Kirjahaku

Long before his finest hour as Britain's wartime leader, Winston Churchill emerged on the world stage as a brazen foreign correspondent, covering wars of empire in Cuba, India, the Sudan, and South Africa.In those far-flung corners of the world, reporting from the front lines between 1895 and 1900, Churchill mastered his celebrated command of language and formed strong opinions about war. He thought little of his own personal safety, so convinced was he of his destiny, jumping at any chance to be where bullets flew and canons roared. "I have faith in my star- that I am intended to do something in the world," he wrote to his mother at the age of twenty-three before heading into battle.Based on his private letters and war reportage, Winston Churchill Reporting intertwines young Winston's daring exploits in combat, adventures in distant corners of the globe, and rise as a major literary talent- experiences that shaped the world leader he was to become.

The sea had become a mass grave by 1941 as Hitler's four capital warships--Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Tirpitz, and Bismarck, the largest warship on the ocean--roamed the wind-swept waves, threatening the Allied war effort and sending thousands of men to the icy depths of the North Atlantic. Bristling with guns and steeled in heavy armor, these reapers of the sea could outrun and outgun any battleship in the Allied arsenal. The deadly menace kept Winston Churchill awake at night; he deemed them "targets of supreme consequence."The campaign against Hitler's surface fleet would continue into the dying days of World War II and involve everything from massive warships engaged in bloody, fire-drenched battle to daring commando raids in German occupied harbors. This is the fast-paced story of the Allied bomber crews, brave sailors, and bold commandoes who "sunk the Bismarck" and won a hard-fought victory over Hitler's iron sea.Using official war diaries, combat reports, eyewitness accounts and personal letters, Simon Read brings the action and adventure to vivid life. The result is an enthralling and gripping story of the Allied heroes who fought on a watery battlefield.

In March and April of 1944, Gestapo gunmen killed fifty POWs--a brutal act in defiance of international law and the Geneva Conventions. This is the true story of the men who hunted them down. The mass breakout of seventy-six Allied airmen from the infamous Stalag Luft III became one of the greatest tales of World War II, immortalized in the film The Great Escape. But where Hollywood's depiction fades to black, another incredible story begins . . . Not long after the escape, fifty of the recaptured airmen were taken to killing fields throughout Germany and shot on the direct orders of Hitler. When the nature of these killings came to light, Churchill's government swore to pursue justice at any cost. A revolving team of military police, led by squadron leader Francis P. McKenna, was dispatched to pick up a trail long gone cold. Amid the chaos of postwar Germany, divided between American, British, French, and Russian occupiers, McKenna led a three-year manhunt that brought twenty-one Gestapo killers to justice. In Human Game, Simon Read delivers a clear-eyed and meticulously researched account of this often overlooked saga of hard-won justice. INCLUDES PHOTOS

The blackout went into effect three days before the declaration of war and transformed nocturnal London into a criminal’s paradise. As the city pulled together in the face of terrible adversity, the bomb-ravaged streets became the stalking grounds for killers, rapists, looters and gangs. The number of bodies retrieved during the Blitz made it impossible for the authorities to autopsy them all, providing cover to those who worked with blades, guns and more sinister tools. Scotland Yard – its resources stretched to the limit – did its best to tackle a rogues’ gallery born of bombs and blackout, and crimes that continue to fascinate from history’s darkest corners. In Dark City, award-winning crime writer Simon Read paints a vivid picture of the other side of wartime London, from the Blackout Ripper and the Acid Bath Murders, to the notorious Rillington Place killer and his house of corpses.

On Wednesday 14 February 1945, the body of Charles Walton was discovered on the lower slopes of Meon Hill near the sleepy Warwickshire village of Lower Quinton, his torso pinned to the ground by a pitchfork. Myths and rumours soon swirled about the crime. Accounts claim Walton, a retired labourer and a lifelong resident of Lower Quinton, was believed by many to be a clairvoyant who could talk to birds and exercise control over animals. It has even been reported that many villagers attributed Walton’s death to ritual witchcraft. But what is fact and what is fiction? The most famous police officer in Britain, Chief Inspector Robert Fabian, was promptly dispatched by Scotland Yard to solve this increasingly peculiar and foreboding mystery. ‘Fabian of the Yard’ was not a man prone to superstition and had dealt with some of the most notorious killers of his time – but there was something strange about the Walton murder. Did the clues point to ritual witchcraft as the modus operandi, or was the black magic angle merely a ruse? With the villagers unable – or unwilling – to shed light on the matter, Fabian faced, for the only time in his glittering career, the daunting prospect of failure. The Case That Foiled Fabian lays out for the first time what actually happened and distills the truth from the many myths about this case that are today mistaken for facts.

After the "Great Escape", The Hunt for the Killers of Stalag Luft III.

From the acclaimed military history author, this action-packed World War II history describes the Allies' brutal naval engagements and daring harbor raids to destroy the backbone of Hitler's surface fleet.The sea had become a mass grave by 1941 as Hitler's four capital warships -- Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Tirpitz, and Bismarck, the largest warship on the ocean -- roamed the wind-swept waves, threatening the Allied war effort and sending thousands of men to the icy depths of the North Atlantic. Bristling with guns and steeled in heavy armor, these reapers of the sea could outrun and outgun any battleship in the Allied arsenal. The deadly menace kept Winston Churchill awake at night; he deemed them "targets of supreme consequence."The campaign against Hitler's surface fleet would continue into the dying days of World War II and involve everything from massive warships engaged in bloody, fire-drenched battle to daring commando raids in German occupied harbors. This is the fast-paced story of the Allied bomber crews, brave sailors, and bold commandoes who "sunk the Bismarck" and won a hard-fought victory over Hitler's iron sea.Using official war diaries, combat reports, eyewitness accounts and personal letters, Simon Read brings the action and adventure to vivid life. The result is an enthralling and gripping story of the Allied heroes who fought on a watery battlefield.

'A true crime history that reads like a thriller ... a foggy, lamp-lit descent into the chilling cases that established the Yard's reputation. A macabre and fascinating page-turner.' John Douglas, co-author of Mindhunter"A great true crime history that reads like one of the best page-turning thrillers ... Riveting" The Sunday PostFrom the victims of a teenage murderess to dismembered corpses in train station luggage racks, London is home to some of the most macabre and gruesome murders in history. And for more than 200 years, Scotland Yard has built its name and reputation pursuing death merchants, psychopaths and serial killers.From its inception in 1829 up to the eve of World War II, Scotland Yard: A Bloody History tells the full story of how the Yard developed and advanced modern crime-fighting techniques one infamous case at a time.Following detectives in pursuits across the sea, midnight hunts through Whitechapel and a grand manor death that inspired many a murder mystery, this enthralling book shows how the Yard helped pioneer bloodstain analysis, criminal profiling, fingerprinting, ballistics and more to 'catch their man' (or, sometimes, woman).Filled with stories of devious poisonings, drownings, stabbings, decapitations, shootings and - of course - Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard is a thrilling look into some of the most horrific crimes in history - and what it takes to bring a murderer to justice.

'A true crime history that reads like a thriller . . . A macabre and fascinating page-turner' John Douglas, bestselling co-author of Mindhunter 'A great true crime history that reads like one of the best page-turning thrillers . . . Riveting' Sunday Post 'Scotland Yard: A Bloody History is beautifully researched, elegantly written, and brimming with vivid characters and detail' Daniel Stashower, bestselling author of American Demon 'Triumphant . . . Indispensable for anyone drawn to true crime and the darker districts of history' Lindsey Fitzharris, bestselling author of The Butchering Art 'Scotland Yard is a riveting and novelistic deep dive into the true history of one of the world's great institutions . . . essential reading for anyone even mildly curious about the history of investigative technique' Alex Grecian, bestselling author of The YardKatherine Webster: dismembered and gutted her former employer, boiling the parts down into a sludge and selling it to the local pub as the 'best dripping'.George Joseph Smith: married several women under different aliases, only to drown each of them while they bathed. Patrick Mahon: swept pregnant Emily Kay off her feet and brought her to his house of horrors, where he chopped her up into 37 different pieces and torched her bones.From the torched bones to the dismembered bodies hidden in haystacks, London has been home to some of the most gruesome murders in history. Based on official case files, trial transcripts and first-hand accounts, Scotland Yard follows some of their most notorious murders to look at how they pushed the police force to its limit, forcing them to grow and develop new techniques. Filled with stories of decapitation, public executions, poisoning and more, Scotland Yard is a fascinating look into some of the most horrific crimes in history and how they've shaped the police force into what it is today.

In the Prohibition era, the speakeasies of New York City provide some much-needed respite, particularly for the likes of Michael Malloy, an isolated Irish immigrant. But times are tough and for an unlikely group of associates – a bar owner, an undertaker, a greengrocer, a cabbie and a local gangster – desperate times call for desperate measures. And so, a simple plan is hatched: take out life insurance on the unsuspecting Michael Malloy and help him along to an early grave. What follows is a sinister concoction of poisoned alcohol, shots of antifreeze, tainted oysters, sardine sandwiches laced with glass, overnight exposure to freezing temperatures, and assault by taxicab. But ‘Iron Mike’ Malloy survives it all – until he doesn’t. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and based on police reports, court records, and the colourful tabloid reporting of the day, The Many Murders of Michael Malloy details a crime so convoluted, so staggering in its audacity, authorities refused to believe it until the irrefutable evidence revealed ‘the most grotesque chain of events in New York criminal history’, securing Malloy’s status as a true crime folk hero.

Amid the carnage and destruction of the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command's efforts to blast Germany into submission would emerge as one of the bloodiest and most protracted campaigns of the war - this is the story of those who braved the killing skies of Nazi Germany.

From Bremen to Berlin, Simon Read follows the supreme effort of the RAF to take the war to Germany. As Churchill pointed out, the fighter might win the battle, but the bomber would win the war. According to Goebbels himself, one had only to look into the eyes of Arthur Harris, C-in-C Bomber Command, to see an unquenchable thirst for blood and a passion for slaughter. For some this would seem to be the highest praise, considering its source; for others, the burning of Dresden was a war crime. The author meets the controversy head-on.

Lontoon poliisin verinen historiaToimittaja Simon Readin Scotland Yard: Kuuluisimmat murhatutkinnat kuvaa maailmankuulun poliisilaitoksen vaiheita uraauurtavien rikostapausten kautta.Scotland Yard on maailman ensimmäinen moderni, ammattimainen ja keskitetysti järjestäytynyt poliisiorganisaatio. Se on ollut esikuvana maailmanlaajuisesti ja edistänyt uraauurtavien rikosteknisten menetelmien käyttöä aina sormenjälkitutkimuksesta ballistiikkaan ja rikollisprofilointiin.Scotland Yard: Kuuluisimmat murhatutkinnat kertoo tämän arvostetun poliisiorganisaation tarinan sen historian kuuluisimpien tutkimusten kautta. Rikosteknistä tutkintaa ovat tahtomattaan edistäneet muun muassa:Kotiapulainen Katherine Webster, joka paloitteli ja suolisti entisen työnantajansa, keitti ruumiinosat liemeksi ja myi sen paikalliselle pubille ”parhaana rasvana”.Vararikkoon mennyt leipuri George Joseph Smith, joka meni naimisiin useiden naisten kanssa eri nimillä ja hukutti kunkin heistä kylpyammeeseen.Myyntimies Patrick Mahon, joka vietteli raskaana olleen Emily Kayn, tappoi hänet ja paloitteli 37 osaan.Simon Readin teos on kiehtova katsaus eräisiin historian kauheimpiin rikoksiin ja siihen, kuinka ne ovat kehittäneet Scotland Yardia ja muuttaneet rikostutkintaa kautta maailman.Simon Read (s. 1974) on yhdysvaltalainen toimittaja ja tietokirjailija, joka on kirjoittanut aiemmin yhdeksän historiateosta ja elämäkertaa. Hän on kirjoittanut useisiin lehtiin, mm. Timeen ja San Francisco Chronicleen. Hän asuu Phoenixissa Arizonan osavaltiossa.