A Poisonous Affair

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A Poisonous Affair

Author : Joost R. Hiltermann
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521876869
Total Pages : 15 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (218 download)

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Book Synopsis A Poisonous Affair by : Joost R. Hiltermann

Download or read book A Poisonous Affair written by Joost R. Hiltermann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-06-18 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war, thousands were killed in a chemical attack in a remote town in Iraqi Kurdistan. In the aftermath of the horror, confusion reigned over who had carried it out, each side accusing the other in the ongoing bloodbath of the Iran-Iraq war. As the fog lifted, the responsibility of Saddam Hussein's regime was revealed, and with it the tacit support of Iraq's western allies. This book, by a veteran observer of human rights in the Middle East, tells the story of the gassing of Halabja. It shows how Iraq was able to develop ever-more sophisticated chemical weapons and target Iranian soldiers and Kurdish villagers as America looked the other way. Today, as Iraq disintegrates and the Middle East sinks further into turmoil, these policies are coming back to haunt America and the West.

An Affair of Poisons

Author : Addie Thorley
Publisher : Page Street YA
ISBN 13 : 1624147143
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (241 download)

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Book Synopsis An Affair of Poisons by : Addie Thorley

Download or read book An Affair of Poisons written by Addie Thorley and published by Page Street YA. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No one looks kindly on the killer of a king. “Fast-paced and refreshing.” – SLJ, starred review “The perfect blend of history and dark fantasy.” – Mary Taranta, author of Shimmer and Burn “Thrilling, romantic, and addictive.” – Rosalyn Eves, author of Blood Rose Rebellion “The only cure is to finish it.” – Lyndsay Ely, author of Gunslinger Girl After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge. Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half of the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant dauphin. Forced to hide in the sewers beneath the city, Josse’s hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible—until his path collides with Mirabelle’s. She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. They are sworn enemies, yet they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?

A Poisonous Affair

Author : Chris Hutchins
Publisher : Bantam Press
ISBN 13 : 9780593074213
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis A Poisonous Affair by : Chris Hutchins

Download or read book A Poisonous Affair written by Chris Hutchins and published by Bantam Press. This book was released on 2015-04-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When wealthy and well-connected Peter Ikin died in a cheap Paris hotel room in November 2008, the circumstances were suspicious from the outset. Just 32 days earlier the retired music industry executive, a close friend of Sir Elton John, Rod Stewart and Madonna, had entered into a civil partnership with a charming and handsome young Frenchman named Alexandre Despallieres. Despallieres claimed to be a billionaire businessman with homes in London, Paris and Beverly Hills. As the grieving partner, he had Ikin's body hurriedly cremated, and maintained the pretence of his wealth by spending hundreds of thousands of pounds that were advanced to him as the beneficiary of Ikin's will. Meanwhile, John Reid, Elton John's former manager and Peter Ikin's closest friend, was certain that Ikin had been murdered and his will forged. His persistence in uncovering the truth led to the arrest of Despallieres and two accomplices, who were charged with murder, forgery and fraud on a grand scale. With the trial ongoing, Chris Hutchins investigates the mysterious circumstances of Peter Ikin's death and comes face-to-face with this real life Talented Mr Ripley.

The Affair of the Poisons

Author : Anne Somerset
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1466862807
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

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Book Synopsis The Affair of the Poisons by : Anne Somerset

Download or read book The Affair of the Poisons written by Anne Somerset and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Affair of the Poisons, as it became known, was an extraordinary episode that took place in France during the reign of Louis XIV. When poisoning and black magic became widespread, arrests followed. Suspects included those among the highest ranks of society. Many were tortured and numerous executions resulted. The 1676 torture and execution of the Marquise de Brinvilliers marked the start of the scandal which rocked the foundations of French society and sent shock waves through all of Europe. Convicted of conspiring with her adulterous lover to poison her father and brothers in order to secure the family fortune, the marquise was the first member of the noble class to fall. In the French court of the period, where sexual affairs were numerous, ladies were not shy of seeking help from the murkier elements of the Parisian underworld, and fortune-tellers supplemented their dubious trade by selling poison. It was not long before the authorities were led to believe that Louis XIV himself was at risk. With the police chief of Paris police alerted, every hint of danger was investigated. Rumors abounded and it was not long before the King ordered the setting up of a special commission to investigate the poisonings and bring offenders to justice. No one, the King decreed, no matter how grand, would be spared having to account for their conduct. The royal court was soon thrown into disarray. The Mistress of the Robes and a distinguished general were among the early suspects. But they paled into insignificance when the King's mistress was incriminated. If, as was said, she had engaged in vile Satanic rituals and had sought to poison a rival for the King's affections, what was Louis XIV to do? Anne Somerset has gone back to original sources, letters and earlier accounts of the affair. By the end of her account, she reaches firm conclusions on various crucial matters. The Affair of the Poisons is an enthralling account of a sometimes bizarre period in French history.

A Poisonous Cocktail?

Author : Ian Reader
Publisher : NIAS Press
ISBN 13 : 9788787062558
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis A Poisonous Cocktail? by : Ian Reader

Download or read book A Poisonous Cocktail? written by Ian Reader and published by NIAS Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the light of the sarin attacks made by Aum Shinrikyo on Tokyo, this book describes the movement's history, examines the various conflicts it has been involved in, and discusses the content of Asahara's sermons and prophecies, all in an attempt to discover why the movement turned from meditation and asceticism to violence. Suggesting that the Aum case is not unique, the book shows how it displays similarities with other cases of violence and conflict amongst religious and political movements in Japan and elsewhere.

City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris

Author : Holly Tucker
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393248844
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris by : Holly Tucker

Download or read book City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris written by Holly Tucker and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Tucker writes with gusto . . . high drama.”—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review In the late 1600s, Louis XIV assigns Nicolas de la Reynie to bring order to Paris after the brutal deaths of two magistrates. Reynie, pragmatic and fearless, discovers a network of witches, poisoners, and priests whose reach extends all the way to the king’s court at Versailles. Based on court transcripts and Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, Holly Tucker’s engrossing true-crime narrative makes the characters breathe on the page as she follows the police chief into the dark labyrinths of crime-ridden Paris, the halls of royal palaces, secret courtrooms, and torture chambers.

An Affair with Africa

Author : Alzada Carlisle Kistner
Publisher : Island Press
ISBN 13 : 1597268321
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (972 download)

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Book Synopsis An Affair with Africa by : Alzada Carlisle Kistner

Download or read book An Affair with Africa written by Alzada Carlisle Kistner and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In June 1960, a young faculty wife named Alzada Kistner and her husband David, a promising entomologist, left their 18-month old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo. Three weeks after their arrival, the country was gripped by a violent revolution trapping the Kistners in its midst. Despite having to find their way out of numerous life-threatening situations, the Kistners were not to be dissuaded. An emergency airlift by the United States Air Force brought them to safety in Kenya where they continued their field work. Thus began three decades of adventures in science. In An Affair with Africa, Alzada Kistner describes her family's African experience -- the five expeditions they took beginning with the trip to the Belgian Congo in 1960 and ending in 1972-73 with a nine-month excursion across southern Africa. From hunching over columns of ants for hours on end while seven months pregnant to eating dinner next to Idi Amin, Kistner provides a lively and humor-filled account of the human side of scientific discovery. Her wonderfully detailed stories clearly show why, despite hardship and danger -- and contrary to all of society's expectations -- she could not forsake accompanying her husband on his expeditions, and, to this day, continues to find the world "endlessly beckoning, a lively bubbling cauldron of questions and intrigue." In the spirit of Beryl Markham's West with the Night and Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa, An Affair with Africa shares with readers the thoughts and experiences of a remarkable woman, one whose unquenchable thirst for adventure led her into a series of almost unimaginable situations. Readers -- from armchair travelers fascinated by stories of Africa to scientists familiar with the Kistners's work but unaware of the lengths to which they went to gather their data -- will find An Affair with Africa a rare treasure.

Affairs of Honor

Author : Joanne B. Freeman
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300097559
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis Affairs of Honor by : Joanne B. Freeman

Download or read book Affairs of Honor written by Joanne B. Freeman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a reassessment of the tumultuous culture of politics on the national stage during America's early years, when Jefferson, Burr, and Hamilton were among the national leaders, Freeman shows how the rituals and rhetoric of honor provides ground rules for political combat. Illustrations.

Strange Affair

Author : Peter Robinson
Publisher : McClelland & Stewart
ISBN 13 : 1551992213
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (519 download)

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Book Synopsis Strange Affair by : Peter Robinson

Download or read book Strange Affair written by Peter Robinson and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2009-06-05 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Alan Banks receives a disturbing telephone call from his brother, Roy, he abandons the peaceful Yorkshire Dales for the bright lights of London to search him out. But Roy has vanished into thin air, and now Banks fears this could have been their final conversation. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot is called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road just outside Eastvale. A young woman called Jennifer Clewes has been found dead in her car, and in the back pocket of her jeans, written on a slip of paper, police discover Banks’s name and address. Living in his brother’s empty, luxurious South Kensington flat, Banks finds himself digging into the life of the brother he never really knew, or even liked. He begins to uncover some troubling surprises, leaving Annie to track down Jennifer Clewes’s friends and colleagues alone. It seems that both trails are leading towards frightening conclusions. And when the cases begin to intersect, the consequences for Banks and Annie become terrifying . . . Strange Affair is Peter Robinson’s fifteenth Inspector Banks novel, and it amply demonstrates why he’s counted among the top crime fiction writers in the world.

The Darwin Affair

Author : Tim Mason
Publisher : Algonquin Books
ISBN 13 : 1643750461
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (437 download)

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Book Synopsis The Darwin Affair by : Tim Mason

Download or read book The Darwin Affair written by Tim Mason and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Intellectually stimulating and viscerally exciting, The Darwin Affair is breathtaking from start to stop.” —The Wall Street Journal Get ready for one of the most inventive and entertaining novels of 2019—an edge-of-your-seat Victorian-era thriller, where the controversial publication On the Origin of Species sets off a string of unspeakable crimes. London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later—and only a block away—Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Was Victoria really the assassin’s target? Are those closest to the Crown hiding something? And who is the shadowy figure witnesses describe as having lifeless, coal-black eyes? Soon, Field’s investigation exposes a shocking conspiracy in which the publication of Charles Darwin’s controversial On the Origin of Species sets off a string of murders, arson, kidnapping, and the pursuit of a madman named the Chorister. As the investigation takes Field from the dangerous alleyways of London to the hallowed halls of Oxford, the list of possible conspirators grows, and the body count escalates. And as he edges closer to the Chorister, he uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden. Tim Mason has created a rousing page-turner that both Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would relish and envy.

Strange Revelations

Author : Lynn Wood Mollenauer
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271029153
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Strange Revelations by : Lynn Wood Mollenauer

Download or read book Strange Revelations written by Lynn Wood Mollenauer and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Affair of the Poisons was the greatest court scandal of the seventeenth century. From 1679 to 1682 the French crown investigated more than 400 people&—including Louis XIV&’s official mistress and members of the highest-ranking circles at court&—for sensational crimes. In Strange Revelations, Lynn Mollenauer brings this bizarre story to life, exposing a criminal magical underworld thriving in the heart of the Sun King&’s capital. The macabre details of the Affair of the Poisons read like a gothic novel. In the fall of 1678, Nicolas de la Reynie, head of the Paris police, uncovered a plot to poison Louis XIV. La Reynie&’s subsequent investigation unveiled a loosely knit community of sorceresses, magicians, and renegade priests who offered for sale an array of services and products ranging from abortions to love magic to poisons known as &“inheritance powders.&” It was the inheritance powders (usually made from powdered toads steeped in arsenic) that lent the Affair of the Poisons its name. The purchasers of the powders gave the affair its notoriety, for the scandal extended into the most exalted ranks of the French court. Mollenauer adroitly uses the Affair of the Poisons to uncover the hidden forms of power that men and women of all social classes invoked to achieve their goals. While the exercise of state power during the ancien r&égime was quintessentially visible&—ritually displayed through public ceremonies&—the affair exposes the simultaneous presence of other imagined and real sources of power available to the Sun King&’s subjects: magic, poison, and the manipulation of sexual passions. Highly entertaining yet deeply researched, Strange Revelations will appeal to anyone interested in the history of court society, gender, magic, or crime in early modern Europe.

Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine

Author : M. William Phelps
Publisher : Pinnacle Books
ISBN 13 : 0786035048
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (86 download)

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Book Synopsis Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine by : M. William Phelps

Download or read book Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine written by M. William Phelps and published by Pinnacle Books. This book was released on 2014-02-25 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true-crime story of a Massachusetts nurse with a dark secret, by the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Left Behind. At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, Kristen Gilbert was known as a hardworking, dedicated nurse. Yet so many emergencies and sudden deaths occurred under Kristen's watch that others jokingly called her the “Angel of Death.” No one suspected the horrifying truth: that over the course of six months, Gilbert had caused the deaths of as many as forty patients. With new insight into the sociopathic mindset of nurses who kill, and the latest details on Gilbert's ongoing prison sentence, M. William Phelps exposes how one person's good intentions went so chillingly, killingly wrong . . . Praise for Perfect Poison “True crime at its best—compelling, gripping, an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Phelps packs wallops of delight with his skillful ability to narrate a suspenseful story.” —Harvey Rachlin, award-winning author of Song and System “A compelling account of terror . . . the author dedicates himself to unmasking the psychopath with facts, insight, and the other proven methods of journalistic leg work.” —Lowell Cauffiel, New York Times bestselling author of House of Secrets Includes sixteen pages of dramatic photos

I was Saddam's Son

Author : Laṭīf Yaḥyá
Publisher : Arcade Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781559703734
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis I was Saddam's Son by : Laṭīf Yaḥyá

Download or read book I was Saddam's Son written by Laṭīf Yaḥyá and published by Arcade Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the stand-in for one of Iraq's most powerful and hated men, he participated in affairs of state, made public appearances, and, during the Gulf War, visited the troops on the front lines while Uday stayed safely in Switzerland. He also saw firsthand the horrors and absurdities of a regime based on corruption and intrigue. He was privy to unbridled scenes of debauchery, and witnessed repeated instances of torture, terror, rape, and murder.

A Poisoned Chalice

Author : Jeffrey Freedman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691002330
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis A Poisoned Chalice by : Jeffrey Freedman

Download or read book A Poisoned Chalice written by Jeffrey Freedman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2002-03-31 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wider world of German-speaking Europe, writes Jeffrey Freedman, the affair became a cause celebre, the object of a lively public debate that focused on an issue much on the minds of intellectuals in the age of Enlightenment: the problem of evil.".

Plastic

Author : Susan Freinkel
Publisher : HMH
ISBN 13 : 0547549148
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (475 download)

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Book Synopsis Plastic by : Susan Freinkel

Download or read book Plastic written by Susan Freinkel and published by HMH. This book was released on 2011-04-18 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This eloquent, elegant book thoughtfully plumbs the . . . consequences of our dependence on plastics” (The Boston Globe, A Best Nonfiction Book of 2011). From pacemakers to disposable bags, plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this eye-opening book, we’re at a crisis point. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: a comb, a chair, a Frisbee, an IV bag, a disposable lighter, a grocery bag, a soda bottle, and a credit card. With a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis, she sifts through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. Her conclusion is severe, but not without hope. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love, hate, and can’t seem to live without. “When you write about something so ubiquitous as plastic, you must be prepared to write in several modes, and Freinkel rises to this task. . . . She manages to render the most dull chemical reaction into vigorous, breathless sentences.” —SF Gate “Freinkel’s smart, well-written analysis of this love-hate relationship is likely to make plastic lovers take pause, plastic haters reluctantly realize its value, and all of us understand the importance of individual action, political will, and technological innovation in weaning us off our addiction to synthetics.” —Publishers Weekly “A compulsively interesting story. Buy it (with cash).” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature “What a great read—rigorous, smart, inspiring, and as seductive as plastic itself.” —Karim Rashid, designer

Poison

Author : John Lescroart
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501115723
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Poison by : John Lescroart

Download or read book Poison written by John Lescroart and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author whose prose “matches the best of John Grisham and Scott Turow” (Providence Journal) comes a gripping thriller featuring attorney Dismas Hardy as he investigates the murder of a wealthy man whose heirs are all potential suspects. Finally recovered from two gunshot wounds, Dismas Hardy is looking forward to easing into retirement and reconnecting with his family. But he is pulled back into the courtroom when Grant Wagner, the steely owner of a successful family business, is murdered. The prime suspect is Wagner’s bookkeeper Abby Jarvis, a former client of Hardy’s, who had been receiving large sums of cash under-the-table from the company—but she insists that she’s innocent. Preparing for trial, Dismas investigates the Wagner clan and discovers dark, twisted secrets, jealous siblings, gold-digging girlfriends, betrayals, and blackmail. The closer he gets to the Wagners, the clearer it becomes that Dismas has a target painted on his back. With razor-sharp dialogue and whip-smart plotting, Poison once again demonstrates that “Lescroart is a master craftsman” (Associated Press).

The Royal Art of Poison

Author : Eleanor Herman
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250140870
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Royal Art of Poison by : Eleanor Herman

Download or read book The Royal Art of Poison written by Eleanor Herman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Washington Independent Review of Books' 50 Favorite Books of 2018 • A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 "Morbidly witty." —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times "You’ll be as appalled at times as you are entertained." —Bustle, one of The 17 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out In June 2018 "A heady mix of erudite history and delicious gossip." —Aja Raden, author of Stoned In the Washington Post roundup, "What your favorite authors are reading this summer," A.J. Finn says, “I want to read The Royal Art of Poison, Eleanor Herman’s history of poisons." Hugely entertaining, a work of pop history that traces the use of poison as a political—and cosmetic—tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today The story of poison is the story of power. For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns, and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family’s spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots. Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications, and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with mercury and lead. Men rubbed turds on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings, and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. The most gorgeous palaces were little better than filthy latrines. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, we don’t see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines. In The Royal Art of Poison, Eleanor Herman combines her unique access to royal archives with cutting-edge forensic discoveries to tell the true story of Europe’s glittering palaces: one of medical bafflement, poisonous cosmetics, ever-present excrement, festering natural illness, and, sometimes, murder.