Gathered together within the pages of this book is a roguish array of artful tricksters, fantastic fakers, rascally fraudsters and cunning conmen. They all bend the rules and usually the law. Yet however reprehensible their misdeeds, these thoroughly rotten scoundrels often display the very essence of enterprise and adventure. It would be wrong to condone their antics, of course, but it is difficult not to admire their artifice. After all, this sort of raffish crime has spawned scores of anti-heroes in books, movies and TV series. But the stories told here are all true - among the most barely-believable dodgy misdeeds of the past two centuries. Powerful motives drive this book's extraordinary characters as they rampage on the wrong side of the law. Greed is the most usual, ambition is another, lust sometimes plays a compelling part. But many are compelled by no other cause than a perverted sense of adventure. It is these various forces that link the disparate bunch of characters in this fascinating catalogue of crime. If, as the saying goes, the Devil has the best tunes', he certainly also has some of the best stories - and here are some of the most startling case histories. Together they're the diabolically fiendish work of History's Most Daring Rogues and Villains.

One of the most intriguing mysteries about the rise of history s most despised dictator is just how utterly ordinary he once seemed. A chubby child, a mummy s boy, a failed artist, a face in the crowd the early images of Adolf Hitler give no hint of the demonic spirit that consumed him. Only later in his tortured life came the metamorphosis, and the mask fell away to reveal the manic monster lurking beneath. The aim of this book is to trace this dramatic process in photographs some iconic, some rare and intimate covering the life of a man whose destructive legacy still touches us today. The images, many from the author s own historic collection, demonstrate the mesmerising power that Hitler wielded not only over the German public but also statesmen, industrialists and global media. For the captions to many of the original photographs are reverential in their descriptions of Herr Hitler the German Chancellor , the person Time magazine chose as its 1938 Man of the Year . The fascination with the cataclysmic events he caused involving 61 countries, three-quarters of the world s population and more than 50 million dead remains as strong as ever today. The mystery of how one man could exert so much power that he was able to plunge the whole world into war remains unanswered. But the subtly changing images of Adolf Hitler, portrayed in this book from pampered baby to bar-room rabble-rouser to ranting megalomaniac, provide a graphic insight into the mind of a monster and the instigator of history s bloodiest conflict.

This book is a catalogue of disaster - literally. Within its pages are the major man-made calamities that shocked the world throughout the twentieth century. It was a period during which the power and scale of industrialisation changed the planet, an unforeseen consequence being the creation of more human-created catastrophes than ever before experienced. The events recorded here include the needless carnage of history's worst air disaster when two jumbo jets collided on the island of Tenerife. We recall the horrors of Aberfan, the Welsh village in which schoolchildren were buried alive. The story of the explosion aboard the Challenger space shuttle reveals how warnings that were ignored led to the deaths of seven astronauts. And we report on the failings that caused the nuclear nightmare at Chernobyl, a poisonous blot on the face of the globe. These and the other misadventures in this book were all man-made and, it seems, just waiting to happen. A further link between these horrific events is that they were all caused by either folly or greed - or both. But despite the tales of monstrous misfortune, many also produced heart-lifting stories of human resilience, selflessness, sacrifice and heroism.

Mass murder is awful enough. But some serial killers not only embark on slaying to slake their perverted pleasures but enjoy the mutilation of their victims bodies and sometimes also revert to cannibalism. The simple act of slaying would sicken most people. Yet that is not sufficient a thrill for those who find the excitement begins once their victims are dead. Cutting up corpses is, of course, one way of disposing of the evidence. But here we examine the butchers who dismember for pleasure. They are monsters like Andrei Chikatilo, the so-called Rostov Ripper, who tortured, murdered, chopped up and sometimes cannibalised as many as 50 victims. Or they can be quite unassuming perverts like Dennis Nilsen, whose London house of horrors so overflowed with body parts that they blocked the drains. There is nothing new about this, the sickest side of homicide, of course. The most famous serial killer of all was Jack the Ripper and butchering maniacs have been slashing their bloody path through history ever since.

It's a scandal! How often we use that phrase and what a catalogue of sins it covers. That's what this book is all about. It is literally a catalogue of sins - committed by some of the most celebrated names on the planet. Within these covers are startling stories of scandals during a century when screen idols seemed to vie with each other in outraging public decency. It was an age when fan fever was at its height and an endless supply of shocking revelations emerged to fuel the frenzy. Because of the perpetrators' superstar status, the shame of exposure was often heightened, not only wrecking reputations but often harming careers and, at least, ensuring very public humiliation. The lessons learned from these cases of celebrity scandal (though often, it seems, not by the celebrities themselves) is that the bigger the star, the harder the fall ... and that deceit and intrigue so often turn hard-won fame into instant infamy.

On an internationally acknowledged Scale of Evil, these are the worlds worst serial killers. The qualifications for entry to this list of the vilest criminals of all time are a propensity for sadism, torture and murder without a shred of remorse. Using expert evidence, this book looks behind the shocking headlines and delves into the minds of monsters. What drove them to crime? What turned seemingly ordinary members of society into sick slayers. How did they self-justify their heinous deeds? And, quite simply, how did they get away with murder? Included in this catalogue of the worlds most evil killers are men who committed crimes so monstrous that they almost defy belief yet to their neighbours and work colleagues seemed quite normal. Dennis Rader was a respected pillar of society yet set out on nightly killing sprees. David Parker Ray was just an average working guy but had a torture chamber in his backyard. Fred and Rose West raised a large extended family yet violently abused and murdered their own children. These are examples of the killers who sank to the darkest depths of depravity. Find out what made them such monsters in Serial Killers: The Worlds Most Evil.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War Two. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, writer and artist. To date, he is the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the second person to be recognised as an Honorary Citizen of the United States.During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in World War One, commanding the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951 he again became Prime Minister, before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honour of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.This unique images title contains many rare and unpublished photographs of Churchill throughout his military and political career.Nigel Blundell is a journalist who has worked in Australia, the United States and Britain. He spent 25 years in Fleet Street before becoming an author and contributor to national newspapers. He has written more than 40 books, including best-sellers on crime and royalty. He co-wrote the Top Ten expose Fall of the House of Windsor, which first revealed the so-called 'Squidgygate' tape and the infidelity of both Princess Diana and Prince Charles. His other factual subjects have included military history, celebrity scandals, and ghosts and the paranormal

The heat is on, and if you pull it off you've got a million in your back pocket. Nobody knows this is a sting and it can stay that way, so long as you don't lose your cool. You're just a step away from being a rich man...This is the world of the sting, and in this incredible book, acclaimed journalist Nigel Blundell reveals the risky, adrenaline-fuelled world of the men and women who pull them off. Among the amazing characters in The Sting are: the mastermind who, posing as a count, sold the Eiffel Tower - twice!; the mysterious figures who ran a full-scale horse race - without a single horse; the man whose exploits inspired the hit film Catch Me If You Can; and of course, the con man everybody loves to hate, the Millionaire Major...