A shocking exploration of America’s preferred method of capital punishment.In early 2013, Robert Gleason became the latest victim of the electric chair, a peculiarly American execution method. Shouting Póg mo thóin (Kiss my ass” in Gaelic), he grinned as electricity shot through his system. When the current was switched off, his body slumped against the leather restraints, and Gleeson, who had strangled two fellow inmates to ensure his execution was not p...

In 1910 Roald Amundsen set off from Oslo toward the North Pole but soon received word that two Americans-Frederick Cook and Robert Peary-each claimed to have reached the Pole ahead of him. Devastated, Amundsen famously went south. For years Cook and Peary tried to convince the world of their claims. Finally the National Geographic Society endorsed Peary, and the matter seemed settled. In May 1926 an American airman, Richard Byrd, flew north in a three-engine plane, and returned with a log ...

Limerick is known as the Treaty City, commemorating the site where peace was made during one of Ireland’s bloody wars. However, since the 1980s the city’s reputation has been tainted by gang feuds, earning it the infamous nickname ‘Stab City’.In Blood on the Streets, Anthony Galvin explores the many notorious murders that have been perpetrated in the city over the years, including the case of Deborah Hannon, who, along with her father’s lover, Suzanne Reddan, hacked her be...

Whether you are a budding magician wanting to discover the basics of modern magic or an experienced hobbyist wanting to develop further, this book will enable you to quickly and easily master extraordinary magic tricks and skills that will astound and enthrall your audience. Using everyday objects to perform mind-boggling illusions, you will be able to become a confident and competent magician.NOT GOT MUCH TIME?One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get...

To all appearances, Kerry is an idyllic tourist destination. Yet scratch beneath its scenic surface and the sordid secrets of the county known as 'the Kingdom’ flow free like blood . . .Some of the most notorious murders in the history of Ireland have taken place in Kerry, including a two-day orgy of slaughter perpetrated by state forces during the Civil War. Another is the case of two farmers fighting over a patch of land not big enough to accommodate a picnic blanket, resulting i...

More people are afraid of public speaking than of dying. Yet, with proper preparation, giving a speech is not difficult. Anyone can learn to speak effectively.This guide lets you in on the secrets of writing a good speech, and unlocks the power of body language. You will learn how to prepare your speech, and how to deliver it with power and conviction. You will also find advice on how to control your nerves and overcome your fears.Whether you are best man, delivering a sale...

The horrific true story of serial kidnapper, rapist, and killer Robert Hansen's reign of terrorAs oil-boom money poured into Anchorage, Alaska the city quickly became a prime destination for the seedier elements of society: prostitutes, pimps, con men, and criminals of all breeds looking to cash in. However, something even worse lurked in their midst.To all who knew him, Robert Hansen was a typical hardworking businessman, husband, and father. But hidden ben...

A chilling and thoroughly researched account of the racially motivated killing of two black couples by a white mob in 1946 rural Georgia.In 1946, the bodies of two black couples—Roger and Dorothy Malcom, and George W. and Mae Murray Dorsey—were found near a bridge in rural Monroe, Georgia. Their killers were never identified, though some information would come to light: Roger was on his way home from jail; George had just returned from WWII. The crime came to be kn...

A New York Times–bestselling journalist traces a string of unsolved murders—and the botched investigation that let the New Bedford Highway Killer walk away.Over the course of seven months in 1988, eleven women disappeared off the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a gloomy, drug-addled coastal town that was once the whaling capital of the world. Nine turned up dead. Two were never found. And the perpetrator remains unknown to this day.How could ...

The true story of the Sydney River McDonald's massacre, a botched robbery that would become the most sensational murder case in Canadian history.It started with a broken conveyor belt. When the mechanical malfunction brought eighteen-year-old McDonald's employee Derek Wood into the restaurant's back room, he saw the safe and got a dangerous idea. It would be so easy to prop the back door open, allowing two friends to sneak inside and steal the money. Wood assumed th...

Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest.On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. He tried to rouse the lady of the house, the towering Belle Poulsdatter Sorenson Gunness, and he called the names of her three children—but they didn't answer, and the farmhand barely escaped aliv...

They called Meyer Lansky the Godfather of the Godfathers, the Chairman of the Board of the National Crime Syndicate, the Mafia’s banker. They credited him with a personal fortune of $300 million, with having said “We’re bigger than U.S. Steel.” He was portrayed on the screen in The Godfather, Part II as Hyman Roth, dividing up Cuba with his fellow gangsters, and more recently in Boardwalk Empire as himself, played by Anatol Yusef.