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Ten well-planned major robberies reveal the ingenuity of the criminal mind, from Dan Cooper, who parachuted from a Boeing 727…
with $200,000, to the small band of Italians who stole the world-famous Mona Lisa. There are seven extra stories in the opening chapter, including that of the Parisian actor and civil servant who destroyed the files against his friends during the French Revolution - by eating them! Grades 5-8. Winner of the 2007 Red Maple Award. 2005.Ten true tales of outrageous trickery. Includes how a group of Germans perpetrated one of the biggest, most sophisticated banknote…
counterfeiting schemes ever seen; how the world was fooled for nearly a decade when a "lost tribe" was discovered in the Philippines; and how Donald Crowhurst almost won the first round-the-world yacht race without ever leaving the Atlantic Ocean. For junior and senior high school readers. Winner of the 2005 Red Maple Award. 2004.Bonnie and Clyde: the making of a legend
By Karen Blumenthal. 2018
A chronicle of the lives of notorious outlaws Bonnie Parker (1910-1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909-1934). Debunks some of the myths…
surrounding the couple. Spins a tale of love, car chases, kidnappings, and murder set against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2018The 57 bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives
By Dashka Slater. 2017
Recounts the true story of Sasha, a white, middle-class, agender teen, who was set on fire by Richard, a black…
teen from a crime-plagued neighborhood, while riding the 57 bus in Oakland, California. Strong language and some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2017Discovering Wes Moore
By Wes Moore. 2012
John's Hopkins graduate recounts his Bronx upbringing and discovery of a man who shares his name. Details the decisions the…
other Wes Moore made, including dealing drugs and shooting a cop, that led to a life sentence in prison. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2012Bootleg: murder, moonshine, and the lawless years of prohibition
By Karen Blumenthal. 2011
The history and legacy of Prohibition, which began with passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920 and ended in 1933.…
Profiles Carrie Nation, the temperance movement's first celebrity, and discusses the rise of bootleggers and gangsters such as Al Capone. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2011Racial profiling: everyday inequality
By Alison Marie Behnke. 2017
Explores the history of inequality, the many manifestations of racial profiling that arise inside and outside of the criminal justice…
system, and the consequences. Uses case studies to explain these social injustices, and calls for change. Some violence. For senior high and older readers. 2017Outlaws
By Tony Thompson. 2011
An outlaw motorcycle club is a band of brothers like no other. Hidden away from mainstream society behind multiple layers…
of secrecy, mythology and a sophisticated campaign of misinformation that portrays them as nothing more than loveable rogues, the brutal truth about the biker world has long escaped public scrutiny. In reality, today's outlaw bikers are at the epicentre of a violent underworld subculture, enforced by a ruthless code of silence, and control a global criminal empire worth millions. Spanning the UK, Europe, America, Canada and Australia, OUTLAWS is a compelling, shocking and chilling story of how bikers are born and made, and how and why they die.The Birthday Party
By Stanley N. Alpert. 2007
On January 21, 1998, the night before his thirty-eighth birthday, federal prosecutor Stanley N. Alpert was kidnapped off the streets…
of Manhattan by a car full of gun-toting thugs looking to use his ATM card. He ended up blindfolded in a Brooklyn apartment as his captors changed their plans, alternately threatening him and his family, seeking legal advice, expounding on the "gangsta" life, and offering him the services of their prostitute girlfriends as a birthday present. All the while, Alpert, still blindfolded, talked with them, played on their attitudes and fears, and memorized every detail he could in the event that he ever managed to get out of there alive. Filled with immediacy, drama, and extraordinary characters, The Birthday Party reads like a thriller-but every word is true.Body Parts
By Caitlin Rother. 2009
"I HURT SOME PEOPLE. " When he walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office in Northern California with a woman's…
severed breast in his pocket, 36-year-old Wayne Adam Ford wasn't even a suspect. But before it was all over, he would be convicted of the grisly torture and murder of four women, two of whom he dismembered. If Ford hadn't confessed, he'd probably still be out there today. But he did confess—because he knew he'd kill again. I DESERVE TO DIE. " Based on previously sealed testimony and interviews with the key players in the case, Body Parts is a frighteningly intimate look into a twisted man overcome by the horror of what he had done, and powerless to resist his increasingly perverse sexual appetites. Ford's statement was only the beginning as the trial became a maze of legal one-upmanship and inadmissible evidence. Now, with unprecedented access, Caitlin Rother at last reveals the full picture of what drove a damaged man to his unspeakable crimes. Includes 16 pages of shocking photosAward-winning nonfiction author Stillman offers a novelistic depiction of the Mojave Desert manhunt for Donald Kueck, a desert hermit who…
shot and killed deputy sheriff Stephen Sorensen when Sorensen approached Kueck's trailer on a routine check. She begins with background on the violent history of the desert region, then depicts present-day Antelope Valley, an hour's drive north of Los Angeles, as a place where loners and outcasts build make-shift homesteads. Stillman's narrative gets into the minds of both men as they navigate the territory of one of the last American frontiers. The book is based on Stillman's Rolling Stone article, "The Great Mojave Manhunt. " Each chapter opens with a b&w image of the region. Stillman teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of California-Riverside-Palm Desert. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)L.A. Private Eyes (Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture)
By Dahlia Schweitzer. 2019
L.A. Private Eyes examines the tradition of the private eye as it evolves in films, books, and television shows set…
in Los Angeles from the 1930’s through the present day. It takes a closer look at narratives—both on screen and on the printed page—in which detectives travel the streets of Los Angeles, uncovering corruption, moral ambiguity, and greed with the conviction of urban cowboys, while always ultimately finding truth and redemption. With a review of Los Angeles history, crime stories, and film noir, L.A. Private Eyes explores the metamorphosis of the solitary detective figure and the many facets of the genre itself, from noir to mystery, on the screen. While the conventions of the genre may have remained consistent and recognizable, the points where they evolve illuminate much about our changing gender and power roles. Watch a video of the author speaking about this topic: https://goo.gl/Xr9RFD And also: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mkqw3mplruf7jje/Detective%20Talk%20Full.mp4?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/mkqw3mplruf7jje/Detective%20Talk%20Full.mp4?dl=0)Guilty People
By Abbe Smith. 2020
Criminal defense attorneys protect the innocent and guilty alike, but, the majority of criminal defendants are guilty. This is as…
it should be in a free society. Yet there are many different types of crime and degrees of guilt, and the defense must navigate through a complex criminal justice system that is not always equipped to recognize nuances. In Guilty People, law professor and longtime criminal defense attorney Abbe Smith gives us a thoughtful and honest look at guilty individuals on trial. Each chapter tells compelling stories about real cases she handled; some of her clients were guilty of only petty crimes and misdemeanors, while others committed offenses as grave as rape and murder. In the process, she answers the question that every defense attorney is routinely asked: How can you represent these people? Smith’s answer also tackles seldom-addressed but equally important questions such as: Who are the people filling our nation’s jails and prisons? Are they as dangerous and depraved as they are usually portrayed? How did they get caught up in the system? And what happens to them there? This book challenges the assumption that the guilty are a separate species, unworthy of humane treatment. It is dedicated to guilty people—every single one of us.Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention
By Donna Freitas. 2018
"Consent is compelling and disturbing and a welcome expansion of our urgent conversation"--Rebecca Traister Donna Freitas has lived two lives.…
In one life, she is a well-published author and respected scholar who has traveled around the country speaking about Title IX, consent, religion, and sex on college campuses. In the other, she is a victim, a woman who suffered and suffers still because she was stalked by her graduate professor for more than two years. As a doctoral candidate, Freitas loved asking big questions, challenging established theories and sinking her teeth into sacred texts. She felt at home in the library, and safe in the book-lined offices of scholars whom she admired. But during her first year, one particular scholar became obsessed with Freitas' academic enthusiasm. He filled her student mailbox with letters and articles. He lurked on the sidewalk outside her apartment. He called daily and left nagging voicemails. He befriended her mother, and made himself comfortable in her family's home. He wouldn't go away. While his attraction was not overtly sexual, it was undeniably inappropriate, and most importantly--unwanted. In Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention, Donna Freitas delivers a forensic examination of the years she spent stalked by her professor, and uses her nightmarish experience to examine the ways in which we stigmatize, debate, and attempt to understand consent today.In Cold Blood (Vintage International)
By Truman Capote. 1993
National Bestseller On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were…
savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe
By J. Warner Wallace. 2015
There are four ways to die, and only one of them requires an intruder. Suicides, accidental, and natural deaths can…
occur without any evidence from outside the room. But murders typically involve suspects external to the crime scene. If there's evidence of an outside intruder, homicide detectives have to prepare for a chase. Intruders turn death scenes into crime scenes. Join J. Warner Wallace, former atheist, seasoned cold-case detective, and popular national speaker as he tackles his most important case ... with you on the jury! With the expertise of a cold-case detective, J. Warner examines eight critical pieces of evidence in the "crime scene" of the universe to determine if they point to a Divine Intruder. If you have ever wondered if something (or someone) outside the natural realm created the universe and everything in it, this is the case for you.3,096 Days in Captivity
By Natascha Kampusch. 2010
On March 2, 1998, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped, and found herself locked in a house that would be her…
home for the next eight years. She was starved, beaten, treated as a slave, and forced to work for her deranged captor. But she never forgot who she was-and she never gave up hope of returning to the world. This is her story.Beating the Devil's Game
By Katherine Ramsland. 2007
Today, the basic precepts of criminal investigation--fingerprints, DNA, blood evidence--are known among professionals and lay people alike. But behind each…
of these familiar concepts is a fascinating story of the evolution of science and law, spearheaded by innovative thinkers, many of whom risked their careers for more perfect justice. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, renowned expert in criminology, traces that development from thirteenth-century Chinese studies of decomposition through the Renaissance and the era of Newtonian physics to the marvels of the present day and beyond. Along the way, she introduces us to forensic pioneers and visionaries who galvanized the field, raised investigative standards, and whose efforts have kept us just steps ahead of increasingly sophisticated criminals.Fortune's Spear: A Forgotten Story of Genius, Fraud, and Finance in the Roaring Twenties
By Martin Vander Weyer. 2011
Gerard Lee Bevan was the epitome of an Edwardian swell-arrogant, smooth, and highly cultured. He married into money and influence…
and exploited a glittering range of social connections as the black sheep of one of London’s most respectable banking families. He could not uphold his many deceptions, however, despite a long run of success in city dealings, and perpetrated a massive fraud which ruined both the City Equitable Fire Insurance Company and his stockbroking firm, Ellis & Co. Bevan fled England in ruin in 1922, abandoning his family and business, and was eventually caught in Vienna, despite his desperate attempts at disguise. His sensational Old Bailey trial shocked the entire country.Fortune’s Spear is a parable of the way in which the prospect of easy money draws risk-takers in every era into a spiral of greed and deceit. Bevan may have been forgotten but he richly deserves to be remembered. In this richly detailed post-Edwardian tale of true crime, Martin Vander Weyer shines a light on a fascinating bygone era, teasing out the parallels in a hitherto forgotten scandal with contemporary financial frauds.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.Chicago's First Crime King: Michael Cassius McDonald (True Crime Ser.)
By Kelly Pucci. 2018
This true crime biography details the remarkable rise of the 19th century mob boss who ran Chicago from the streets to…
the mayor&’s office. Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage gambler and scam artist who quickly hustled his way into running the city through its criminal underworld. Long before the reign of Al Capone, McDonald was Chicago&’s original mob boss. He procured presidential pardons, fixed juries, stuffed mayoral ballot boxes, and operated the city's most popular—and most crooked—gambling parlor. But McDonald also maintained a reputation as a decent man. He was a philanthropist who befriended Clarence Darrow, promoted the World's Fair, ran the Chicago Globe newspaper—where he employed Theodore Dreiser—and funded the Lake Street L. Meanwhile, he had multiple marriages mired in love triangles and murder trials. His remarkable story comes to life in this.