugly truths about his gambling and his behavior My Prison Without Bars is Pete Rose s full accounting of his life No one thinks he s perfect He has made mistakes--big ones And he is finally ready to admit themLas esposas del cártel
By Mia Flores, Olivia Flores. 2017
La historia real de los gemelos Flores quienes derrumbaron al Chapo Guzm n Vivieron en la riqueza…
m s exuberante y en el terror m s absoluto Forjaron familias de ensue o y envenenaron a miles de personas Construyeron un imperio binacional y luego lo atravesaron corriendo por sus vidas Fueron socios de Joaqu n el Chapo Guzm n y se convirtieron en la pieza clave para que cayera La historia de los gemelos Peter y Junior Flores resume todo lo alucinante y b rbaro del narcotr fico En esta obra sus esposas relatan con un detalle inaudito la carrera criminal de sus maridos desde sus or genes en Chicago cuentan los episodios m s ins litos de sus vidas en com n delinean las redes de corrupci n que campean a ambos lados del r o Bravo y explican por qu sus compa eros decidieron colaborar con el gobierno estadounidense justo cuando gozaban de un poder gigantesco Aunque nosotras los conoc amos -y conocemos- como los hombres dulces cari osos y corteses que nos trataron siempre con amor y respeto la ley los tiene como los narcoinformantes m s importantes de la historia de Estados Unidos -De la introducci nThe Big Red Fox: The Incredible Story of Norman "Red" Ryan, Canada's Most Notorious Criminal
By Peter Mcsherry. 1999
Short-listed for the 2000 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Non-Fiction Norman "Red" Ryan was a notorious bank robber, safecracker, and…
killer. He escaped from Kingston Penitentiary twice - first by force, and then years later by gulling the credulous into believing that he was "reformed." The dupes of Ryan’s second emancipation included the prison’s Roman Catholic chaplain, several nationally prominent citizens, the country’s largest newspaper, and, ultimately, R.B. Bennett, the prime minister of Canada, who made the mistake of arranging a "political parole" for Ryan. Six people - three of them innocent victims - died as a result of Red Ryan’s freedom. Dubbed "the Jesse James of Canada" and "Canada’s most notorious criminal," Ryan had compiled a record of nineteen convictions for crimes of theft and violence, and had been in nine shooting affrays with police and citizens. He was a "lifer" in an era when "life" meant just that. Yet he got out of Kingston after just eleven and a half years and returned to Toronto, the city of his birth, amid fanfare befitting a national hero. His death in a liquor store robbery in Sarnia on May 23, 1936, just ten months after his release, was a huge jolt to Canada, and especially Toronto. How could such an obvious threat to society be paroled from prison as a paragon of reform? This question is central to The Big Red Fox. The answer lies not with Ryan himself - not even the cunning and deceitful Red Ryan could have hoodwinked his way out of a life sentence - but with those who helped him, and who benefited from his release.J.P. Bickell: The Life, the Leafs, and the Legacy
By Graham Maclachlan, Kevin Shea, Jason Wilson. 2017
He stayed out of the spotlight, but Leafs fans know J.P. Bickell cast a long shadow. A self-made mining magnate…
and the man who kept the Maple Leafs in Toronto and financed Maple Leaf Gardens, J.P. Bickell lived an extraordinary and purposeful life. As one of the most important industrialists in Canadian history, Bickell left his mark on communities across the nation. He was a cornerstone of the Toronto Maple Leafs, which awards the J.P. Bickell Memorial Award to recognize outstanding service to the organization. Bickell’s story is also tied up with some of the most famous Canadians of his day, including Mitchell Hepburn, Roy Thomson, and Conn Smythe. Through his charitable foundation, he has been a key benefactor of the Hospital for Sick Children, and his legacy continues to transform Toronto. Yet, though Bickell was so important both to Toronto and the Maple Leafs, the story of his incredible life is today largely obscure. This book sets the record straight, presenting the definitive story of his rise to prominence and his lasting legacy — on the ice and off.Death In the Crease
By Richard Curtis. 1975
Athletic agent Dave Bolt, former star for the Dallas Cowboys, is a hardened sports insider, familiar with the dirty underside…
of American professional sports. He witnesses the kickbacks, the bribes and the blackmail that keep the high-powered industry spinning. In DEATH IN THE CREASE Bolt has to deal with is an explosive ice hockey scandal that threatens to expose the sport's biggest game as a sham. Former Black Hawk goalie Guy LeClede writes an expose of the corruption that "would blow hockey off the ice" if published. But before the book is seen by anyone else, LeClede suddenly drives his car off a cliff and the manuscript disappears. NHL brass have asked Bolt: to investigate the possibility of murder and unravel the intricacies of one of the priciest gambling deals of the decade.Lord Mansfield
By Norman Poser. 2013
In the first modern biography of Lord Mansfield (1705-1793), Norman Poser details the turbulent political life of eighteenth-century Britain's most…
powerful judge, serving as chief justice for an unprecedented thirty-two years. His legal decisions launched England on the path to abolishing slavery and the slave trade, modernized commercial law in ways that helped establish Britain as the world's leading industrial and trading nation, and his vigorous opposition to the American colonists stoked Revolutionary fires. Although his father and brother were Jacobite rebels loyal to the deposed King James II, Mansfield was able to rise through English society to become a member of its ruling aristocracy and a confidential advisor to two kings. Poser sets Mansfield's rulings in historical context while delving into Mansfield's circle, which included poets (Alexander Pope described him as "his country's pride"), artists, actors, clergymen, noblemen and women, and politicians. Still celebrated for his application of common sense and moral values to the formal and complicated English common law system, Mansfield brought a practical and humanistic approach to the law. His decisions continue to influence the legal systems of Canada, Britain, and the United States to an extent unmatched by any judge of the past. An illuminating account of one of the greatest legal minds, Lord Mansfield presents a vibrant look at Britain's Age of Reason through one of its central figures.Summary and Analysis of The Stranger Beside Me: Based on the Book by Ann Rule
By Worth Books. 2016
So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of The Stranger Beside Me tells you what you need…
to know—before or after you read Ann Rule’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule includes: Historical contextSection-by-section summariesDetailed timeline of important eventsImportant quotesFascinating triviaSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule: Among American serial killers, Ted Bundy is infamous not just for his crimes, but for the way he was able to charm his victims. Bundy’s friendly demeanor fooled many, including Ann Rule, bestselling true crime author and former law enforcement officer. Rule and Bundy met while working together at a suicide hotline. The two remained friends throughout the period of Bundy’s crimes, trials, and fight against execution. This friendship gives the reader an intimate window into a man countless psychiatrists struggle to explain. Get to know Ted Bundy, a true sociopath, and learn about his reign of terror in the Pacific Northwest, Florida, and perhaps beyond. Rule’s police background adds compelling perspective to one of the most popular, detailed, and personal books written about Ted Bundy. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.The Job
By Steve Osborne. 2015
"HOW YA DOIN'?" With these four syllables, delivered in an unmistakably authentic New York accent, Steve Osborne has riveted thousands…
of people at the legendary storytelling venue The Moth (and many tens of thousands more via YouTube) with his hilarious, profane, and touching tales from his twenty years as an NYPD street cop. Steve Osborne is the real deal, people: the tough, streetwise New York cop of your dreams, one with a big, big heart. Kojak? NYPD Blue? Law & Order? Fuggedaboudem! The Job blows them out of the water. Steve Osborne has seen a thing or two in his years in the NYPD--some harmless, some definitely not. In "Stakeout," Steve and his partner mistake a Manhattan dentist for an armed robbery suspect, and reduce the man to a puddle of snot and tears when questioning him. In "Mug Shot," the mother of a suspected criminal makes a strange request and provides a sobering reminder of the humanity at stake in his profession. And in "Home," the image of Steve's family provides the adrenaline he needs to fight for his life when assaulted by two armed and violent crackheads. From stories about his days as a rookie cop to the time spent patrolling in the Anti-Crime Unit--and his visceral, harrowing recollections of working during the weeks after 9/11--The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop captures the humanity, the absurdity, and the dark humor of police work, as well as the bravery of those who do it. These stories will speak to those nostalgic for the New York City of the 1980s and '90s, a bygone era when the city was a crazier, more dangerous (and possibly more interesting) place.From the Hardcover edition.Philadelphia Freedom
By David Kairys. 2008
"David Kairys is one of the grand long-distance runners in the struggle for justice in America. His brilliant legal mind…
and superb lawyerly skills are legendary. This marvelous book is his gift to us!" ---Cornel West, Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Princeton University, and award-winning author of Race Matters Philadelphia Freedom is the spellbinding tale of an idealistic young lawyer coming of age in the political cauldron of the 1960s and 1970s. From his immersion in the civil rights movement to his determined court battles to quell criminal violence by Philadelphia police, Kairys recounts how he helped make history in the city of brotherly love." ---William K. Marimow, Editor and Executive Vice President, Philadelphia Inquirer, and recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes "In the current climate of political deception and the trampling of our civil rights, Kairys's compelling book is a clenched fist, a prayer for social justice and a call to conscience." ---Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times columnist and former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist "With engaging, insider stories of innovative legal strategies of a truly creative lawyer, this book evokes the ebullient spirit of progressive social change launched in the 1960s and should be read by aspiring and practicing lawyers as well as anyone interested in American social history. Philadelphia Freedom reads like a suspense novel and reveals how novel legal and political thinking can and does make a real difference to individuals and to the quality of justice." ---Martha L. Minow, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard University "David Kairys's compelling book properly explains the vital role that civil rights attorneys play in our system of justice." ---Judge John E. Jones III, United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and presiding judge in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case A memoir that is also a compelling page-turner, Philadelphia Freedom is the poignant, informative, often inspiring account of renowned civil-rights lawyer David Kairys's personal quest for achieving social justice during the turbulent 1960s and 70s. Philadelphia Freedom brings us intimately and directly into Kairys's burgeoning law career and the struggles of the 60s as his professional and private life navigated the turmoil and promise of the civil rights and antiwar movements. Many of the cases Kairys took on involved discrimination and equal protection, freedom of speech, and government malfeasance. Kairys is perhaps most well known for his victory in the Camden 28 draft board case, in which the FBI set up a sting of the Catholic anti-war left at the behest of the highest levels of government. The stories and cases range from nationally important and recognizable---the family of the scientist the CIA unwittingly gave LSD in the 1950s; the leading race discrimination case against the FBI; Dr. Benjamin Spock's First Amendment case before the Supreme Court; the city handgun lawsuits Kairys conceived---to those he encountered in his early work as a public defender. The characters include public figures such as FBI Directors J. Edgar Hoover and Louis Freeh; CIA Director William Colby; Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter; New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer; U.S. Attorneys General Edward Levi and John Mitchell; Georgia Governor Lester Maddox; Pennsylvania Governor, former Philadelphia Mayor, and Democratic National Committee chair Ed Rendell; Philadelphia Mayor and Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo. But some of the most memorable are not well known, involving regular people caught up in the often heartless machinery of the courts and legal system. Though it reads like a novel, with all the elements of character, plot, and suspense, Philadelphia Freedom also has historical significance as a firsthand account of the 1960s and 70s and contains social commentary about race as well as insights and major perspectives on the nature and social rCleveland Police (Images of America)
By Cleveland Police Historical Society Museum. 2005
When Cleveland, Ohio, was incorporated as a city on March 5, 1836, the population numbered less than 6,000. In its…
heyday, the city was touted as the "Sixth City" when the population soared to 560,663. Today, the Cleveland Division of Police serves and protects 478,403 souls. Over the years, the division has been a pioneer in many aspects of policing, including criminal identification, scientific investigation, and communications. In the 1920s and 1930s, Cleveland had one of the most progressive and efficient departments in the country. The first use of a surveillance camera to identify bank robbers, which led to their quick arrest, occurred in Cleveland on April 12, 1957. However, the job of protecting and serving the people has never been easy--to date, 107 Cleveland police officers have died in the line of duty.Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss
By Dick Lehr, Gerard O'Neill. 2013
From the bestselling authors of Black Mass comes the definitive biography of Whitey Bulger, the most brutal and sadistic crime…
boss since Al Capone. Drawing on a trove of sealed files and previously classified material, Whitey digs deep into the mind of James J. "Whitey" Bulger, the crime boss and killer who brought the FBI to its knees. He is an American original --a psychopath who fostered a following with a frightening mix of terror, deadly intimidation and the deft touch of a politician who often helped a family in need meet their monthly rent. But the history shows that despite the early false myths portraying him as a Robin Hood figure, Whitey was a supreme narcissist, and everything--every interaction with family and his politician brother Bill Bulger, with underworld cohorts, with law enforcement, with his South Boston neighbors, and with his victims--was always about him. In an Irish-American neighborhood where loyalty has always been rule one, the Bulger brand was loyalty to oneself. Whitey deconstructs Bulger's insatiable hunger for power and control. Building on their years of reporting and uncovering new Bulger family records, letters and prison files, Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill examine and reveal the factors and forces that created the monster. It's a deeply rendered portrait of evil that spans nearly a century, taking Whitey from the streets of his boyhood Southie in the 1940s to his cell in Alcatraz in the 1950s to his cunning, corrupt pact with the FBI in the 1970s and, finally, to Santa Monica, California where for fifteen years he was hiding in plain sight as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted. In a lifetime of crime and murder that ended with his arrest in June 2011, Whitey Bulger became one of the most powerful and deadly crime bosses of the twentieth century. This is his story.The Valley of the Shadow of Death
By Jeff Snipes, Kermit Alexander, Alex Gerould. 2015
In this heart-wrenching memoir, former NFL star Kermit Alexander tells the devastating true story of the horrific massacre of his…
family and his subsequent years of despair, followed by a spiritual renewal that showed him a way to rebuild his family and reclaim his life.On the morning of August 31, 1984, in the South Central section of Los Angeles, three armed men broke into a house, brutally murdering two women and two young boys. The victims were Ebora Alexander, Dietra Alexander, Damani Garner, and Damon Bonner--the mother, sister, and nephews of retired All-Pro cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers Kermit Alexander. In his own words, Kermit Alexander finally shares the full story of what happened to his loved ones and the aftermath of that tragic day. He recounts the hours leading up to the massacre, and how afterward he lost himself in the LA underworld, pleading, bribing, and threatening in a search for answers. He describes his journey through the "wilderness" of despair--the years of isolation living out of his car, broke, depressed, and sick. We also learn about his coming-of-age in 1950s LA, the following decade he spent in the NFL, the events leading up to that fateful August day, and finally the shocking truth behind the murders. Kermit opens up about his darkest hours, but also what it took to turn his life around, rebuild his family, and ultimately find peace. Ominous and intense, powerful and uplifting, tragic and triumphant, The Valley of the Shadow of Death is more than a rendering of one man's adversity; it's testament to the value of family and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming loss.Black Mass
By Dick Lehr, Gerard O'Neill. 2000
Two boys - John Connolly and James "Whitley" Bulger - grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades…
later, in the mid-1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitley had become godfather of the Irish mob. Connolly had an idea, a scheme that might bring Bulger into the FBI fold and John Connolly into the Bureau's big leagues. But Bulger had other plans. "Black Mass" is the story of what happened beween them - a dark deal to trade secrets and take down Boston's Italian Mafia in exchange for "immunity" - that spiralled out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing and racketeering indictments. Ultimately, in what would become the biggest internal scandal in the history of the FBI, Bulger would find himself at the top of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Told in gripping narrative style by the "Boston Globe" reporters who covered the case from the beginning, "Black Mass" is a riveting epic crime story that is also a book about Irish America, about the pull of place, and about the ties that bind.Leafs '65
By Stephen Brunt. 2015
From celebrated author and sports journalist Stephen Brunt comes a beautifully illustrated, elegiac tribute to the Toronto Maple Leafs of…
yesteryear. In 2006, Lewis Parker, an artist and illustrator, was disposing of some of his belongings from years before in preparation of a move. He and his friend Dennis Patchett were going through boxes, and anything that was deemed not worth saving was relegated to a roaring fire. As Lewis passed him box after box, Dennis would pitch them in the blaze, one after the other. Suddenly, he caught the words on a file folder: "Leafs 1965." Inside were photo negatives and contact sheets. "I think we should keep these," said Dennis. In the fall of 1965, artist Lewis Parker received a call from Maclean's magazine for a possible gig: accompanying a reporter to Peterborough to cover the Toronto Maple Leafs's preseason training camp. Lewis would spend some time with the team, and shoot stills that would run alongside the magazine piece. Though it was a career departure, he agreed, and the result of his time spent with the Stanley Cup-winning team during the training camp before their last Cup win are within these pages: beautiful, visually arresting photography that captures the comraderie and purity of a time in hockey and Canadian history not seen since. With complete, unfettered access to the team -- many of the players from remote farms in the country, and none with agents -- and GM Punch Imlach, Lewis Parker's photos (which, once the piece was cancelled by Maclean's, were never used) reflect a wistful moment in time before the hockey league changed forever. Accompanied by acclaimed writer Stephen Brunt's essay on the '65 training camp -- based on interviews with team members -- Leafs '65 is the ultimate tribute to the Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs, to a forgotten era of hockey, and to a moment in Canadian history that will resonate with any reader.From the Hardcover edition.The Dark Art
By Douglas Century, Edward Follis. 2014
A highly decorated veteran DEA agent recounts his incredible undercover career and reveals the shocking links between narcotics trafficking and…
terrorismWhat exactly is undercover? From a law-enforcement perspective, undercover is the art of skillfully eliciting incriminating statements. From a personal and psychological standpoint, it's the dark art of gaining trust--then manipulating that trust. In the simplest terms, it's playing a chess game with the bad guy, getting him to make the moves you want him to make--but without him knowing you're doing so. Edward Follis mastered the chess game--The Dark Art--over the course of his distinguished twenty-seven years with the Drug Enforcement Administration, where he bought eightballs of coke in a red Corvette, negotiated multimillion-dollar deals onboard private King Airs, and developed covert relationships with men who were not only international drug-traffickers but--in some cases--operatives for Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Shan United Army, or the Mexican federation of cartels.Follis was, in fact, one of the driving forces behind the agency's radical shift from a limited local focus to a global arena. In the early nineties, the DEA was primarily known for doing street-level busts evocative of Miami Vice. Today, it uses high-resolution-optics surveillance and classified cutting-edge technology to put the worst narco-terror kingpins on the business end of "stealth justice" delivered via Predator drone pilots.Spanning five continents and filled with harrowing stories about the world's most ruthless drug lords and terrorist networks, Follis's memoir reads like a thriller. Yet every word is true, and every story is documented. Follis earned a Medal of Valor for his work, and coauthor Douglas Century is a pro at shaping and telling just this kind of story. The first and only insider's account of the confluence between narco-trafficking and terrorist organizations, The Dark Art is a page-turning memoir that will electrify you from page one.Of Myths and Sticks
By Kevin Gibson. 0799
As engaging as the great game itself, the stories behind the National Hockey League are entertaining, fascinating and, at times,…
unbelievable. Faux facts emerge from urban legends, conspiracy theories and coincidences, leaving sports fans to debate truth and fiction in the world of hockey trivia. Few are better qualified to both debunk falsehoods and nail down amazing facts than TSN stats archaeologist Kevin Gibson, whose book Of Myths and Sticks blows the whistle on all hockey matters from the mainstream to the obscure.What was the date of the first NHL game? Who scored the first goal and which team won? Did Gordie Howe ever actually have a Gordie Howe hat trick? Gibson offers definitive answers to these fundamental questions, but also contributes fascinating background nobody else thought to ask about, such as game-time weather, contract disputes and the flu epidemic that claimed the lives of two players and cancelled the 1919 Stanley Cup Final. Gibson scores laughs with true facts from between the posts, noting that legendary Canadiens goalie Georges Vezina sired 24 children ("he was known for saves on the ice and scoring off"), and that the Quebec Bulldogs' shameful record of 4-20 may have been due, in part, to the worst nickname ever for a goaltender ("Holes"). The myth of the Original Six is down-sized to the Original One, as Gibson points out that the Montreal Canadiens is the only team to have been around at the start of the NHL and to have retained their original team name.Other highlights include hall-of-famers, hall-of-shamers and an extensive "On This Date" chapter that highlights 366 trivia-worthy moments from 95 years of hockey history. Combining extensive research, humor and keen curiosity, Of Myths and Sticks is hockey's version of MythBusters-what's true, what's not, and how can we make finding out almost as entertaining as watching the game.