In God's Name: An Investigation Into the Murder of Pope John Paul I

Columbine

Dave Cullen · 417 pages

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat

Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints

Sam Brower · 323 pages

From the private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the arrest of Warren Jeffs, the maniacal prophet of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), comes the page-turning, horrifying story of how a rogue sect used sex, money, and power disguised under a fac Œade of religion to further criminal activities and a madman's vision.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Jon Krakauer · 399 pages

Jon Krakauer's literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they receive

Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family

Jess Walter · 472 pages

In Every Knee Shall Bow, award-winning journalist Jess Walter takes the reader on a harrowing voyage from the homespun Iowa childhoods of Randy and Vicki Weaver to the shoot-out in which a decorated deputy U.S. marshal, the Weavers' fourteen-year-old son, Sammy, and their dog Striker were killed. He leads the reader moment by moment through the siege in which Vicki Weaver was fatally shot as she s

Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States

Helen Prejean · 278 pages

Sister Helen Prejean's poignant account of her experiences ministering to two Death Row inmates.

Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System

Roberto Saviano · 301 pages

A major bestseller in Italy, this is a heroic young man's impassioned account of the decline of Naples under the rule of the Camorra, an organized crime network with a large international reach and stakes in construction, high fashion, illicit drugs, and toxic-waste disposal. Known by insiders as "the System," the Camorra affects cities and villages along the Neapolitan coast, and is the deciding

Remembering Satan: Recovered Memory and the Shattering of a Family

Lawrence Wright · 205 pages

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw

Mark Bowden · 384 pages

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw is a book by Mark Bowden that details the efforts by the governments of the United States and Colombia, their respective military and intelligence forces, and Los Pepes to stop illegal activities committed by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and his subordinates. It relates how Escobar was killed and his cartel dismantled. Bowden originally

Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art

Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo · 339 pages

A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries—many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections todayProvenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a g

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld

Misha Glenny · 387 pages

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by dreams of newly opened markets. But no one could have foreseen that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the worldwide rise of organized crime. Today, it is estimated that illegal tra

The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas

Anand Giridharadas · 327 pages

Days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walked into the Dallas minimart where Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a former Bangladesh Air Force officer, has found temporary work and shoots him, nearly killing him. Giridharadas traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter, following them as they rebuild shattered lives. Ten year

American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic

John Temple · 309 pages

The king of the pill mills was American Pain, a mega-clinic that served as a prototype for the rest. From a pristine former bank building, doctors distributed massive quantities of oxycodone to hundreds of customers a day, mostly traffickers and addicts who came by the vanload. Inked muscle-heads ran security, greeting the morning rush of pill poppers with cries of Welcome to the dope hole! Stripp

The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen

Mark Shaw · 329 pages

Was journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? Or was her death from an overdose of barbiturates combined with alcohol, as reported? Shaw believes Kilgallen's death has always been suspect, and unfolds a list of suspects ranging from Frank Sinatra to a Mafia don, while speculating on the possibilities of reopening the case.

Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over The Billion Dollar Cybercrime Underground

Kevin Poulsen · 266 pages

Former hacker Kevin Poulsen has, over the past decade, built a reputation as one of the top investigative reporters on the cybercrime beat. In Kingpin, he pours his unmatched access and expertise into book form for the first time, delivering a gripping cat-and-mouse narrative -- and an unprecedented view into the twenty-first century's signature form of organized crime. The word spread through the

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession

David Grann · 352 pages

Acclaimed New Yorker writer and author of the breakout debut bestseller The Lost City of Z, David Grann offers a collection of spellbinding narrative journalism. Whether he's reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone- tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squ

The Wizard of Lies

Diana B. Henriques · 448 pages

The inside story of Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme, with surprising and shocking new details from Madoff himself. Who is Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion through

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

Peter Matthiessen · 646 pages

An investigative account of the fatal shootout between FBI agents and American Indians in 1975. On a hot June morning in 1975, a desperate shoot-out between FBI agents and Native Americans near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, left an Indian and two federal agents dead. Four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges, and one, Leonard Peltier, was convicted and is now serv

El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency

Ioan Grillo · 321 pages

"The world has watched stunned at the bloodshed in Mexico. Forty thousand murdered since 2006; police chiefs shot within hours of taking office; mass graves comparable to those of civil wars; car bombs shattering storefronts; headless corpses heaped in town squares. And it is all because a few Americans are getting high. Or is it? The United States throws Black Hawk helicopters, DEA assistance, an

The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

Brendan I. Koerner · 327 pages

In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of sixties idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. The longest-distance hijacking in American history took

Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker

James McManus · 427 pages

A chronicle of life in Las Vegas investigates the murder of poker player Ted Binion, revealing a secret world of kinky sex, black magic, and science lurking at the heart of gambling's World Series of Poker.

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People

Tim Reiterman · 623 pages

Tim Reiterman’s *Raven* provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award–winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman’s reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and moti

The Bluegrass Conspiracy

Sally Denton · 410 pages

Down by the River : Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family

Charles Bowden · 448 pages

"Phil Jordan runs DEA intelligence, but when his brother Bruno is killed, he is powerless. Amado Carillo Fuentes runs the most successful drug business in the history of the world, but when his usefulness to governments ceases, he mysteriously dies in a hospital. Carlos Salinas runs Mexico, but as soon as he leaves office, his brother is jailed for murder and Salinas flees into exile. Sal Martinez

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America

Jill Leovy · 384 pages