"The Family Debt" is a tribute to the author's father, Giacomo "Jack" Bianco. He was a man who lived his life with passion for his family, a man who worked hard at everything he did. His unselfish nature was exposed year after year, experience after experience. Giacomo was undoubtedly a family man who never let his family down; no matter the cost.

Never asking questions, he simply chose to rise to the occasion time after time to preserve the integrity of his family and to protect his personal and business interests. He didn't make excuses, he simply delivered what was required, when it was required.

Then suddenly one day the core of the family was taken forever; his life was extinguished. Over time, more questions surfaced, but unfortunately no answers or explanations. Did he know how steep the price would be to protect his family?

The detectives and investigators, they were simply told to "shelve the investigation." This happened only three days after this horrible murder, a file never to be opened again. Almost forty years later the same questions still pierce the silence once filled by a father's voice. His family's thoughts are finally revealed and shared for the first time.

The May 1927 issue of True Detective magazine dealt with the shooting of Tommy Evans and subsequent investigation of the case in the Old 23rd District of Henry County, Tennessee. The True Detective article read in part, "They told me of the existence of a 'whiskey ring, ' in which it was estimated that seventy-five percent of the population ... was alleged to have been engaged in this illicit whiskey business. And it was contended that (Tommy Evans), a respectable and law-abiding citizen, member of the minority faction in the moonshine domain, had openly defied the moonshiners - had became a crusader against them - and died a martyr to the cause of his convictions. Thus the motive for the assassination of (Evans) was apparent." The magazine article quoted a Paris, Tenn., minister, J.H. Buchanan, as saying that, "There are twelve men in this immediate section ready to stand for 'four-square for the right, ' and there are twenty-five men over there, and I might be able to name them, who are banded together to protect and promulgate the liquor interests. The remaining citizens in this district are in the middle of the road - either in sympathy with the devil's gang, or they lack the courage to say where they stand." It was amid such a climate that this book is set. South of the Mouth of Sandy focuses on the Evans family that settled near the confluence of the Big Sandy and Tennessee rivers during the middle part of the 19th century. It traces the ancestry of Tommy Evans and tells the story of his death on a dirt road and the trial of his killer.

"Having written about New Mexico history for more than forty years," explains the author, "it was perhaps inevitable that in time I should publish a few articles on Billy the Kid. After all, he is the one figure from this state's past whose name is known around the world. The Kid's career, although astonishingly short, nonetheless, left an indelible mark in the annals of the Old West. And his name, William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, seems locked forever into the consciousness of the starry-eyed public. "Upon request," the author continues, "I was able to assemble a collection of my varied writings pertaining to some of Billy's real or imagined deeds. Each section opens a small window on an aspect of his tumultuous life, or casts light upon others whose fortunes intersected with his. In this book, I have stalked Billy in an erratic rather than a systematic way, taking pleasure merely in adding a few new and unusual fragments to his biography. I trust that readers who have a fascination with the history and legend of Billy the Kid will find in these pages something of interest and value. As Eugene Cunningham wrote more than seventy years ago, 'in our imagination the Kid still lives--the Kid still rides.'" Marc Simmons is a professional author and historian who has published more than forty books on New Mexico and the American Southwest. His popular "Trail Dust" column is syndicated in several regional newspapers. In 1993, King Juan Carlos of Spain admitted him to the knightly Order of Isabel la Catolica for his contributions to Spanish colonial history.

History is filled with stories of the famous crashing to earth, whether through an ill-judged statement, an overweening arrogance, a lust for power or money, or simply a stroke of bad luck. Today, more than ever, the world of the successful is littered with 'banana skins' lying in wait for the unwary, as film stars, politicians, soldiers, scientists, business tycoons, royalty, criminals, sports idols and others make that fatal decision, gaffe or slip. It covers 220 fascinating entries. Packed in a gift size, it is highly illustrated in colour. It is ideal travel and present book. It tells the stories behind the stories. "The Hidden Secrets" - this beautifully illustrated book charts the hidden secrets behind some of the biggest 'banana skins' of all time - the riveting stories of 200 figures who fell from grace - some for ever, some for a while, some evoke sympathy, a great many do not.

Squarely in the heart of America, Salina, Kansas is a pretty safe place to have kids. At least, that's what they say. But some places in Kansas are safer than others. The Allens found out the hard way. In the case of the death of their oldest son, seventeen-year-old Destry Greer Allen, they did what nobody else would do to find out the truth about what really happened to him that late night in June of 2004. Originally ruled a textbook suicide, an independent investigation by the Allens discovered it was anything but. Seven years later, Destry's case is still open - an unsolved suicide. What happens when the system intended to protect citizens at the most vulnerable times in their lives not only turns its back, but goes out of its way to wrong them? What happens when the professionals, who citizens trust and depend on to take care of them, go after them instead, to teach them a lesson? The Allens found out.

A Certain Arrogance is a reticulation of eight essays on the history of international intelligence (primarily U.S. espionage), on Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles and their manipulation of religious groups and individuals to achieve U.S. elitist goals, on the development of U.S. psychological warfare operations, and on the sacrifice of Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
American Spymaster Allen Dulles, based in Switzerland, had abused religious (largely Protestant) individuals and institutions for U.S. intelligence through two World Wars and the subsequent "Cold War." His brother John Foster Dulles also used major religious groups (again, largely Protestant) from 1937 through 1959 to further both his own and the American establishment's political and economic goals.
One religious individual, Noel Field (American Quaker, Unitarian, and Marxist) was used by Allen Dulles to manipulate religious relief organizations in World War II and in the post war period. Dulles finally utilized Field to help destabilize Communist Eastern Europe. Dulles apparently collaborated in this plan with Jozef Swiatlo, a Communist/CIA double agent, who later surfaced in the Warren Commission's Kennedy assassination investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Swiss based Albert Schweitzer College had major religious origins that were both social and political. Post war liberal Protestant movements in Europe, including the International Association for Religious Freedom, helped to create the college in Switzerland, the country at the center of Allen Dulles' fifty year spy program. In the United States, the college was supported by a powerful coalition of American religious liberalism, primarily the Unitarian Church, the Unitarian Service Committee, and the American Friends of Albert Schweitzer College.
Albert Schweitzer College's history strongly suggests that American espionage assets helped establish the college and then used it, possibly with the knowledge and even cooperation of some of its religious supporters in the Unitarian Church movement and those who worked for the college in Switzerland. One leading Unitarian who worked closely with both U.S. intelligence and the military in the '40s and '50s was President of the American Friends of Albert Schweitzer College, exactly when Lee Harvey Oswald applied. That same intelligence connected Unitarian worked with a second influential Unitarian to help control U.S. space programs, including the U 2 overflights, and in the '60s, that intelligence connected Unitarian fronted for a major CIA proprietary. Those who set policy for Albert Schweitzer College were, therefore, elite members of the establishment and allies of the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1959, Lee Harvey Oswald registered to attend Albert Schweitzer College and therefore became a direct link between the college and American intelligence.
Whoever masterminded the Oswald college action was knowledgeable about both the OSS's and the CIA's use of Quakers, officials of the World Council of Churchs, and Unitarians as contacts, assets, and informants (often as double agents) AND about the FBI's responsibility in tracking down and identifying Soviet illegals and double agents. Oswald was, therefore, a creature of someone in American counterintelligence who possessed precisely that double body of knowledge.
At the same time that Albert Schweitzer College was extending its international recruiting effort, both the Soviet and American Illegals and False Identity programs were operating. For those espionage groups, Lee Harvey Oswald initially looked like a candidate for their intelligence operations. But Oswald was a stunningly imperfect False Identity/Illegals prospect. A faulty False Identity operation had apparently been carried out using Lee Harvey Oswald and run by a branch of American intelligence.
Oswald's imperfections were certain to trip counterespionage a

Financial crime seems horribly complicated but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what's theirs. In fact, there are four. A veteran regulatory economist and market analyst, Dan Davies has years of experience picking the bones out of some of the most famous frauds of the modern age. Now he reveals the big picture that emerges from their labyrinths of deceit.

Along the way you'll find out how to fake a gold mine with a wedding ring, a file and a shotgun. You'll see how close Charles Ponzi, the king of pyramid schemes, came to acquiring his own private navy. You'll learn how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. And you'll discover whether you have what it takes to be a white-collar criminal mastermind, if that's what you want. (Which you don't. You really, really don't.)

Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and so many sequels, all but invented the action adventure novel, and certainly he has few peers in all the years since. His stories are thrilling works of derring-do, foul deeds, close escapes, and glorious victories. In this sixth volume of Dumas's Celebrated Crimes contains, among other material, the famous Man in the Iron Mask. This unsolved puzzle of history was later incorporated by Dumas in one of the D'Artagnan Romances a section of the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which it gave its name. But in this later form, the true story of this singular man doomed to wear an iron visor over his features during his entire lifetime could only be treated episodically. While as a special subject in the Crimes, Dumas indulges his curiosity, and that of his reader, to the full. Hugo's unfinished tragedy, Les Jumeaux, is on the same subject; as also are others by Fournier, in French, and Zschokke, in German. This book was not written for children. Dumas has minced no words in describing the violent scenes of a violent time. in others the author makes unwarranted charges. The careful, mature reader -- for whom the books are intended -- will recognize and allow for this fact.

My friend Sue and I had spent so much time together we felt like sisters. We had made so many plans for our future, as young girls do. We would graduate from school, get married, have a career, children and we would be lifelong friends sharing those moments together. Part of that dream had already come true. Sue was a year older than myself. I went to her graduation and was so proud of her. She had just got an apartment with her boyfriend. I was halfway through my senior year. We went Christmas shopping at the mall. But by January 16, 1980, my friend Sue went missing. When I graduated Sue wasn't there. Then I got my first apartment, still no Sue. I would hear nothing about what happened to Sue for 15 years. Now I will try to fill in the blanks that I have learned over the years. And the surprising shocker after 33 years. Because of the sensitive nature of this book I will be using the pen name Crystal Clary. Since most of the information that I'm sharing with you was unknown to me at the time I decided to write this book in Omniscient: so you as the reader will be able to see all and know all.

WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES ALAN PATON AWARD

In the spring of 1999, in the beautiful and seemingly tranquil hills of the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, a young white farmer is shot dead on the dirt road running from his father's farmhouse to his irrigation fields. The murder is the work of assassins rather than robbers.

Journalist Jonny Steinberg travels to the midlands to investigate. It is clear that the young white man is not the only one who will die and that the story of his and other deaths will illuminate a great deal about the early days of post-apartheid South Africa.

Midlands is a triumph of literary investigative journalism.