The Last Job The Bad Grandpas And The Hatton Garden Heist

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The Last Job: "The Bad Grandpas" and the Hatton Garden Heist

Author : Dan Bilefsky
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393609529
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis The Last Job: "The Bad Grandpas" and the Hatton Garden Heist by : Dan Bilefsky

Download or read book The Last Job: "The Bad Grandpas" and the Hatton Garden Heist written by Dan Bilefsky and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive account of one of the most brazen jewel heists in history. Over Easter weekend 2015, a motley crew of six English thieves, several in their sixties and seventies, couldn’t resist coming out of retirement for one last career-topping heist. Their target: the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit, in the heart of London’s medieval diamond district. “The Firm” included Brian Reader, ringleader and legend in his own mind; Terry Perkins, a tough-as-nails career criminal but also a frail diabetic; Danny Jones, a fitness freak, crime enthusiast, and fabulist; Carl Wood, an extra pair of hands, and definitely more brawn than brains; John “Kenny” Collins, getaway driver, prone to falling asleep on the job; and the mysterious Basil, a red-wigged associate who has only now been identified. Perhaps not the smoothest of criminals—one took a public bus to the scene of the crime; another read Forensics for Dummies in hopes he would learn how to avoid getting caught—they planned the job over fish and chips at their favorite pubs. They were cantankerous and coarse, dubbed the “Bad Grandpas” by British tabloids, and were often as likely to complain about one another as the current state of the country. Still, these analog thieves in a digital age managed to disable a high-security alarm system and drill through twenty inches of reinforced concrete, walking away with a stunning haul of at least $19 million in jewels, gold, diamonds, family heirlooms, and cash. Veteran reporter and former London correspondent for the New York Times Dan Bilefsky draws on unrivaled access to the leading officers on the case at the Flying Squad, the legendary Scotland Yard unit that hunted the gang, as well as notorious criminals from London’s shadowy underworld, to offer a gripping account of how these unassuming criminal masterminds nearly pulled off one of the great heists of the century.

Six Days in August: The Story of Stockholm Syndrome

Author : David King
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393635090
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis Six Days in August: The Story of Stockholm Syndrome by : David King

Download or read book Six Days in August: The Story of Stockholm Syndrome written by David King and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rollicking account of the bizarre hostage drama that gave rise to the term "Stockholm syndrome." On the morning of August 23, 1973, a man wearing a wig, makeup, and a pair of sunglasses walked into the main branch of Sveriges Kreditbank, a prominent bank in central Stockholm. He ripped out a submachine gun, fired it into the ceiling, and shouted, "The party starts!" This was the beginning of a six-day hostage crisis—and media circus—that would mesmerize the world, drawing into its grip everyone from Sweden’s most notorious outlaw to the prime minister himself. As policemen and reporters encircled the bank, the crime-in-progress turned into a high-stakes thriller broadcast on live television. Inside the building, meanwhile, complicated emotional relationships developed between captors and captives that would launch a remarkable new concept into the realm of psychology, hostage negotiation, and popular culture. Based on a wealth of previously unpublished sources, including rare film footage and unprecedented access to the main participants, Six Days in August captures the surreal events in their entirety, on an almost minute-by-minute basis. It is a rich human drama that blurs the lines between loyalty and betrayal, obedience and defiance, fear and attraction—and a groundbreaking work of nonfiction that forces us to consider "Stockholm syndrome" in an entirely new light.

RatSnakes

Author : Vincent A. Cefalu
Publisher : BenBella Books
ISBN 13 : 1948836254
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (488 download)

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Book Synopsis RatSnakes by : Vincent A. Cefalu

Download or read book RatSnakes written by Vincent A. Cefalu and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get ready to infiltrate the dangerous, secret world of criminals and cover identities by way of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)—where the world's greatest undercover agents are known as RatSnakes. RatSnakes are rarely, if ever, visible to the public they move among and risk their lives to protect. In fact, thanks to their cover personas, they're often assumed to be members of the clandestine criminal world they investigate. Real-life undercover work is a far cry from the sexy, candy-colored world you've seen in Hollywood movies. Only those strong and clever enough get inside and survive. Vincent A. Cefalu would know. He spent 30 years as an ATF undercover operative, in assignments ranging from the Symbionese Liberation Army to Asian organized crime. He has infiltrated notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs as well as splinter groups of the Ku Klux Klan, and in RatSnakes he provides a transparent look at the organization and the operatives with whom he risked his life. Part field guide, part heart-pounding thrill-ride, Cefalu takes readers on a tour of what it's like to confront death on a daily basis. En route, he gives us a look at the on-the-job techniques of kicking in doors, orchestrating "street theater" to ensnare criminals, and making high-stakes gun buys. His irreverent, explicit stories from the inside are a mix of danger and unexpected hilarity that will have readers laughing one minute and then biting their nails when things break bad. Immersive and brutal, RatSnakes offers an in-depth and eye-opening look into the lives of an elite group of men and women who volunteer to do things most couldn't and wouldn't stomach. Civilians with common sense and good judgment run from danger, while RatSnakes sprint toward it—smiling.

Inside the Vault

Author : Amil Dinsio
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781939758040
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (58 download)

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Book Synopsis Inside the Vault by : Amil Dinsio

Download or read book Inside the Vault written by Amil Dinsio and published by . This book was released on 2013-11-06 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of dollars sat in a small, non-descript bank perched on a hill in the quiet town of Laguna Niguel in Orange County. But deep within its vaults was a secret: millions of dollars in illegally obtained funds belonging to none other than President Richard Nixon. Those stolen funds would not remain Nixon's for long. Over the weekend of March 24, 1972, a crew of bank burglars from Youngstown, Ohio orchestrated a burglary of the vault, which would eventually result in a score of over twelve million dollars - the biggest bank vault burglary in U.S. history. This book tells the remarkable true story of that burglary, written by the real-life mastermind who planned it: Amil Dinsio, one of the most successful and prolific bank robbers and burglars of the 1960s and 70s. Dinsio reveals not only the technical details on how the crime was committed, but also how the perfect burglary was undone by the FBI's dirty tricks.

American Sherlock

Author : Kate Winkler Dawson
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525539573
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis American Sherlock by : Kate Winkler Dawson

Download or read book American Sherlock written by Kate Winkler Dawson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed author of Death in the Air ("Not since Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale"--Douglas Preston) comes the riveting story of the birth of criminal investigation in the twentieth century. Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities--beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners, and hundreds upon hundreds of books--sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least two thousand cases in his forty-year career. Known as the "American Sherlock Holmes," Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest--and first--forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural. Heinrich was one of the nation's first expert witnesses, working in a time when the turmoil of Prohibition led to sensationalized crime reporting and only a small, systematic study of evidence. However with his brilliance, and commanding presence in both the courtroom and at crime scenes, Heinrich spearheaded the invention of a myriad of new forensic tools that police still use today, including blood spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests, and the use of fingerprints as courtroom evidence. His work, though not without its serious--some would say fatal--flaws, changed the course of American criminal investigation. Based on years of research and thousands of never-before-published primary source materials, American Sherlock captures the life of the man who pioneered the science our legal system now relies upon--as well as the limits of those techniques and the very human experts who wield them.

How to Solve a Murder: True Stories from a Life in Forensic Medicine

Author : Derek Tremain
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
ISBN 13 : 0008404895
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Solve a Murder: True Stories from a Life in Forensic Medicine by : Derek Tremain

Download or read book How to Solve a Murder: True Stories from a Life in Forensic Medicine written by Derek Tremain and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As gripping as it is gruesome, How to Solve a Murder is a fascinating insight into the career of a forensic scientist told by experts in the field. Includes a foreword from Dr Richard Shepherd, bestselling author of Unnatural Causes.

The Devil's Diary

Author : Robert K. Wittman
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062319035
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis The Devil's Diary by : Robert K. Wittman

Download or read book The Devil's Diary written by Robert K. Wittman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking World War II narrative wrapped in a riveting detective story, The Devil’s Diary investigates the disappearance of a private diary penned by one of Adolf Hitler’s top aides—Alfred Rosenberg, his “chief philosopher”—and mines its long-hidden pages to deliver a fresh, eye-opening account of the Nazi rise to power and the genesis of the Holocaust An influential figure in Adolf Hitler’s early inner circle from the start, Alfred Rosenberg made his name spreading toxic ideas about the Jews throughout Germany. By the dawn of the Third Reich, he had published a bestselling masterwork that was a touchstone of Nazi thinking. His diary was discovered hidden in a Bavarian castle at war’s end—five hundred pages providing a harrowing glimpse into the mind of a man whose ideas set the stage for the Holocaust. Prosecutors examined it during the Nuremberg war crimes trial, but after Rosenberg was convicted, sentenced, and executed, it mysteriously vanished. New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Wittman, who as an FBI agent and then a private consultant specialized in recovering artifacts of historic significance, first learned of the diary in 2001, when the chief archivist for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum contacted him to say that someone was trying to sell it for upwards of a million dollars. The phone call sparked a decade-long hunt that took them on a twisting path involving a pair of octogenarian secretaries, an eccentric professor, and an opportunistic trash-picker. From the crusading Nuremberg prosecutor who smuggled the diary out of Germany to the man who finally turned it over, everyone had reasons for hiding the truth. Drawing on Rosenberg’s entries about his role in the seizure of priceless artwork and the brutal occupation of the Soviet Union, his conversations with Hitler and his endless rivalries with Göring, Goebbels, and Himmler, The Devil’s Diary offers vital historical insight of unprecedented scope and intimacy into the innermost workings of the Nazi regime—and into the psyche of the man whose radical vision mutated into the Final Solution.

After the Oracle

Author : Shane Anderson
Publisher : Deep Vellum Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1646051475
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis After the Oracle by : Shane Anderson

Download or read book After the Oracle written by Shane Anderson and published by Deep Vellum Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2016, Shane Anderson made a vow to live according to the four core values of the Golden State Warriors to escape a decade of defeats—including divorce, debilitating spinal surgery and a suicide attempt. The basketball team’s values of joy, mindfulness, compassion, and competition became Anderson’s guiding principles, providing him a lens to investigate a myriad of social, personal, philosophical, and political issues, such as homelessness, the promises and failures of rave culture, and the limits of self-help. Part memoir, part essay, and part chronicle of the greatest five-year stretch of a team in NBA history, After the Oracle depicts the makes and misses of one expat trying to make a life worth living.

Diamond Geezers

Author : Kris Hollington
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781839013799
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (137 download)

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Book Synopsis Diamond Geezers by : Kris Hollington

Download or read book Diamond Geezers written by Kris Hollington and published by . This book was released on 2022-02-03 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 2000, the most audacious crime ever attempted in Britain took place: the broad daylight theft of a diamond collection worth £350 million from the infamous Millennium Dome by a gang armed only with smoke bombs, stink bombs, a JCB, a speedboat and, bizarrely, a Catherine wheel firework. The Diamond Geezers, a motley crew of petty criminals from south-east London, were desperate for cash and had nothing to lose; the gems were in a poorly guarded tent by the river - how hard could it be? For the first time since that extraordinary day, author Kris Hollington lays bare the bones of the case, investigating the Diamond Geezers, the police, Dome workers and De Beers employees to get to the heart of the heist. Discover who was crazy enough to want to buy the hottest diamonds in the world, as well as the shocking secrets of the planet's most precious diamond collection. From the crime's conception and execution to the notorious trial and appeal, it's a gripping account of a remarkable true crime. Praise for Diamond Geezers: 'Sensational... Explosive...' - News of the World 'Kris Hollington has delved into the criminal underworld and spoken to sources from the police and De Beers to uncover a fascinating account of the event... a story of bungling ineptitude, audacity in the face of logic and disaster on a spectacular scale. A very British tragi-comedy... With echoes of the Ealing comedies and The Italian Job, it sounds like a box office hit' - This is London Kris Hollington is a bestselling author of over twenty books, several of which have been adapted for TV documentaries and dramas. On both sides, there was everything at stake. This is the unbelievable story of the Crime of the Millennium.

The Seven Ages of Death

Author : Richard Shepherd
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 1405947101
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis The Seven Ages of Death by : Richard Shepherd

Download or read book The Seven Ages of Death written by Richard Shepherd and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heart-wrenchingly honest and fascinating new book from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of UNNATURAL CAUSES, Dr Richard Shepherd A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Each chapter is like a finely-crafted detective story . . . Shepherd writes beautifully, and despite its subject, the book is very funny in parts' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Enlightening, strangely uplifting . . . Shepherd's final chapter on death itself is a meditation of great beauty and light which puts all the darkness of the previous pages into perspective' DAILY MAIL 'Deeply insightful. Unflinching' THE TIMES 'Fascinating' DAILY EXPRESS 'This book is about death, but in it I will take readers on a journey through life . . .' _________ Dr Richard Shepherd, Britain's top forensic pathologist, has spent a lifetime close to the dead. As a medical detective, each autopsy he carries out is its own unique investigation, uncovering the secrets not only of how a person died, but also of how they lived. Through twenty-four of his most intriguing, enlightening and never-before-told cases, Dr Shepherd shares autopsies that span the seven ages of human existence, and have taught him as much about the marvels of life as the inevitability of death. From old to young, from murder to misadventure, and from illness to accidental death, each of these bodies has something to reveal: about human development, about mortality, about its owner's life story, about justice and even about Shepherd himself. From the bestselling author of Unnatural Causes comes a powerful, moving and above all reassuring book about death as it touches our own lives - how to understand it, and, when our time comes (as it must), how to embrace it as the last great adventure. _________ 'He has the ability to examine himself and other people with the same forensic eye that he applies to corpses - one of the reasons why his books feel so life-enhancing' Daily Telegraph Praise for Dr Richard Shepherd 'Gripping, grimly fascinating, and I suspect I'll read it at least twice' Evening Standard 'A deeply mesmerising memoir of forensic pathology. Human and fascinating' Nigella Lawson 'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that but it's fascinating' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 'Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel' Guardian 'Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing' Richard and Judy, Daily Express 'Fascinating, insightful, candid, compassionate' Observer

A Witness of Fact

Author : Drew Rooke
Publisher : Scribe Us
ISBN 13 : 9781957363158
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (631 download)

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Book Synopsis A Witness of Fact by : Drew Rooke

Download or read book A Witness of Fact written by Drew Rooke and published by Scribe Us. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The compelling story of South Australia's disgraced former chief forensic pathologist and the legal scandals in which he became implicated. For nearly three decades, Dr Colin Manock was in charge of South Australia's forensic pathology services, and played a vital role within the state's criminal justice system: in cases of unexpected or unexplained death, it was his job to determine when a person took their final breath and whether they had died naturally or as a result of something more sinister. Throughout his long career, he performed more than 10,000 autopsies and gave expert scientific evidence in court that helped secure approximately 400 criminal convictions. But, remarkably, Manock, a self-described "witness of fact", did not have the necessary training for such a senior, specialist role, and he made serious errors in several major cases--with tragic consequences, including the apparently wrongful imprisonment of innocent people. The full extent of his wrongdoing and the exact number of cases impacted by it remains a mystery more than twenty-five years after he retired, due to the continuing refusal of those in power to heed calls to launch a formal inquiry into his career. In this book, Rooke examines several of Manock's most controversial cases, and speaks with many of his former colleagues, people directly impacted by his flawed work, and legal experts. At its heart, A Witness of Fact is about how an entire legal system has failed badly, how unsafe verdicts have been swept under the carpet--and how forensic evidence that is admitted in courts of law in Australia and across the world is dubious more often than we would like to think.

The Seven Ages of Death

Author : Dr Richard Shepherd
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 140594711X
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis The Seven Ages of Death by : Dr Richard Shepherd

Download or read book The Seven Ages of Death written by Dr Richard Shepherd and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-09-02 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heart-wrenchingly honest new book about life and death from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of UNNATURAL CAUSES, Dr Richard Shepherd A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Deeply insightful. Unflinching' THE TIMES 'A finely-crafted detective story' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Enlightening, strangely uplifting' DAILY MAIL 'Fascinating' DAILY EXPRESS _________ Dr Richard Shepherd, a medical detective and Britain's top forensic pathologist, shares twenty-four of his most intriguing, enlightening and never-before-told cases. These autopsies, spanning the seven ages of human existence, uncover the secrets not only of how a person died, but also of how they lived. From old to young, murder to misadventure, and illness to accidental death, each body has something to reveal - about its owner's life story, how we age, justice, society, the certainty of death. And, above all, the wonderful marvel of life itself. _________ Praise for Dr Richard Shepherd 'Gripping, grimly fascinating, and I suspect I'll read it at least twice' Evening Standard 'A deeply mesmerising memoir of forensic pathology. Human and fascinating' Nigella Lawson 'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that but it's fascinating' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 'Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel' Guardian 'Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing' Richard and Judy, Daily Express 'Fascinating, insightful, candid, compassionate' Observer

Trapped Under the Sea

Author : Neil Swidey
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307886735
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Trapped Under the Sea by : Neil Swidey

Download or read book Trapped Under the Sea written by Neil Swidey and published by Crown. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results A quarter-century ago, Boston had the dirtiest harbor in America. The city had been dumping sewage into it for generations, coating the seafloor with a layer of “black mayonnaise.” Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals referred to floating tampon applicators as “beach whistles.” In the 1990s, work began on a state-of-the-art treatment plant and a 10-mile-long tunnel—its endpoint stretching farther from civilization than the earth’s deepest ocean trench—to carry waste out of the harbor. With this impressive feat of engineering, Boston was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. But when bad decisions and clashing corporations endangered the project, a team of commercial divers was sent on a perilous mission to rescue the stymied cleanup effort. Five divers went in; not all of them came out alive. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents collected over five years of reporting, award-winning writer Neil Swidey takes us deep into the lives of the divers, engineers, politicians, lawyers, and investigators involved in the tragedy and its aftermath, creating a taut, action-packed narrative. The climax comes just after the hard-partying DJ Gillis and his friend Billy Juse trade assignments as they head into the tunnel, sentencing one of them to death. An intimate portrait of the wreckage left in the wake of lives lost, the book—which Dennis Lehane calls "extraordinary" and compares with The Perfect Storm—is also a morality tale. What is the true cost of these large-scale construction projects, as designers and builders, emboldened by new technology and pressured to address a growing population’s rapacious needs, push the limits of the possible? This is a story about human risk—how it is calculated, discounted, and transferred—and the institutional failures that can lead to catastrophe. Suspenseful yet humane, Trapped Under the Sea reminds us that behind every bridge, tower, and tunnel—behind the infrastructure that makes modern life possible—lies unsung bravery and extraordinary sacrifice.

Spying on the South

Author : Tony Horwitz
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101980303
Total Pages : 514 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Spying on the South by : Tony Horwitz

Download or read book Spying on the South written by Tony Horwitz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times-bestselling final book by the beloved, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Tony Horwitz. With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on the trail of America's greatest landscape architect. In the 1850s, the young Frederick Law Olmsted was adrift, a restless farmer and dreamer in search of a mission. He found it during an extraordinary journey, as an undercover correspondent in the South for the up-and-coming New York Times. For the Connecticut Yankee, pen name "Yeoman," the South was alien, often hostile territory. Yet Olmsted traveled for 14 months, by horseback, steamboat, and stagecoach, seeking dialogue and common ground. His vivid dispatches about the lives and beliefs of Southerners were revelatory for readers of his day, and Yeoman's remarkable trek also reshaped the American landscape, as Olmsted sought to reform his own society by creating democratic spaces for the uplift of all. The result: Central Park and Olmsted's career as America's first and foremost landscape architect. Tony Horwitz rediscovers Yeoman Olmsted amidst the discord and polarization of our own time. Is America still one country? In search of answers, and his own adventures, Horwitz follows Olmsted's tracks and often his mode of transport (including muleback): through Appalachia, down the Mississippi River, into bayou Louisiana, and across Texas to the contested Mexican borderland. Venturing far off beaten paths, Horwitz uncovers bracing vestiges and strange new mutations of the Cotton Kingdom. Horwitz's intrepid and often hilarious journey through an outsized American landscape is a masterpiece in the tradition of Great Plains, Bad Land, and the author's own classic, Confederates in the Attic.

Labyrinth of Ice

Author : Buddy Levy
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250182204
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Labyrinth of Ice by : Buddy Levy

Download or read book Labyrinth of Ice written by Buddy Levy and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Outdoor Book Awards Winner Winner of the BANFF Adventure Travel Award “A thrilling and harrowing story. If it’s a cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down, well, too bad: I couldn’t put this book down.” —Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins “Polar exploration is utter madness. It is the insistence of life where life shouldn’t exist. And so, Labyrinth of Ice shows you exactly what happens when the unstoppable meets the unmovable. Buddy Levy outdoes himself here. The details and story are magnificent.” —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration. In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global maps. Their goal: Farthest North. What would follow was one of the most extraordinary and terrible voyages ever made. Greely and his men confronted every possible challenge—vicious wolves, sub-zero temperatures, and months of total darkness—as they set about exploring one of the most remote, unrelenting environments on the planet. In May 1882, they broke the 300-year-old record, and returned to camp to eagerly await the resupply ship scheduled to return at the end of the year. Only nothing came. 250 miles south, a wall of ice prevented any rescue from reaching them. Provisions thinned and a second winter descended. Back home, Greely’s wife worked tirelessly against government resistance to rally a rescue mission. Months passed, and Greely made a drastic choice: he and his men loaded the remaining provisions and tools onto their five small boats, and pushed off into the treacherous waters. After just two weeks, dangerous floes surrounded them. Now new dangers awaited: insanity, threats of mutiny, and cannibalism. As food dwindled and the men weakened, Greely's expedition clung desperately to life. Labyrinth of Ice tells the true story of the heroic lives and deaths of these voyagers hell-bent on fame and fortune—at any cost—and how their journey changed the world.

The Confidence Men

Author : Margalit Fox
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1984853864
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (848 download)

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Book Synopsis The Confidence Men by : Margalit Fox

Download or read book The Confidence Men written by Margalit Fox and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The Great Escape for the Great War: the astonishing true story of two World War I prisoners who pulled off one of the most ingenious escapes of all time. FINALIST FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR • “Fox unspools Jones and Hill’s delightfully elaborate scheme in nail-biting episodes that advance like a narrative Rube Goldberg machine.”—The New York Times Book Review Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors. To stave off despair and boredom, Jones takes a handmade Ouija board and fakes elaborate séances for his fellow prisoners. Word gets around, and one day an Ottoman official approaches Jones with a query: Could Jones contact the spirit world to find a vast treasure rumored to be buried nearby? Jones, a trained lawyer, and Hill, a brilliant magician, use the Ouija board—and their keen understanding of the psychology of deception—to build a trap for their captors that will ultimately lead them to freedom. A gripping nonfiction thriller, The Confidence Men is the story of one of the only known con games played for a good cause—and of a profound but unlikely friendship. Had it not been for “the Great War,” Jones, the Oxford-educated son of a British lord, and Hill, a mechanic on an Australian sheep ranch, would never have met. But in pain, loneliness, hunger, and isolation, they formed a powerful emotional and intellectual alliance that saved both of their lives. Margalit Fox brings her “nose for interesting facts, the ability to construct a taut narrative arc, and a Dickens-level gift for concisely conveying personality” (Kathryn Schulz, New York) to this tale of psychological strategy that is rife with cunning, danger, and moments of high farce that rival anything in Catch-22.

Pappyland

Author : Wright Thompson
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0735221251
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (352 download)

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Book Synopsis Pappyland by : Wright Thompson

Download or read book Pappyland written by Wright Thompson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller! “A warm and loving reflection that, like good bourbon, will stand the test of time.” —Eric Asimov, The New York Times The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply. Following his father’s death decades ago, Julian Van Winkle stepped in to try to save the bourbon business his grandfather had founded on the mission statement: “We make fine bourbon—at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.” With the company in its wilderness years, Julian committed to safeguarding his namesake’s legacy or going down with the ship. Then he discovered that hundreds of barrels from the family distillery had survived their sale to a multinational conglomerate. The whiskey that Julian produced after recovering those barrels would immediately be hailed as the greatest in the world—and soon would be the hardest to find. Once they had been used up, a fresh challenge began: preserving the taste of Pappy in a new age. Wright Thompson was invited to ride along as Julian undertook the task. From the Van Winkle family, Wright learned not only about great bourbon but about complicated legacies and the rewards of honoring your people and your craft—lessons that he couldn’t help but apply to his own work and life. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Pappyland.