Book picks similar to
The Bombs, Bombers and Bombings of Los Angeles by Michael Digby
crime
history
non-fiction
terrorism
Backwoods Genius
Julia Scully - 2012
After his death, the contents of his studio, including thousands of glass negatives, were sold off for five dollars. For years the fragile negatives sat forgotten and deteriorating in cardboard boxes in an open carport. How did it happen, then, that the most implausible of events took place? That Disfarmer’s haunting portraits were retrieved from oblivion, that today they sell for upwards of $12,000 each at posh New York art galleries; his photographs proclaimed works of art by prestigious critics and journals and exhibited around the world? The story of Disfarmer’s rise to fame is a colorful, improbable, and ultimately fascinating one that involves an unlikely assortment of individuals. Would any of this have happened if a young New York photographer hadn't been so in love with a pretty model that he was willing to give up his career for her; if a preacher’s son from Arkansas hadn't spent 30 years in the Army Corps of Engineers mapping the U.S. from an airplane; if a magazine editor hadn't felt a strange and powerful connection to the work? The cast of characters includes these, plus a restless and wealthy young Chicago aristocrat and even a grandson of FDR. It’s a compelling story which reveals how these diverse people were part of a chain of events whose far-reaching consequences none of them could have foreseen, least of all the strange and reclusive genius of Heber Springs. Until now, the whole story has not been told.
Born or Bred? Martin Bryant: the making of a mass murderer
Robert Wainwright - 2009
On a sunny Sunday 29 years later, Carleen and Maurice Bryant's beloved first-born loaded the boot of his yellow Volvo with guns and ammunition and returned to Tasmania's historic Port Arthur settlement, scene of many idyllic childhood summers. There, the young man with the striking surfie hair and mesmeric eyes, calmly shot 35 people dead and injured another 21. His crime, the world's worst killing spree by a lone gunman, horrified the nation and changed Australia forever.Thirteen years on, Robert Wainwright and Paola Totaro, both senior news writers, delve backwards over five generations and across two hemispheres to unravel the complete story of Bryant's life and reveal why he committed this heinous crime. They have uncovered Bryant's family history, spoken to his mother, his psychiatrists, lawyer and others who knew him, to piece together the story of eccentric and disparate characters whose lives intersected – with catastrophic results. From Bryant's shocking behind-the-scenes confessions to his own 11th-hour attempt to turn back, this book asks if the Port Arthur massacre could have been prevented. And explains why it could happen again.
Hunter S. Thompson: The Playboy Interview
Hunter S. Thompson - 2012
It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is the interview with the journalist Hunter S. Thompson from the November 1974 issue.
Khaleel: Tall, Dark & Deadly (Revamped Version)
Lady Lissa - 2018
Khaleel is a respectful attorney whose family is very prominent in the community. He has everything going for him; he’s smart, successful and handsome yet still single. How can someone with so much to offer be single? When Khaleel meets the beautiful Erica, he is immediately smitten. After exchanging numbers, the two begin a whirlwind courtship that soon turns into a full- blown relationship. The only problem is the fact that Khaleel has been keeping a sinister secret from Erica. Erica is an FBI agent who recently relocated to the area and gets put on the case to track down a vicious serial killer. What will happen when she finds out the truth about her new love? Will Khaleel be able to keep Erica from finding out his secret? Will Erica’s partner Sullivan realize that he needs to move on and forget about Erica? Find out in this installment of Khaleel: Tall, Dark & Deadly…
L.E.O.: The True Stories of Lt. Wayne Cotes
Wayne Cotes - 2018
Some of his tales will seem far fetched, unless you're a cop and then you know that anything can happen - and just when you think you've seen it all, someone will surprise you.
Integration
Stephen Edger
All they want in return is a small favour.The offer seems too good to be true, and when the group calls again, demanding he integrate their laundered cash through the bank he works for, he refuses. But when Mark’s girlfriend goes missing and his brother is attacked, he begins to realise just how far the group will go to get what they want.But it’s not easy to move vast sums of money undetected, and as the pressure mounts, Mark finds himself risking everything he has to find his girlfriend and save his own life before the group and the police catch up with him.Blackmail, murder, conspiracy and money laundering: INTEGRATION is a British crime thriller set in the murky depths of the finance industry.
Citadel
Jordan Wylie - 2017
Jordan Wylie, a young man from a tough area of Blackpool where kids like him often went off the rails, chose a life in the army. He saw service in Iraq and learned to cope with the horrors he'd witnessed, then suffered an injury that blocked any chance of climbing up the military ladder. But an old army colleague suggested he join a security team on a tanker in Yemen. Ex-servicemen were offered dazzling salaries and `James Bond' lifestyles between jobs protecting the super-tankers carrying consumer goods to Europe and the US. However, for the men tempted to go, the price they paid was the claustrophobia and isolation of life on board and the ever-present possibility of death skimming towards them across the vast, lonely blue sea. Jordan was one of these men. In Citadel, he writes the first account of these dangerous years from someone 'at the front'. A young soldier from the backstreets of Blackpool, he was determined to make the most of his life, but unsure of the way forward. To his surprise, he found his answers in the perilous waters of 'Pirate Alley'.
True Crime UK: Real Criminal Cases From Great Britain (True Crime International English)
Adrian Langenscheid - 2020
She Was a Good Girl 'Til She Knew Me
Kellz Kimberly - 2017
This reigns true when it comes to seventeen year old Promyse White. Stuck with a mother who couldn’t care less about her, she takes on the role of an adult. Stealing clothes from Rainbow to working as a bartender under the books at a strip club. Promyse is trying her best to keep her head held high and not let certain choices define her. At twenty years old, Smoke is ready to take the drug world by storm and sit at his rightful place as head of The Throne. Being the only son to the infamous Sha Boogie comes with its perks, but not enough to keep Smoke idly sitting on the side lines. When an opportunity presents itself, he steps up and does what any real n*gga would do; teach his father a lesson on how scared money don’t make no money. Setting a chain of future events into motion, he finally gets the chance to run things. With his new found status, he’s feeling invincible, all the while never expecting to hear the word no. For Smoke, it was lust at first sight, but for Promyse, it was not gonna get it at first words. Not being one to chase but loving the chase Promyse sets him on, his goal is to do one thing & one thing only. Turning a good girl bad comes natural to some, but turning a good girl from the hood into the savage from the block takes a special kind of talent, one that only a few men possess. Smoke believes he’s one of the few, but to be honest... nah, read and find out the rest