Outros livros que poderiam interessá-lo

• 

  ‘Ndrangheta: The History of...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin,[1] is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region.[2] A “mafia” is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups.[3] In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it.[4]    
  	The ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced an-drang-et-ah) is a close neighbor of the Cosa Nostra and currently considered the most powerful (and difficult to spell) criminal organization in Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta is centered around Calabria, the most southwestern region of Italy, almost touching the Sicilian city of Messina. Though it began as far back as the late 19th century, it was not until the 1950s that the ‘Ndrangheta started to spread its tentacles throughout Italy and then across the entire globe, forming an empire that now ranges from Australia and Turkey to Chile to Canada.  
  	The fact that the ‘Ndrangheta is overshadowed by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, as well as by the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, allowed it to grow and develop outside of the public eye. For years, people actually considered the Calabrian mafia to be part of the Cosa Nostra as a mere appendage, rather than its own entity.

  Ver livro

• 

  Belly of the Beast - A POW's...

  Judith L. Pearson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  “A searing tribute . . . [to] America in its bleakest hour” (Sen. John McCain, New York Times–bestselling author of Faith of My Fathers).   On December 13, 1944, POW Estel Myers was herded aboard the Japanese prison ship, the Oryoku Maru, with more than sixteen hundred other American captives. More than eleven hundred of them would be dead by journey’s end . . .   The son of a Kentucky sharecropper and an enlistee in the navy’s medical corps, Myers arrived in Manila shortly before the bombings of Pearl Harbor and the other six targets of the Imperial Japanese military. While he and his fellow corpsmen tended to the bloody tide of soldiers pouring into their once peaceful naval hospital, the Japanese overwhelmed the Pacific islands, capturing seventy-eight thousand POWs by April 1942. Myers was one of the first captured.   After a brutal three-year encampment, Myers and his fellow POWs were forced onto an enemy hell ship bound for Japan. Suffocation, malnutrition, disease, dehydration, infestation, madness, and complete despair claimed the lives of nearly three quarters of those who boarded “the beast.”   Myers survived.   A compelling account of a rarely recorded event in military history, this is more than Myers’s true story—this is an homage to the unfailing courage of men at war, an inspiring chronicle of self-sacrifice and endurance, and a tribute to the power of faith, the strength of the soul, and the triumph of the human spirit.   “An inspiring look at one of World War II’s darkest hours.” —James Bradley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys   “A searing chronicle.” —Kirkus Reviews

  Ver livro

• 

  The Greatest Generation - Diary...

  Albert Childs, Albert Jack

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Greatest Generation is the first hand account of an English soldier who began his army career with the Long Range Desert Group in 1940, raided with David's Sterling's Special Air Service, volunteered for the 1st Airborne Division and took part in their first ever jump.  
  He then transferred to the 6th Airborne in 1943 and with them he dropped at Pegasus Bridge, battled the Bulge, jumped the Rhine and fought through northern Germany to meet the Russians on the Baltic Coast, where they celebrated together with vodka.  
  Albert arrested Joseph Kramer, the Beast of Belsen, escorted Prince Olaf of Norway during peacekeeping duties and finally confronted Jewish nationalists in Palestine.  
  Now, for the first time, his personal account is available and provides a fascinating insight into the minds of the men of the parachute brigade who carried out such dangerous war-time operations. 
  Narrated by his grandson Albert Jack

  Ver livro

• 

  The Moving Finger - An detective...

  Rose Champion de Crespigny

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Annie Rose Charlotte Key was born on 9th November 1859 in Kensington, London. 
   
  With a privileged background—her father was an admiral, her mother a Lady, Rose began her creative life as a painter before a stab at writing local history settled her into popular fiction. 
   
  Her works were solidly written and often described as having a ‘certain graceful facility’. 
   
  Her marriage to Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny in 1878 resulted in a family of 4 children and a name of status. 
   
  Rose was a leading member of the Ridley Art Club, the Lyceum Club in Piccadilly, and of the British College of Psychic Science.  Victorian society had a particular fascination with spiritualism and in ‘The Moving Finger’ Rose uses the theme as a background to introduce her popular occult detective Norton Vyse into her series of short stories.  
   
  Rose Champion de Crespigny died on 10th February 1935.  She was 75.

  Ver livro

• 

  The Last Jewish Gangster: The...

  David Larson

  • 0
  • 1
  • 0

  “A captivating and different kind of story” about the life of Bugsy Siegel’s godson, from the author “who captured his voice” (Nick Pileggi, author/screenwriter of Goodfellas and Casino). 
   
  In 1944 Brooklyn, newborn Michael J. Hardy is rejected by his mother so she can run with gangster Bugsy Siegel, Hardy’s godfather. Shirley Rook rose to the top of the criminal ranks. As the Queen of New York City crime, she laundered Mob money, ran the city’s largest bookmaking operation, and handed payouts to dirty cops, politicians, and judges. 
   
  To win his mother’s love and respect, Hardy became a fearless gangster. Throughout his career as a mercenary, he robbed banks and drug dealers alike, ran a kidnapping ring, and even became a hired gun. At his lowest, he ended up doing time for his mother’s counterfeiting operation in Mexico’s most dangerous prison. 
   
  Hardy’s criminal code of conduct combines elements of tough Ukrainian Jew and warm Southern Baptist, whether dealing with family and friends or fellow inmates during a combined twenty-six years spent in prisons and jails. He maintained this characteristic gregarious strength throughout his astonishing life in which Hardy was shot eleven times, committed fourteen hits for the Mob, twice wore wires for Rudy Giuliani to nab dirty cops, wrote a letter to JFK to get out of military prison, choked the Hillside Strangler, shared prison time with notorious criminals, and even spent ten years in Hollywood, cast in non-speaking roles in B-movies. 
   
  “A fascinating character study of an unapologetic criminal. David S. Larson masterfully weaves this tale in Michael Hardy’s own words, resulting in a powerful, inside story of a gangster’s life.” —Cathy Scott, Los Angeles Times-bestselling author

  Ver livro

• 

  It takes a Tsunami

  Rael Levitt

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  When Rael Levitt stepped onto the podium at Quoin Rock Wine Estate in December 2011, he was CEO of the industry-pioneering Auction Alliance and at the pinnacle of a glittering 20-year career. But then disaster struck.After being accused by a powerful billionaire of using a ghost bidder to inflate the bid price, Levitt’s reputation was obliterated. In an echo of the Boxing Day tsunami that he survived in 2004, the self-made entrepreneur was overwhelmed by a media-driven scandal that came at him like a train of killer waves. Once the face of South African auctions, he seemingly sank without a trace. But he was not beaten. A decade later Levitt has a thrilling rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story to tell. The lessons he learnt from suffering catastrophe and finding the tenacity to survive have laid the foundations for success. At once candid and controversial, Levitt’s story is ultimately an uplifting one, revealing that the greater the tsunami, the greater the lesson.

  Ver livro