Greg King

Sue Woolmans

Draws on unpublished letters and rare primary sources to trace the story behind the tragic romance and brutal assassination attributed to the instigation of World War I, exploring rumors of Serbian complicity, conspiracy and official negligence that doomed the Archduke and his family. By the author of The Fate of the Romanovs.

Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance That Changed the World

The Assassination of the Archduke

Penny Wilson

In the tradition of Erik Larson's Dead Wake comes The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria, about the sinking of the glamorous Italian ocean liner, including never-before-seen photos of the wreck today. In 1956, a stunned world watched as the famous Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria sank after being struck by a Swedish vessel off the coast of Nantucket. Unlike the tragedy of the Titanic, this sinking played out in real time across radios and televisions, the first disaster of the modern age. Audiences witnessed everything that ensued after the unthinkable collision of two modern vessels equipped with radar: perilous hours of uncertainty; the heroic rescue of passengers; and the final gasp as the pride of the Italian fleet slipped beneath the Atlantic, taking some fifty lives with her. Her loss signaled the end of the golden age of ocean liner travel. Now, Greg King and Penny Wilson offer a fresh look at this legendary liner and her tragic fate. Andrea Doria represented the romance of travel, the possibility of new lives in the new world, and the glamour of 1950s art, culture, and life. Set against a glorious backdrop of celebrity and La Dolce Vita, Andrea Doria's last voyage comes vividly to life in a narrative tightly focused on her passengers – Cary Grant's wife; Philadelphia's flamboyant mayor; the heiress to the Marshall Field fortune; and many brave Italian emigrants – who found themselves plunged into a desperate struggle to survive. The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria follows the effect this trauma had on their lives, and brings the story up-to-date with the latest expeditions to the wreck. Drawing on in-depth research, interviews with survivors, and never-before-seen photos of the wreck as it is today, The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria is a vibrant story of fatal errors, shattered lives, and the triumph of the human spirit.

The Sinking of the World's Most Glamorous Ship

The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria

The truth of the enduring mystery of Anastasia's fate-and the life of her most convincing impostor The passage of more than ninety years and the publication of hundreds of books in dozens of languages has not extinguished an enduring interest in the mysteries surrounding the 1918 execution of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The Resurrection of the Romanovs draws on a wealth of new information from previously unpublished materials and unexplored sources to probe the most enduring Romanov mystery of all: the fate of the Tsar's youngest daughter, Anastasia, whose remains were not buried with those of her family, and her identification with Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the missing Grand Duchess. Penetrates the intriguing mysteries surrounding the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and the true fate of his daughter, Anastasia Reveals previously unknown details of Anderson's life as Franziska Schanzkowska Explains how Anderson acquired her knowledge, why people believed her claim, and how it transformed Anastasia into a cultural phenomenon Draws on unpublished materials including Schanzkowska family memoirs, legal papers, and exclusive access to private documents of the British and Hessian Royal Families Includes 75 photographs, dozens published here for the first time Written by the authors of The Fate of the Romanovs Refuting long-accepted evidence in the Anderson case, The Resurrection of the Romanovs finally explodes the greatest royal mystery of the twentieth-century.

Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the World's Greatest Royal Mystery

The Resurrection of the Romanovs

Abundant, newly discovered sources shatter long-held beliefs The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 revealed, among many other things, a hidden wealth of archival documents relating to the imprisonment and eventual murder of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children. Emanating from sources both within and close to the Imperial Family as well as from their captors and executioners, these often-controversial materials have enabled a new and comprehensive examination of one the pivotal events of the twentieth century and the many controversies that surround it. Based on a careful analysis of more than 500 of these previously unpublished documents, along with numerous newly discovered photos, The Fate of the Romanovs makes compelling revisions to many long-held beliefs about the Romanovs' final months and moments. This powerful account includes: * Surprising evidence that Anastasia may, indeed, have survived * Diary entries made by Nicholas and Alexandra during their captivity * Revelations of how the Romanovs were betrayed by trusted servants * A reconstruction of daily life among the prisoners at Ipatiev House * Strong evidence that the Romanovs were not brutalized by their captors * Statements from admitted participants in the murders

The Fate of the Romanovs

Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders

Leopold and Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s America

Nothing but the Night

the court of Mrs. Astor in gilded age New York

A season of splendor

On a snowy January morning in 1889, a worried servant hacked open a locked door at the remote hunting lodge deep in the Vienna Woods. Inside, he found two bodies sprawled on an ornate bed, blood oozing from their mouths. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary appeared to have shot his seventeen-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera as she slept, sat with the corpse for hours and, when dawn broke, turned the pistol on himself. A century has transformed this bloody scene into romantic tragedy: star-crossed lovers who preferred death together than to be parted by a cold, unfeeling Viennese Court. But Mayerling is also the story of family secrets: incestuous relationships and mental instability; blackmail, venereal disease, and political treason; and a disillusioned, morphine-addicted Crown Prince and a naïve schoolgirl caught up in a dangerous and deadly waltz inside a decaying empire. What happened in that locked room remains one of history’s most evocative mysteries: What led Rudolf and mistress to this desperate act? Was it really a suicide pact? Or did something far more disturbing take place at that remote hunting lodge and result in murder? Drawing interviews with members of the Habsburg family and archival sources in Vienna, Greg King and Penny Wilson reconstruct this historical mystery, laying out evidence and information long ignored that conclusively refutes the romantic myth and the conspiracy stories.

The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs

Twilight of Empire

Reveals the story of Tsar Nicholas' wife, a major force in the destruction of the Russian Empire, and her involvement with the infamous Rasputin

The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia

The Last Empress

A recreation of the plot to murder Rasputin chronicles the life of Felix Youssoupov, a Russian nobleman who led the murderers

Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Murder That Helped Bring Down the Russian Empire

The Man Who Killed Rasputin

On the 100th Anniversary of its sinking, King and Wilson tell the story of the Lusitania's glamorous passengers and the torpedo that ended an era and prompted the US entry into World War I. Lusitania: She was a ship of dreams, carrying millionaires and aristocrats, actresses and impresarios, writers and suffragettes – a microcosm of the last years of the waning Edwardian Era and the coming influences of the Twentieth Century. When she left New York on her final voyage, she sailed from the New World to the Old; yet an encounter with the machinery of the New World, in the form of a primitive German U-Boat, sent her – and her gilded passengers – to their tragic deaths and opened up a new era of indiscriminate warfare. A hundred years after her sinking, Lusitania remains an evocative ship of mystery. Was she carrying munitions that exploded? Did Winston Churchill engineer a conspiracy that doomed the liner? Lost amid these tangled skeins is the romantic, vibrant, and finally heartrending tale of the passengers who sailed aboard her. Lives, relationships, and marriages ended in the icy waters off the Irish Sea; those who survived were left haunted and plagued with guilt. Now, authors Greg King and Penny Wilson resurrect this lost, glittering world to show the golden age of travel and illuminate the most prominent of Lusitania's passengers. Rarely was an era so glamorous; rarely was a ship so magnificent; and rarely was the human element of tragedy so quickly lost to diplomatic maneuvers and militaristic threats.

Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age

Lusitania

An in-depth look at the ceremonies, intrigues and luxurious daily life of the Romanov court. Drawing on fifteen years of research and previously unpublished documents the author brings to life the details of the Romanov lifestyle from table settings and servant life to salacious sexual scandals.

Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II

The Court of the Last Tsar

On 16th December 1916 Rasputin visited the palace of the second-richest man in Russia, Prince Felix Youssoupov. Leading a group of conspirators, the Prince apparently set out to murder him. This account of Rasputin's death is based on material in recently released St Petersburg police files, including death photographs which are included in the book. It addresses topics such as the identity of the conspirators and their motives, whether Rasputin and Youssoupov were having a homosexual affair, and whether the prince castrated Rasputin.

The Truth about Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Mad Monk who Helped Bring Down the Romanovs

The Murder of Rasputin

The definitive story of the California redwoods, their discovery and their exploitation, as told by an activist who fought to protect their existence against those determined to cut them down. Every year millions of tourists from around the world visit California’s famous redwoods. Yet few who strain their necks to glimpse the tops of the world’s tallest trees understand how unlikely it is that these last isolated groves of giant trees still stand at all. In this gripping historical memoir, journalist and famed redwood activist Greg King examines how investors and a growing U.S. economy drove the timber industry to cut down all but 4 percent of the original two-million-acre redwood ecosystem. King first examined redwood logging in the 1980s—as an award-winning reporter. What he found in the woods convinced him to leap the line of neutrality and become an activist dedicated to saving the very last ancient redwood groves remaining in private hands. The land grab began in 1849, when a “green gold rush” of migrants came to exploit the legendary redwoods that grew along the Russian River. Several generations later, in 1987, Greg King discovered and named Headwaters Forest—at 3,000 acres the largest ancient redwood habitat remaining outside of parks—and he led the movement to save this grove. After a decade of one of the longest, most dramatic, and violent environmental campaigns in US history, in 1999 the state and federal governments protected Headwaters Forest. The Ghost Forest explores a central question, an overhanging mystery: What was it like, this botanical Elysium that grew only along the Northern California coast, a forest so spectacular—but also uniquely valuable as a cornerstone of American economic growth—that in the end it would inspire life-and-death struggles? Few but loggers and surveyors ever saw such magnificent trees, ancient sentinels that, like ghosts, have informed King’s understanding of the world. On a lifelong journey, King finds himself through the generations, and through the trees.

Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods

The Ghost Forest

More than sixty years on, the relationship between King Edward VIII andallis Warfield Simpson, a twice-divorced American woman, remains one of theove affairs of the twentieth century. Its ability still to yield newensation and capture the front pages all over again has been demonstratednce more in recent weeks with the revelations of the Duchess's affair, oncehe King had abdicated to marry his mistress and become the Duke of Windsor,ith a car salesman allegedly called Guy Trundle. Wrongly blamed for thebdication crisis, Wallis Simpson suffered constant hostility from the Royalamily and much of the world, and a thinly-veiled animosity towards hernforms many accounts of her life. But Greg King has sifted through theecades of rumour and accusation to reveal the woman behind the legend. Theruth he discovers is infinitely more fascinating. Marshalling a huge arrayf documentation, including newly declassified papers in German militaryiles and the Public Records Office, as well as interviews with hundreds ofontemporary witnesses, he presents for the first time a complete and

The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson

The Duchess of Windsor

"Wszystko wskazuje na to, że zakochali się w sobie na wystawnym balu maskowym zorganizowanym w wiedeńskim pałacu w 1894 roku. Arcyksiążę, bratanek panującego cesarza Austrii i piękna dziewczyna ze zubożałej arystokratycznej rodziny. Ich miłość nie mogła zyskać akceptacji cesarskiego rodu, ale para odważnie zdecydowała się walczyć z konwenansami. Książka Grega Kinga i Sue Woolmans odsłania kulisy jednego z najgłośniejszych romansów Europy przełomu wieków. Pasjonująca opowieść o zakazanej miłości na cesarskim dworze zmienia się jednak w trzymający w napięciu thriller. Atmosfera w Europie zaczyna gęstnieć, dochodzi do serii politycznych zamachów, a groźba wojny staje się coraz bardziej realna. Zakochani nie wiedzą, jakie niebezpieczeństwo im grozi, gdy latem 1914 roku wybierają się w podróż do Sarajewa. W 100. rocznicę wybuchu I wojny światowej autorzy odkrywają nowe fakty związane z postaciami, których śmierć przesądziła o rozpoczęciu jednego z największych konfliktów zbrojnych w dziejach."

Zabić arcyksięcia

On August 25, 1995, the German Republic celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of the most scorned and most beloved monarch of modern times: Ludwig II. As a child, though physically beautiful, Ludwig was withdrawn and silent. Entering his teenage years, he determined that his desires were directed toward young men rather than the numerous girls presented as potential wives. Following a broken engagement to Princess Sophie of Austria, Ludwig never again considered marriage. After ascending the throne at the age of eighteen, Ludwig became devoted to his major passions: music and architecture. Captivated by the music of Richard Wagner, the young king formed a bond with the composer and became his benefactor, enabling Wagner to create and produce his great operas. The royal love for architecture resulted in some of the world's most admired castles as well as the most extravagant. Berg, Hohenschwangau Castle, and Linderhof were jewels, but his crowning achievement, Neuschwanstein, rivaled any other on the continent, a monumental creation second only to the Hermitage. An intemperate ruler, Ludwig changed the course of European history almost against his will. He launched Bavaria into two wars, and, with Bismarck, created the German Second Reich. As Prussia's power grew, he watched the newly unified country come under the sway of the Hohenzollerns rather than his own Wittelsbachs. He assuaged his disappointment by lavishing more of his treasury on art and on funding a new opera house for Wagner's work. He would frequently watch a Ring performance as the sole member of the audience. His own government and family plotted against him, called him mad, and forcibly overthrew him. After a single day at a sanatorium and a prolonged visit with a doctor, he vanished. His body was found in a lonely lake outside Munich. Was it suicide? Or murder?

The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria

The Mad King

No verão de 1914, três grandes impérios dominavam a Europa: Alemanha, Rússia e Áustria-Hungria. Quatro anos depois, todos haviam desaparecido no caos da Primeira Guerra Mundial. Um acontecimento precipitou o conflito e por trás dele havia uma trágica história romântica. Quando o herdeiro do trono austríaco, o arquiduque Francisco Fernando, casou-se por amor contra a vontade do imperador, ele e sua esposa, Sofia, passaram a ser hostilizados e evitados. Os projéteis disparados em Sarajevo não apenas puseram fim à sua história de amor, como também levaram à guerra e desencadearam outros conflitos nas décadas seguintes. Neste relato biografico brilhante em meio a um cenário de luxo e ostentação, O Assassinato do Arquiduque combina histórias da realeza europeia, romance comovente e crime político num palpitante retrato do fim de uma era. Cem anos depois, esta obra desvenda a surpreendente verdade por trás dos assassinatos - inclusive a cumplicidade da Sérvia - e passa em revista boatos de conspiração e negligência oficial. O incidente de Sarajevo condenou os filhos do casal a vidas marcadas por perdas, exílio e horrores nos campos de concentração nazistas, entre outras consequências terríveis provocadas pela morte dos pais. Desafiando mitos acumulados em livros e filmes sobre o tema ao longo de um século, O Assassinato do Arquiduque se apresenta como uma história de amor profundamente humana, destruída pelo crime, pela revolução e pela guerra.

O Assassinato do Arquiduque

Grant Hayter-Menzies

Coryne Hall

John Van der Kiste

Janet Ashton

Arturo E. Beéche

Marlene Eilers-Koenig

"Examines the biographies of nearly forty men whose birth gave them the right to one of the world's most prestigious positions. All sons of Russian tsars are covered in Volume I. The sons of collateral grand ducal branches are covered in Volume II. The biography of each of the Grand Dukes of Russia brings to life a deeply gripping human saga. These men were born into what then was one of the world's most powerful ruling dynasties. They were not all saints; they were not all demons - they were men whose birth showered them with untold privilege. Some used their birthright for the common good; some did not. Yet, they all remain amazingly intriguing, complex, complicated and conflicted human beings. At birth they were showered with untold privilege, including a lump sum of money placed in trust for them. By the time these funds were made available to a Grand Duke, the interest alone made them amazingly wealthy. Added to this benefit, they derived salaries from their military appointments, investments, real estate and inheritance. Thus, the Grand Dukes were able to maintain a lifestyle only surpassed by today's oligarchs and yesteryear's robber barons. They were consummate spenders in paintings, art, architecture, jewels, all while acting as sponsors of talented writers, thinkers, poets, ballerinas, among many others. One was a playwright of considerable talent. Another played a role in working toward the liberation of the serfs. One was a leading admiral with a fondness for "fast women and slow ships." Another Grand Duke lived a tortured existence as a closeted homosexual, yet became the father of nine children"--Publisher's description.

Greg King

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