Stephen Bates

Taking a fresh look at the infamous doctor's life and disputed crimes, and drawing on previously undiscovered letters and new forensic evidence, this first major account of William Palmer, who, in 1856, was hanged for poisoning dozens of people, takes readers into the mind of a killer.

The Life and Crimes of Victorian England's Most Notorious Doctor

The Poisoner

The story behind the 1940s Commission on Freedom of the Press—groundbreaking then, timelier than ever now "A well-constructed, timely study, clearly relevant to current debates."—Kirkus, starred review In 1943, Time Inc. editor-in-chief Henry R. Luce sponsored the greatest collaboration of intellectuals in the twentieth century. He and University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins summoned the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, the Pulitzer-winning poet Archibald MacLeish, and ten other preeminent thinkers to join the Commission on Freedom of the Press. They spent three years wrestling with subjects that are as pertinent as ever: partisan media and distorted news, activists who silence rather than rebut their opponents, conspiracy theories spread by shadowy groups, and the survivability of American democracy in a post-truth age. The report that emerged, A Free and Responsible Press, is a classic, but many of the commission’s sharpest insights never made it into print. Journalist and First Amendment scholar Stephen Bates reveals how these towering intellects debated some of the most vital questions of their time—and reached conclusions urgently relevant today.

Luce, Hutchins, Niebuhr, and the Committee That Redefined Freedom of the Press

An Aristocracy of Critics

Former royal correspondent Stephen Bates lifts the lid on the 1,800 years of power plays, ritual, tradition and intrigue in Britain's monarchy and asks, where to next for the world's most enduring monarchy? Amidst the turbulence and invasions, upheaval and dissent that characterise British history, one thing has remained remarkably stable. Although there are other monarchies, Britain's Crown stands out due to the continuity of its traditions, and its ability to adapt. In this sprightly commentary on the Crown's remarkable 1,800-year story and enduring power, Stephen Bates provides a dazzling insight into royal custom and ritual, whilst depicting the individuals behind the myth with compassion and wit. Delving equally into personality and policy, this book reveals the historical power struggles and concessions that have shaped the monarchy today.The end of the seventy-year reign of Elizabeth II and details about the 'The Firm' revealed by the Sussexes inevitably bring forth questions about the Crown, its character and its survival. What might the future hold for the world's best-known monarchy?

The Shortest History of the Crown

Edwin Diamond

The Rise of Political Advertising on Television

The Spot - Third Edition

The True Story of a 1920s Murder Mystery

Poisonous Solicitor

Former royal correspondent Stephen Bates lifts the lid on the 1,800 years of power plays, ritual, tradition and intrigue in Britain’s monarchy and asks, where to next for the world’s most enduring monarchy? Amidst the turbulence and invasions, upheaval and dissent that characterise British history, one thing has remained remarkably stable. Although there are other monarchies, Britain's Crown stands out due to the continuity of its traditions, and its ability to adapt. Of all the world's countries, forty-two are still monarchies, but the British monarchy remains the most famous, perhaps even in those countries with kings and queens of their own. As a legacy of empire, the British monarch is head of state to fourteen countries beyond the United Kingdom, from Australia, New Zealand and Canada to a string of island states across the Caribbean and the Pacific. In this sprightly commentary on the Crown's remarkable 1,800-year-long story and enduring power, Stephen Bates provides a dazzling insight into royal custom and ritual, whilst depicting the individuals behind the myth with compassion and wit. Delving equally into personality and policy, this book reveals the historical power struggles and concessions that have shaped the monarchy today. As Britain mourns the end of the seventy-year reign of Elizabeth II, questions about the Crown, its character and survival will inevitably recur. What might the future hold for the world's best-known monarchy? 'This is monarchy-nerd heaven. All the fascinating detail of British royal history in one place, complete with facts on all those thorny quirks you thought you understood but really didn't.' —Juliet Rieden, author of The Royals in Australia 'A lively tale of monarchy in the UK, from Saxon warlords to William and Harry' —The Daily Mail 'A brilliant new book … puts it all into perspective' —Phil Dampier, Royal Correspondent and author of Royally Suited: Harry and Meghan In Their Own Words and Diana: I'm Going To Be Me: The People's Princess In Her Own Words.

In 1856, a baying crowd of over 30,000 people gathered outside Stafford prison to watch the execution of a village doctor from Staffordshire. One of the last people to be publicly hanged, the 'Rugely Poisoner', the 'Prince of Poisoners', 'The greatest villain who ever stood trial at the Old Bailey,' as Charles Dickens described him, Dr William Palmer was convicted in 1855 of murdering his best friend, but was suspected of poisoning more than a dozen other people, including his wife, children, brother and mother-in-law - cashing in on their life insurance to fund his monstrously indebted gambling habit. Highlighting Palmer's particularly gruesome penchant for strychnine, his trial made news across Europe- the most memorable in fifty years, according to the Old Bailey's presiding Lord Chief Justice. He was a new kind of murderer - respectable, middle class, personable, and consequently more terrifying - and he became Britain's most infamous figure until the arrival of Jack the Ripper. The first widely available account of one of the most notorious, yet lesser-known, mass-murderers in British history, The Poisoner takes a fresh look at Palmer's life and disputed crimes, ultimately asking 'just how evil was this man?' With previously undiscovered letters from Palmer and new forensic examination of his victims, Stephen Bates presents not only an astonishing and controversial revision of Palmer's entire story, but takes the reader into the very psyche of a killer.

The gripping, terrifying true story of the mass murderer who shocked Victorian England.

A Gripping Account of the Murders Committed by Dr William Palmer, the 'prince of Poisoners', and His Dramatic Trial

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

The Life and Times of Victorian England's Most Notorious Doctor

In 1856, a baying crowd of over 30,000 people gathered outside Stafford prison to watch the execution of a village doctor from Staffordshire. One of the last people to be publicly hanged, the 'Rugely Poisoner', the 'Prince of Poisoners', 'The greatest villain who ever stood trial at the Old Bailey,' as Charles Dickens described him, Dr William Palmer was convicted in 1855 of murdering his best friend, but was suspected of poisoning more than a dozen other people, including his wife, children, brother and mother-in-law - cashing in on their life insurance to fund his monstrously indebted gambling habit...Highlighting Palmer's particularly gruesome penchant for strychnine, his trial made news across Europe: the most memorable in fifty years, according to the Old Bailey's presiding Lord Chief Justice. He was a new kind of murderer - respectable, middle class, personable, and consequently more terrifying - and he became Britain's most infamous figure until the arrival of Jack the Ripper...The first widely available account of one of the most notorious, yet lesser-known, mass-murderers in British history, 'The Poisoner' takes a fresh look at Palmer's life and disputed crimes, ultimately asking 'just how evil was this man?' With previously undiscovered letters from Palmer and new forensic examination of his victims, Stephen Bates presents not only an astonishing and controversial revision of Palmer's entire story, but takes the reader into the very psyche of a killer.

Bruno Krucker

101 Spring Street

Jonathan Sergison

This book is a collection of illustrated papers by British architects Jonathan Sergison and Stephen Bates written between 2002 and 2007. Writing, like drawing and talking together, supports their collaborative and creative work, providing as it does a tangible reference point for communication and in the search for shared objectives. Although each of the papers included in this volume was written by one of the architects, they acknowledge shared authorship of their content and objective. In the preparation of each paper, the observer acts as a friendly critic to the write, integral to the process and supportive of the exploration of personal and shared experience. Some of theses papers wrere written as a result of self-imposed discipline, others were prepared as lectures, to support their teaching practice, to highlight a particular theme or encourage a way of looking at something. Others were written as contributions towards symposia, conferences and publications, or in response to invitations to speak publicly about their work. In some cases, a lecture based on notes and images has been subsuquently developed for publication. This results in a rich mix in terms of contet, lenght, structure and character. The twenty papers are organised thematically and chronologically within each section, addressing reflections on their own position within architectural discourse, on the process of making buildings, on some of the ideas that recur in their work and on aspects of place.

Papers 2

It is an amazing feat in the 21st century that Queen Elizabeth II, a small woman in her late-eighties, should be one of the most recognisable people on the planet. Her voice is redolent of another era, her interests are esoteric to many of her people, her opinions on anything from the weather to politics are almost entirely unknown, and her whole life has been lived without ever mingling on equal terms with anybody, except for one heady evening in 1945 when she slipped out of Buckingham Palace incognito to join the crowds celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The world has utterly, irreversibly, and radically evolved since she ascended the throne in 1952 and yet, in an era of instant celebrity, she remains, more popular than ever and seemingly largely unchanged: a bastion of certainty and comfort to the British and many other people during uncertain times. On 9th September 2015, she will beat Queen Victoria's record and become the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The question is: How secure is the British Royal Family? How much depends on the person of the Queen herself, and how much on the institution? To answer these questions, Royalty Inc. will combine a history of the British Crown's evolution thorugh the modern age with a journalistic peek behind the curtain at the machinery that sustains the Windsors today. Written by the Guardian's former Royal correspondent, its line will be neither royalist nor republican. Instead it will take a clear-eyed look at a host of issues, including the future of the Commonwealth, the Monarchy's role in the British constitution and class system, Prince Charles' notorious 'black spider memos', the true scale of the Royal finances, the legacy of Diana, and the problems and pressures faced by any heir to the throne in the future.

Britain's Best-Known Brand

Royalty Inc.

'METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED ... A GLORIOUSLY ENGAGING ROMP' JANICE HALLETT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'IMMERSIVE AND COMPELLING' DAVID KYNASTON 'A PAGE-TURNER' ROBERT LACEY 'CAREFUL AND COMPELLING' KATE MORGAN 'YOU WILL READ IT IN ONE SITTING' MARC MULHOLLAND 'A REAL-LIFE GOLDEN-AGE CRIME NOVEL' SEAN O'CONNOR A brilliant narrative investigation into the 1920s case that inspired Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham. On a bleak Tuesday morning in February 1921, 48-year-old Katharine Armstrong died in her bedroom on the first floor of an imposing Edwardian villa overlooking the rolling hills of the isolated borderlands between Wales and England. Within fifteen months of such a sad domestic tragedy, her husband, Herbert Rowse Armstrong, would be arrested, tried and hanged for poisoning her with arsenic, the only solicitor ever to be executed in England. Armstrong's story was retold again and again, decade after decade, in a thousand newspaper articles across the world, and may have also inspired the new breed of popular detective writers seeking to create a cunning criminal at the centre of their thrillers. With all the ingredients of a classic murder mystery, the case is a near-perfect whodunnit. But who, in fact, did it? Was Armstrong really a murderer? One hundred years after the execution, Agatha-Award shortlisted Stephen Bates examines and retells the story of the case, evoking the period and atmosphere of the early 1920s, and questioning the fatal judgement.

The Poisonous Solicitor

Secularization and Its Discontents

It is an amazing feat in the 21st century that Queen Elizabeth II, a small woman in her late - eighties, should be one of the most recognisable people on the planet. Her voice is redolent of another era, her interests are esoteric to many of her people, her opinions on anything from the weather to politics are almost entirely unknown, and her whole life has been lived without ever mingling on equal terms with anybody, except for one heady evening in 1945 when she slipped out of Buckingham Palace incognito to join the crowds celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The world has utterly, irreversibly, and radically evolved since she ascended the throne in 1952 and yet, in an era of instant celebrity, she remains, more popular than ever and seemingly largely unchanged: a bastion of certainty and comfort to the British and many other people during uncertain times. On 9th September 2015, she will beat Queen Victoria's record and become the longest - reigning monarch in British history. The question is: How secure is the British Royal Family? How much depends on the person of the Queen herself, and how much on the institution? To answer these questions, Royalty Inc. will combine a history of the British Crown's evolution thorugh the modern age with a journalistic peek behind the curtain at the machinery that sustains the Windsors today. Written by the Guardian's former Royal correspondent, its line will be neither royalist nor republican. Instead it will take a clear - eyed look at a host of issues, including the future of the Commonwealth, the Monarchy's role in the British constitution and class system, Prince Charles' notorious 'black spider memos', the true scale of the Royal finances, the legacy of Diana, and the problems and pressures faced by any heir to the throne in the future.

Royalty Inc.: Britain's Best-Known Brand (Large Print 16pt)

It is an amazing feat in the 21st century that Queen Elizabeth II, a small, elderly woman in her mid-eighties, should be one of the most recognisable people on the planet, and the head of arguably the world's most prestigious and enduring ‘brand'. Her voice is redolent of another era, her interests are esoteric to many of her people, her opinions on anything from the weather to politics are almost entirely unknown, and her whole life has been lived without ever mingling on equal terms with anybody, except for one heady evening in 1945 when she slipped out of Buckingham Palace incognito to join the crowds celebrating the end of the war in Europe. The world has utterly, irreversibly, and radically evolved since she ascended the throne in 1952 and yet, in an era of instant celebrity, she remains, more popular than ever and seemingly largely unchanged: a bastion of certainty and comfort to the British and many other people during uncertain times. On 10th September 2015, she will beat Queen Victoria's record and become the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The question is: How secure is the British Royal Family? How much depends on the person of the Queen herself, and how much on the institution? To answer these questions, Royalty Inc. will combine a history of the British Crown's evolution through the modern age with a journalistic peek behind the curtain at the machinery that sustains the Windsors today. Written by the Guardian's former Royal correspondent (2000 to 2012), its line will be neither royalist nor republican. Instead it will take a clear-eyed look at a host of issues, including the future of the Commonwealth, the Monarchy's role in the British constitution and class system, Prince Charles' notorious 'black spider memos', the true scale of the Royal finances, the legacy of Diana, and the problems and pressures faced by any heir to the throne in the future.

A set of antique photographic plates is the key to uncovering hidden truths of the Civil War, Great Depression, and 9/11 eras in this “unflinching” novel (Publishers Weekly). A teenage boy and his grandfather travel across America to attend that last great reunion of Civil War veterans at Gettysburg in 1938, where secrets and lies are revealed about the old man’s past. Perhaps he was not the hero his grandson thought, but he still has a valuable treasure to reveal, which will shed intriguing light on the war and his part in it. Interweaving three periods of crisis in American history—the Civil War, the Depression, and 9/11—The Photographer’s Boy explores the power of photography and journalism to inform or mislead; raises questions about love; and offers “an unflinching but sympathetic, often touching, look at the comforting fictions people wrap themselves in to protect themselves from the cold of reality” (Publishers Weekly).

Stephen Bates

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