Stephan Talty

The gripping true story of the origins of the mafia in America--and the brilliant Italian-born detective who gave his life to stop it Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand's lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the "Italian Sherlock Holmes," he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand's activities spread far beyond New York's borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country's anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino's quest to root out the source of the Black Hand's power would take him all the way to Sicily--but at a terrible cost. Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.

The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History

The Black Hand

Joseph Kim

A man who escaped the devastating famine in North Korea, despite being abandoned as a boy, tells the story of his survival inside the oppressive country, his escape and subsequent rescue by activists and Christian missionaries and his success in the United States thanks to a newfound faith and courage. 50,000 first printing.

From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America

Under the Same Sky

Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign

Empire of Blue Water

Returning to the working-class Irish-Catholic community of her childhood in South Buffalo to care for her ailing policeman father, Absalom Kearney joins the police department and begins receiving cryptic messages from a twisted serial killer only to find her investigation stymied by her own colleagues. A first novel by the best-selling author of Empire of Blue Water. 12,000 first printing.

Black Irish

The author of Mulatto America chronicles the real-life, swashbuckling adventures of Welsh pirate Henry Morgan and his exploits in the Caribbean in the service of the English, from his attacks on Spanish merchant ships and raids on wealthy cities of the region to his final assault on Panama that ended Spanish domination of the New World. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.

Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign

This true-life thriller describes Juan Pujol, a poultry farmer who opposed the Nazis and concocted a series of staggering lies that lead to his becoming one of Germany's most valued spies, while actually acting as a double-agent for the Allies. 35,000 first printing.

The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day

Agent Garbo

Richard Phillips

A seasoned sea captain relates his exciting life on the ocean, a time filled with real-life rogues, heroes of the high seas and brushes with death.

Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea

A Captain's Duty

At the height of his power, Napoleon was unstoppable. But the tiny typhus microbe would test Napoleon to his limit. This work tells the tale of these two unstoppable historical forces meeting on the road to Moscow in a clash of killer pathogen and peerless army.

The Terrifying Story of how Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army

The Illustrious Dead

The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco

Koresh

Speed Girl

War Hero

Jagd auf die erste Mafia New Yorks

Black Hand

Documents the Dalai Lama's flight from Tibet to India in 1959, describing the violent uprising in Lhasa between Tibetan rebels and Chinese occupiers and the near-death incidents that the Buddhist spiritual leader endured.

The Young Dalai Lama's Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero

Escape from the Land of Snows

In the Spring of 1993, federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. A 51-day standoff ensued. Known as the Waco Siege, it has become a founding myth of the extreme wing of American conservatism, invoked by militiamen, gun rights advocates, and the alt-right. The leader of the evangelical sect, an extreme form of Seventh-Day Adventism, was David Koresh. Born Vernon Howell, he was a preacher, interpreter of the Bible, and obsessed with the coming of the Apocalypse. A charismatic but highly volatile man, he was a former victim of sexual abuse who himself became a sexual predator on a large scale, exploiting many of the women in his compound. Koresh is Stephan Talty's extraordinary, meticulous narration of the events that led up to the Waco Siege. Drawing on new sources, FBI negotiation tapes, and interviews with family and friends, this definitive biography explores how Koresh grew from a young man to a cult leader, and investigates why the siege has become an enduring symbol for radical opponents of the democratic state. PRAISE FOR STEPHAN TALTY: 'Gripping... A valuable recounting of a lurid and little-known episode in American history' Washington Post. ' 'Part Holocaust history, part detective case, part spy operation, The Good Assassin is an enthralling book... Stephan Talty paints vivid, often chilling, portraits of its vengeful hero, Mossad agent Jacob Medad' Neal Bascomb. 'Compelling... Talty remains true to his technique, delivering thoroughly researched, engrossing non-fiction in a thriller-like narrative style' Kirkus. 'Talty captures the chilling realities of bloody battlefields, tense war rooms and besieged London... Elegantly crafted' Wall Street Journal. 'Thrilling... An extraordinary crime story with a genuine American hero too long forgotten' - Dallas Morning News

It was only the first lie... As the snow drives down and the full force of a Buffalo winter makes itself felt, a man's body is found. Barely recognisable, the only clues the police have are the '1' carved into the victim's face and the killer's sinister calling card, a plastic toy monkey. This is 'The County' - the 27th county of Ireland - a city cocooned in secrets, suspicion and blood feuds, where the residents will do anything to protect their own. And for Detective Absalom Kearney, this case is her one chance to prove to a community more fiercely secretive than ever, that even the most heinous of murderers can be stopped. But as her investigation develops and the killer starts sending her cryptic messages, Absalom finds herself in a race not only to halt them but also to stop The County's residents exacting their own form of justice. Because at the heart of this community there is the darkness peculiar to those forgotten by society, and this darkness will affect Absalom's life in ways she could never have imagined...

Black Irish (Absalom Kearney 1)

Discover the truth about the Black Hand, as featured in Peaky BlindersBeginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card- the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand's lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the "Italian Sherlock Holmes," he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand's activities spread far beyond New York's borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country's anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino's quest to root out the source of the Black Hand's power would take him all the way to Sicily-but at a terrible cost. Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Handis fast-paced narrative history at its very best.

Joseph Kimmel

„Zásadní dílo pro naše chápání života v Severní Koreji.“ – Washington Post„Působivé... nic nezamlčuje.“ – Publishers WeeklyVe skrytém a tajemném světě Severní Koreje žil Joseph Kim až do svých pěti let normální život malého chlapce. Pak přišla pohroma: první vlna velkého hladomoru, dlouhé, strašné martyrium, během kterého zahynuly miliony lidí včetně jeho otce, a jiné, jako jeho matku a sestru, vyhnalo na zoufalou cestu do Číny. Joseph, který se ocitl sám v ulicích, se naučil žebrat a krást až nakonec také překročil v zoufalství zamrzlou řeku a uprchl do Číny.Zde se ho ujala laskavá čínská křesťanka a ukryla ho před úřady. S pomocí ilegální sítě aktivistů byl tajně dopraven na americký konzulát, kde se připojil k menší skupině Severokorejců, kteří byli převezeni do Spojených států jako uprchlíci. Joseph neuměl anglicky a nikdy nebyl dobrým studentem. Ale laskavost jeho pěstounské rodiny změnila jeho život. Stal se z něj nadšený student, osvojil si angličtinu a dostal se na vysokou školu, kde nyní velmi dobře prospívá díky své víře a vnitřní síle. Pod stejným nebem je nezapomenutelný příběh utrpení a spásy.„Kimův příběh (...) je živým popisem pozoruhodného života. Nabízí také závažný výčet zvěrstev, páchaných v Severní Koreji, která zůstala skryta před zraky Západu – a vlastně před zbytkem světa. Odvážné a fascinující paměti.“ – Kirkus Reviews„Tato krátká a brutální kniha (...) předkládá čtenářům šokující utrpení, kterému museli čelit obyvatelé Severní Koreje během ‚velkého hladu‘.“ – Booklist„V jeho upřímnosti je něco strhujícího; věcně a bez obalu zde líčí bezútěšné podmínky, tenčící se zdroje, nekonečnou nejistotu a ztrátu důstojnosti v konfrontaci se zoufalými okolnostmi... Kimův příběh poskytuje zásadní pohled do těžko pochopitelné země a do tragedie moderní doby.“ – Publishers WeeklyJOSEPH KIM se narodil v roce 1990 v Severní Koreji. V roce 2007 přicestoval do Spojených států, kde dokončil střední školu. Nyní studuje vysokou školu v New Yorku. STEPHAN TALTY je spoluautorem několika děl narativní literatury faktu, včetně knihy Kapitán Phillips.

Pod stejným nebem

The thrilling true story of an Israel spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice. A page-turner to rival anything by John le Carre, this real-life tale of espionage will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Mossad's Hunt for the Butcher of Latvia

The Good Assassin

This “gripping account” of the early 20th century organized crime ring chronicles “a lurid and little-known episode in American history” (The Washington Post). Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave stirred New York City, then the entire country, into panic. The children of Italian immigrants were being kidnapped and dozens of innocent victims gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators’ only calling card was the symbol of a black hand. Standing between the American public and the Society of the Black Hand was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed “the Italian Sherlock Holmes,” Petrosino was an ingenious detective and master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre, Petrosino and his all-Italian police squad raced to capture members of the secret society before the nation’s anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. The Black Hand is a “taut, brisk, and very cinematic” true crime history of America at the dawn of the 20th century (Newsday).

Stephan Talty

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