THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The Peaky Blinders as we know them, thanks to the hit TV series, are infused with drama and dread. Fashionably dressed, the charismatic but deeply flawed Shelby family blind enemies by slashing them with the disposable safety razor blades stitched in to the peaks of their flat caps, as they fight bloody gangland wars involving Irish terrorists and the authorities led by a devious Home Secretary, Winston Churchill. But who were the real Peaky Blinders? Did they really exist? Well-known social historian, broadcaster and author, Carl Chinn, has spent decades searching them out. Now he reveals the true story of the notorious Peaky Blinders, one of whom was his own great grandfather and, like the Shelbys, his grandfather was an illegal bookmaker in back-street Birmingham. In this gripping social history, Chinn shines a light on the rarely reported struggles of the working class in one of the great cities of the British Empire before the First World War. The story continues after 1918 as some Peaky Blinders transformed into the infamous Birmingham Gang. Led by the real Billy Kimber, they fought a bloody war with the London gangsters Darby Sabini and Alfie Solomon over valuable protection rackets extorting money from bookmakers across the booming postwar racecourses of Britain. Drawing together a remarkably wide-range of original sources, including rarely seen images of real Peaky Blinders and interviews with relatives of the 1920s gangsters, Peaky Blinders: The Real Story adds a new dimension to the true history of Birmingham's underworld and fact behind its fiction.

In March 2012, eccentric antiques dealer Raymond Scott was found dead in his prison cell, apparently after having cut his own throat. It was the final tragic act in one of the most bizarre criminal cases ever held in England. The story begins in 1998 after a rare copy of a Shakespeare First Folio was stolen from Durham University just 10 miles from where Scott lived. For a decade the authorities had been stumped as to what had happened to it until Raymond Scott strolled into the famous Folger Library in Washington DC to have it authenticated for sale. Printed in 1623, the First Folio is widely regarded as the most important non-secular printed book in the English language and one in pristine condition (like the Durham copy had been when stolen) could be worth millions. The flamboyantly-attired Scott had a taste for Ferraris and Lamborghinis yet had spent most of his time living with his aged mother, Hannah, on social security payments in a modest home in Washington, Tyne on Wear. Scott, 55 when he died, wanted the money from selling the First Folio to live the high life with his beautiful 21-year-old Cuban dancer girlfriend he met during frequent trips to Havana. In one of the many strange twists, he claimed he obtained the book from a friend in Cuba who was a former bodyguard to President Fidel Castro. Scott, who never took the stand, was eventually jailed for eight years for handling stolen goods but was cleared of stealing the First Folio. For 18 months, from just after his arrest to his death, Scott conducted a series of interviews with reporter Mike Kelly during which never heard before evidence was revealed including the naming of an alleged second suspect. Even after Scott was jailed they kept in touch via frequent correspondence. Shakespeare & Love reveals the true story behind the theft of the Durham Shakespeare First Folio and uncovers for the first time the man dubbed by the press as 'Bling Lear'.

Could the courts really order the death of your innocent baby? Was there an illegal immigrant who couldn't be deported because he had a pet cat? Are unelected judges truly enemies of the people?

Most of us think the law is only relevant to criminals, if we even think of it at all. But the law touches every area of our lives: from intimate family matters to the biggest issues in our society.

Our unfamiliarity is dangerous because it makes us vulnerable to media spin, political lies and the kind of misinformation that frequently comes from loud-mouthed amateurs and those with vested interests. This 'fake law' allows the powerful and the ignorant to corrupt justice without our knowledge – worse, we risk letting them make us complicit.

Thankfully, the Secret Barrister is back to reveal the stupidity, malice and incompetence behind many of the biggest legal stories of recent years. In Fake Law, the Secret Barrister debunks the lies and builds a defence against the abuse of our law, our rights and our democracy that is as entertaining as it is vital.

An account of the landmark suffragist trial before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of New York, that brought the cause of women's voting rights to the forefront of national attention. A group of women led by Susan B. Anthony attempted to vote during the presidential election of 1872, claiming they were entitled to the Fourteenth Amendment. The presiding officials, Jones, Hall and Marsh, decided by a majority to accept their ballots. The women were soon arrested for this act and indicted for "knowingly voting without having a lawful right to vote." The officials were also indicated. This volume reprints the text of the indictment and a transcript of the testimony with connecting commentary.