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  Ten Deadly Texans

  Dan Andersson, Laurence Yadon

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  A lighthearted history of ten of Texas’s most notorious outlaws, including Clyde Barrow and a bank robber dressed as Santa Claus. 
   
  The Wild Westerners were a tough breed. They started young and tended to die young, grow wilder, or fizzle into oblivion. Those outlaws that had the most feuds, gunfights, and robberies within the state lines are profiled here along with their associates, enemies, and accomplices. A rough chronological order of events spanning from pre-Civil War to 1935 tracks significant people and events. 
   
  With so few lawmen available to police the state, troublesome youths quickly developed into heinous individuals. John Wesley Hardin killed a fellow classmate in a one-room schoolhouse, and eight-year-old James Miller was arrested for murdering his own grandparents. Beginnings and endings for each individual varied. While Sam Bass and Bonnie Parker were cut down in their twenties, Dock Newton didn’t rob his last train until age seventy-seven. Other members of the Barrow Gang lived into their fifties and sixties after transforming themselves from dangerous criminals to ordinary citizens. 
   
  Texans are often described as being larger than life. Their lives were legendary, their demeanor solid, their illegal activities dramatic and varied from beginning to end. The same lighthearted take on Western history that permeated Dan Anderson and Laurence J. Yadon’s previous works resonates in their latest popular history. True stories, tall tales, and numerous anecdotes comprise this book of ten of the deadliest outlaws to cross the Texas line.  
   
  Praise for Ten Deadly Texans 
   
  “Picking the top ten of virtually anything is difficult if not impossible, but [Yadon and Anderson] have presented a strong argument that this grouping belongs at the top of any list of deadly fighters. In their own way, each one chose a deadly path filled with violence, bloodshed, high drama, and excitement.” —Chuck Parsons, author of John B. Armstrong: Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman 
   
  “A well-researched and highly readable account of the Lone Star State's meanest men and women.” —Mike Cox, author of The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821–1900 
   
  “Yadon and Anderson have done their homework to separate the truth from the legend, because not only are they good historians, they know that the real story is quite often better than the legend. Ten Deadly Texans takes you from the Civil War to the Great Depression, from cow ponies and six-guns to Ford V-8s and automatic weapons, through the real lives of some of Texas’s most notorious sons.” —James R. Knight, author of Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-First-Century Update

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  Bitter Blood - A True Story of...

  Jerry Bledsoe

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  The “riveting” #1 New York Times bestseller: A true story of three wealthy families and the unbreakable ties of blood (Kirkus Reviews).   The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her daughter in their posh Louisville, Kentucky, home. Months later, another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law were found savagely slain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mystified police first suspected a professional in the bizarre gangland-style killings that shattered the quiet tranquility of two well-to-do southern communities. But soon a suspicion grew that turned their focus to family.   The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. The only link between the three families was a beautiful, aristocratic young mother named Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child “princess” and fraternity sweetheart have committed such barbarous crimes? And what about her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor?   In this tale of three families connected by marriage and murder, of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned.   “Recreates . . . one of the most shocking crimes of recent years.” —Publishers Weekly   “Absorbing suspense.” —Chicago Tribune   “Astonishing . . . Brilliantly chronicled.” —Detroit Free Press   “An engrossing southern gothic sure to delight fans of the true-crime genre. Bledsoe maintains the suspense with a sure hand.” —The Charlotte Observer

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  Canyons of the Colorado

  John Wesley Powell

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  John Wesley Powell was a pioneer American explorer, ethnologist, and geologist in the 19th Century. In 1869 he set out to explore the Colorado and the Grand Canyon. He gathered nine men, four boats and food for ten months and set out from Green River, Wyoming, on May 24. Passing through dangerous rapids, the group passed down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado River (then also known as the Grand River upriver from the junction), near present-day Moab, Utah.The expedition's route traveled through the Utah canyons of the Colorado River, which Powell described in his published diary as having …wonderful features—carved walls, royal arches, glens, alcove gulches, mounds and monuments. From which of these features shall we select a name? We decide to call it Glen Canyon. (Ironically, now almost completely submerged by Lake Powell, behind the Glen Canyon Dam.)One man (Goodman) quit after the first month and another three (Dunn and the Howland brothers) left at Separation Rapid in the third, only two days before the group reached the mouth of the Virgin River on August 30 after traversing almost 1,500 km. The three who left the group late in the trip were later killed—probably by Indians.Powell retraced the route in 1871-1872 with another expedition, producing photographs, an accurate map, and various papers, including ethnographic reports of the area's Native Americans and a monograph on their languages. --adapted from Wikipedia

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  Cold Water Crossing - An Account...

  David Faxon

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  Sometimes a murder story lingers for years after the event. This one has lingered for more than a century, especially in New England. The setting is winter, 1873 on a small, obscure island ten miles off the coast of Maine. Three women await the return of their men the following morning. A killer, who learns they are alone for one night, is rowing to their island, across ten miles of open sea. 
  The next day, a horrific scene is discovered. It stuns the seacoast towns and begins a series of events that are covered nationally in the months that follow. Recreated from the trial transcript, archived news stories and other sources, Cold Water Crossing tells what happened that long ago evening and why controversy remains to this day.

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  Identity Theft Inc - A Wild Ride...

  Richard Marcus, Glen Hastings

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  An identity thief recounts how he pulled off the cybercrime of the century—and got away with it—in this true crime memoir.Identity theft is the crime of the century—so says con man turned security consultant Frank Abagnale in his book Catch Me If You Can. So here, then, is the true-crime book of the century: the life and crimes of expert identity thief Glen Hastings. Hastings takes readers inside the world of cutting-edge cybercrime, revealing how he got rich off of assuming the identities of hundreds of unsuspecting people. Beyond detailing the secrets of the trade, Hastings shares the wild but true stories about his many impersonations. But while many of these stories have entertaining and incredible twists, Hastings is making his story public in order to repent for his crimes. He offers expert tips on how to protect yourself from the gangs of ID thieves thriving in the real and virtual worlds of today.

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  Blessed by Bosasa - Inside Gavin...

  Adriaan Basson

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  ‘You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.’ 
  It’s easy to imagine that state capture began with Jacob Zuma and the Guptas. But you’d be wrong. 
  Born out of the ANC Women’s League 20 years ago, Bosasa has come to be described as the ANC’s ‘Heart of Darkness’. At its helm today is Gavin Watson, a struggle-rugby-player-turned-tenderpreneur who made it his business to splash out on gifts and cash to get up close and personal with the country’s top politicians and civil servants. In return, Bosasa won tenders to the tune of billions of rands and – with friends in high places – stayed clear of prosecution. 
  Adriaan Basson has been investigating Bosasa since he was a rookie journalist 13 years ago. He has been sued, intimidated and threatened, but has stuck to the story like a bloodhound. Now, in the wake of the explosive findings of the Zondo commission, he has weaved the threads of Bosasa’s story together. 
  Blessed by Bosasa is a riveting in-depth investigation into an extraordinary story of high-level corruption and rampant pillage, of backdoor dealings and grandiose greed. Through substantial research and a number of interviews with key individuals, Basson unveils the shady, cult-like underbelly of the criminal company that held the Zuma government in the palm of its hand.

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