Other books that might interest you

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  Death Row Welcomes You -...

  Steven Hale

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  In 2018, after nearly a decade's hiatus, the state of Tennessee began executing death row inmates, bucking national trends that showed the death penalty in decline. In less than two years, the state put seven men to death. It was an execution spree unlike any seen in Tennessee since the 1940s, only brought to a halt by a global pandemic. Award-winning journalist Steven Hale was the leading reporter on these executions, covering them both locally for the Nashville Scene alt-weekly and nationally for The Appeal. 
   
   
   
  In Death Row Welcomes You, Hale traces the lives of condemned prisoners at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution—and the people who come to visit them. What brought them—the visitors and convicted murderers alike—to death row? The visitors are, for the most part, not activists—or at least they did not start out that way. Nor are they the sort of killer-obsessed death row groupies such settings sometimes attract. In fact, in most cases they are average people whose lives, not to mention their views on the death penalty, were turned upside down by a face-to-face meeting with a death row prisoner. 
   
   
   
  Combining the fascinating topics of crime, death, and life inside prison, Hale writes with humanity, empathy, and insight earned by befriending death row prisoners . . . and standing witness to their final moments.

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  Ordinary Men Turning Into...

  Davis Truman

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  How can ordinary people, whom we consider "normal," unexpectedly commit repulsive and criminal actions that we would never have thought them capable of? The concept of evil is one of the great themes in history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology. We have always tended to categorize the perpetrators of evil as "the others," "them," bad people, monsters, and true villains who commit atrocities that "we" could never carry out. The German philosopher Hannah Arendt challenged this clear distinction between inherently good people and inherently bad people and introduced a new, original paradigm known as the "banality of evil." 
  Arendt's concept suggests that the vast majority of German soldiers who followed Hitler's orders and committed horrific crimes were not sadistic monsters but ordinary men, not much different from us. These normal men, placed within a context of hierarchy, modern bureaucracy, and obedience to authority, were capable of killings, abuse, torture, and inhumane treatment of victims. In essence, there were monsters, yes, but they were few, far fewer than commonly believed. Starting from here, we aim to answer how ordinary people can transform into real monsters. We will trace a path that leads up to the present day.

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  AUSCHWITZ CHILDREN AND MENGELE...

  Jack Stew Barretta

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  In the name of humanity, that was the explanation of Dr. Claus Karl Schilling for the execution of malaria experiments on 1,200 inmates of the Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War. The reputable Schilling had come to Dachau with the personal permission of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in 1942 because he could use the prisoners as research subjects without the restriction of obtaining their consent. Schilling was not an exception.  
  Many Nazi doctors seized the unique opportunity to execute human experiments without legal and ethical restrictions during the war. The SS and the Wehrmacht either initiated or supported the research of the Nazi doctors. The central question that puzzled jurists and scientists is how these doctors, who were educated to heal people, could execute human experiments and deliberately harm and even kill people. To some scientists, their acts stand out as ‘exemplars of evil.’ This judgment is based on the fact that prisoners did not give their informed consent, the cruel and sometimes sadistic character of the experiments, and because never before in medical experiments was the death of the research subjects a central element of the research design. Many people think that ‘science went mad’ in the Third Reich and that Nazi doctors who committed these crimes were pseudo-scientists, sadists, and even monsters. However, thinking these perpetrators were madmen or monsters is a false explanation.  
  It is confronting to know that physicians belonging to the most advanced medical community in the world at the time, who had sworn to ‘do no harm, ' could commit these crimes. 
  On this trail, Dr. Josef Mengele’s pseudo-scientific research at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II led to immeasurable suffering among the camp’s children.

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  Stealing Manhattan - The Untold...

  Punch Stanimirovic, Burl Barer

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  Punch Stanimirovic insists: "My father, known as Mr. Stan, is the greatest gentleman thief who ever lived—a true genius." Punch was raised to be an exceptional diamond thief. He could work magic on a safe that would have sent Mandrake the Magician back to the novelty store, and Dr. Strange back to medical school. He and his family risked it all to make the patriarch, Mr. Stan, proud. Punch's pop culture sensibilities, his father's proven skills, and his mother's artistic input merged to create cinema-style capers—elaborately planned and executed, including a spectacular 1992 New York mega-heist of over one billion dollars in diamonds, gold, and precious gems—and they got away with it. Many of the crew members went on to invest in real estate, helping to "build the New York skyline," while others moved to Europe and became the Pink Panthers. They had one rule: No One Gets Hurt. From daring heists to the ultimate escape, discover the true story of Punch, his extraordinary crew, and his high-society family. Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Burl Barer brings to light the remarkable story of four decades and two generations of America's First Family of kind and generous "altruistic outlaws" in Stealing Manhattan: The Untold Story of America's Billion Dollar Gem Heist Masterminds.

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  Undercover - Operation Julie -...

  Stephen Bentley

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  The fascinating and extraordinary inside story from the man who was actually there. - Rob Gittins, Screenwriter and Novelist, Writer of 'Julie' BBC Drama 
  To infiltrate international drug cartels, he had to become a player.. 
  ‘Undercover’: The true story behind Operation Julie, one of Britain's largest drug busts and how the same detective infiltrated a cartel planning to smuggle cocaine into Britain. 
  Forget ‘Breaking Bad’ this is the extraordinary story of the 1970s Welsh LSD ring that supplied the world, told by a cop in deepest cover on the case. 
  In the dim chaos of a Liverpool nightclub, a sharp question cut through the noise: “Are you guys cops?” 
  For Steve Jackson, the words chilled him to the bone. Jackson wasn’t just his name—it was his cover. As an undercover officer navigating the ruthless world of drug cartels, his life depended on the perfect lie. 
  This gripping true crime story pulls you deep into the double life of Stephen Bentley, one of the pioneers of British undercover policing. With no training manuals or playbooks, Bentley dived headfirst into the underworld during Operation Julie, a groundbreaking investigation that dismantled a global drug empire. The operation led to the seizure of 90% of the world’s LSD supply, exposed a massive cocaine importation scheme and resulted in 15 convictions totalling 124 years in prison. 
  But success came at a cost. Living a lie meant constant danger, personal sacrifice, and psychological tolls. 
  Did Bentley cross lines to maintain his cover? 
  What does it take to truly live in the shadows, and how does it feel to return to the light? 
  Based on real events, ‘Undercover’ chronicles not just a legendary case but also the personal and professional battles of an officer who shaped undercover policing.

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  Mystery of the Six Crosses

  David True

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  In the early morning hours of November 29, 1988, a thunderous explosion rocked the city of Kansas City, Missouri, sending six brave firefighters to an early grave. The crime would go unsolved for nearly eight years and three months. Determined to be arson as part of an attempted burglary, Mystery of the Six Crosses describes the worst tragedy to ever strike the Kansas City Fire Department and tells the inside story of the longest and most detailed criminal investigation in modern Kansas City history. Told by ATF Special Agent David True (Ret.), who led the investigation, Mystery of the Six Crosses describes how the criminals were identified and the long, frustrating path to bring their case to trial, leading to a final jury verdict that sentenced five conspirators to prison. This is the true, inside story of how local and federal authorities worked together to solve what had become a “cold case” in what would be the final investigation of the author’s career.

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