Assassinations are, by their nature, more shocking than most murders, affecting the lives of thousands, sometimes millions, of people. Even if the victim inspires passionate hatred, the act itself must be carried out with the sort of detachment usually associated with the professional hitman. And yet, as this book reveals, most assassinations are not the outcome of minutely planned actions, although rarely can they be dismissed as merely a fanatic pulling a trigger, wielding a knife or planting a bomb. In Cold-Blooded Killings, Charlotte Greig explores the most notorious cases of assassination in our history, looking in depth at the killers, their motives and the impact the deaths of the victims had on society. She investigates the controversies that have inevitably arisen where the killer's motive has been unclear or their ability to organize such a crime unaided has been questionable. In addition, this book also examines notable failed attempts on the lives of the famous including Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Andy Warhol and Pope John Paul II. What led to these attempts? Why did they fail? And, most interestingly of all, what would have happened if they had succeeded? Cold-Blooded Killings allows you to re-live the drama, horror and bloody aftermath of assassinations that aimed to change the course of history.

Founded in 1798, Hamtramck shrank in size even as it grew in population. Stuffing tens of thousands of people in 2.1 square miles is bound to breed conflict, and many of those conflicts boiled over into murder. Sunday, September 7, 1884, was supposed to be a day of joy for Fritz Krum, whose child was being christened. Instead, it ended in a fatal stabbing. The 1930 killing of police officer Barney Roth in a reputed mob hit drew national attention. The murder of Hamtramck teen Bernice Onisko remains an open case today, more than eighty years after it occurred. Gathering cases from the late nineteenth century to more recent times, prolific local historian Greg Kowalski takes readers on a journey through Hamtramck homicide.

On a cold, damp January night in 1961, 19-year-old Pearl Gamble made the final goodbye to her Mother an set off excitedly with two friends to the local dance. Little did Mrs Gamble know, it was the last time that she would see her daughter alive...The following day, the naked body of Pearl was discovered in the fields surrounding the small rural hamlet. She had been ferociously attacked: there were stabs wounds on her body and she had been severely beaten around the face. A post-mortem revealed a shocking list of injuries: one of the stab wounds had punctured her hart and would have led to her death had the perpetrator not finished the job by strangulation.This in-depth and intriguing book investigates all aspects of the murder: it looks at the police investigation as it unfolded; it traces the last known movements of Pearl and her friends at the local dance and it analyses the character and strange behaviour of the murderer, Robert McGladdery.McGladdery has been described as a Walter Mitty character who managed to lead the police on a merry dance once he was confirmed as their prime suspect. Strangely, almost everyone in Newry Town knew that he was the only suspect and watched while he was tailed by plain clothes police in an attempt to catch him returning to vital evidence which was concealed away from the murder scene.This gripping investigation tells the tale of a small-town community shattered by a brutal and savage crime. It is an emotive story which concludes with the execution of McGladdery, the last man to be hanged in Northern Ireland. It's a must-read for any true crime fan.

Gripping accounts of some of Australia’s worst murder cases – and insights into the men and women who committed the crimes. Why do some people cross the threshold from rational behaviour to cold blooded murder? What could motivate a mother to kill her own children? How could a man kill his own pregnant wife and toddler with a spear gun? How could someone kill a political rival - and think they could get away with it? All these questions and many more are answered in this collection of the most monstrous cases to hit the headlines in Australia in recent times. Well-known journalist and author Malcolm Brown goes into cases such as the Snowtown murders; the killing of Dr Margaret Tobin, Maria Korp, Melbourne's society murders, and the frightful case of Kathleen Folbigg killing her own four young children. These are not only gripping accounts of the terrible crimes themselves - but they look into what would lead someone to commit them.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.

The Trial of Sunny Ang (1973). Bankrupt and desperately needing money, this is the true story of how a brilliant Singaporean psychopath tried to commit the perfect crime. This landmark trial was the first of its kind in Singapore—without a body, the prosecution had no medical evidence nor witnesses to claim unnatural death, so they caught Ang in a chain of circumstantial evidence he could not break, which ultimately led to his sentence. Pulau Senang—The Experiment That Failed (1980). In 1965, 18 men, all convicted criminals were sent to death for murder. They were to be a haunting testimony to the failure of a bold experiment to transform Pulau Senang into a gaol without bars and a sad realization that ‘creative work in healthy surroundings’ may not reform seasoned criminals. Reconstructing the events leading to the tragedy and trial, Pulau Senang attempts to throw some light to a question that has never been answered satisfactorily: Why did the experiment fail?

Truman Capote and the Legacy of 'In Cold Blood' is the anatomy of the origins of an American literary landmark and its legacy.

Welcome to the Drone Age. Where self-defense has become naked aggression. Where courage has become cowardice. Where black ops have become standard operating procedure. In this remarkable and often shocking book, Laurie Calhoun dissects the moral, psychological, and cultural impact of remote-control killing in the twenty-first century. Can a drone operator conducting a targeted killing be likened to a mafia hitman? What difference, if any, is there between the Trayvon Martin case and the drone killing of a teen in Yemen? We Kill Because We Can takes a scalpel to the dark heart of Western foreign policy in order to answer these and many other troubling questions.

This engaging and informative book, by award-winning sociologist and criminologist John Curra, offers a valuable perspective on attitudes and behaviors labeled as deviant. The Relativity of Deviance, Fourth Edition, explores the meanings and constructions of social deviance and social reactions to it, he answers such questions as: What is deviance? What comprises deviant behavior? How are deviants treated? How is deviance socially constructed and socially sustained? Why is the same attitude, behavior, or condition praised in one situation and condemned in another? Through insightful and thought-provoking examples and informed accounts, the author illustrates that deviance cannot be explained or understood in terms of absolutes or essential characteristics nor can it be explained or understood apart from its social setting. This book approaches sex, violence, theft, drugs, suicide, rape, and mental disorders in a way that shows the critical role of sociocultural factors and social reactions in constructions of deviance and crime.