True Accounts Nonfiction

Homicide: A Sociological Explanation

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Echoing Durkheim's Suicide, this book focuses on one important phenomenon to explain larger currents in American society. Leonard Beeghley examines the historical and cross-national dimensions of homicides and evaluates previous attempts to explain it. He finds the sources of America's murder rate in the greater availability of guns, the expansion of illegal drug markets, greater racial discrimination, more exposure to violence, and sharper economic inequalities. He deftly blends the evidence related to each of these factors into a well-reasoned sociological analysis of the nature of American society.

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What Happened to Christopher: An American Family's Story of Shaken Baby Syndrome

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This text was written following a trial concerning Shaken Baby Syndrome at which the author was a juror. It tells the story of 19-month-old Christopher Attig (1992-1994), reconstructing his final days and the aftermath of his murder.

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Journey Toward Justice

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Dennis Fritz was an ordinary middle-aged man leading an ordinary life, when, on May 8, 1987, he was on his way to jail on charges of rape and murder. An overzealous prosecutor bent on winning relied on flimsy circumstantial evidence and Dennis was convicted and sentenced to life in prison while his co-defendant, Ronnie Williamson was sentenced to death. After twelve years of incarceration, with the help of Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, and DNA testing, Dennis and Ronnie were exonerated and the real killer is found guilty. On April 15, 1999, Dennis and Ronnie walk free from prison.

"The story of the unwarranted prosecution and wrongful conviction of Dennis Fritz is compelling and fascinating. After serving eleven years for a murder he did not commit, Dennis was exonerated and had the strength and courage to put his life back together." ?John Grisham

"As I write these words, there have been one hundred eighty-one post-conviction DNA exonerations in America. The exonerated, many crime victims and their families (including the Carter family from the Fri and Williamson case) are the heart and soul of this movement. In this unique and brave community of survivors, there is no more decent and dignified a man, nor a more gentle soul, than Dennis Fritz. For eight years he has unstintingly supported our work in every way possible, re-living what are often very painful memories in service to a just cause. And now he has had the fortitude to tell his whole story. As always, I am in awe of his courage and humbled by his efforts." ?Barry C. Scheck Co-Director The Innocence Project

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The General: Irish Mob Boss

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In a twenty year career marked by obsessive secrecy, brutality, and meticulous planning, Martin Cahill, aka, The General, quickly rose through the ranks of the Irish underworld, until he himself became an international celebrity.

His criminal record included assassination, kidnapping, the bombing of a car belonging to a forensics expert who could finger him, and pulling off one of the world's largest gold heists and even more incredible, the world's largest art heist.

He was untouchable, and loyal to his gang. Loved by the common man, his personal battle with the police, from dropping his pants when the police told him they'd expose him to digging up the police officers private golf course, would make him a living legend. But Martin not only refused to respect the police, he refused to pay tribute to the IRA. And unlike the police who had to follow the law in their battle to bring down Ireland's most wanted, the IRA played by their own rules.

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A Decent, Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes

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The deadliest campaign of vigilante justice in American history erupted in the Rocky Mountains during the Civil War when a private army hanged twenty-one troublemakers. Hailed as great heroes at the time, the vigilantes are still revered by many in Montana as founding fathers.

Combing through original sources, including eyewitness accounts never before published, Frederick Allen concludes that the vigilantes were justified in their early actions, as they fought violent crime in a remote corner beyond the reach of government. But Allen has uncovered evidence that the vigilantes, refusing to disband after territorial courts were in place, lynched more than fifty men without trials. Reliance on mob rule in Montana became so ingrained that in 1883, a Helena newspaper editor advocated a return to "decent, orderly lynching" as a legitimate tool of social control.

Allen's sharply drawn characterizations are woven into a masterfully written narrative that will change textbook accounts of Montana's early days--and challenge our thinking on the essence of justice.

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The Mafia's Greatest Hits: Ranking, Rating, and Appraising the Big Rubou (Mafia)

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Pages: 240, Paperback, Citadel

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True Stories of Law & Order: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show

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The incredible real-life cases behind TV's longest-running crime drama-includes photos.

True Stories of Law & Order reveals the fascinating and shocking facts behind 25 of the hit show's most popular episodes-from the incredible account of how a woman's repressed memory leads to the solving of a 30-year-old cold case to the high-profile investigation of transvestite millionaire Robert Durst. And just like in Law & Order, the actual crime is just the beginning, as you follow these cases from the initial stages of the investigation through the trial and up to the often controversial verdicts.

Part of the reason millions of fans tune in to Law & Order is the gritty realism of its storytelling. The monumentally popular show has included many episodes inspired by actual cases ripped from the headlines-true crimes that are often stranger and more chilling than fiction.

NOTE: This book was not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the Law & Order television series.

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Murder Gone Cold

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Murder Gone Cold relates the double murder of Barbara and Patricia Grimes back in 1957. The work of many years, author Tamara Shaffer, has painsakingly researched this unsolved crime through actual interviews, newspaper articles and court testimony. Many not seen before photographs are also included in this book.

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Damned to Eternity: The Man Who Caused a Flood

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In the tradition of The Innocent Man, the story of James Scott, who was charged and convicted of causing a levee break and is now serving a life sentence in Missouri.

James Scott was twenty-four years old when he was first convicted in 1994--and then again in 1998--of intentionally causing a catastrophe. His alleged crime was causing a levee to break, which flooded over 14,000 acres of farmland during the Great Midwestern Floods of '93. Though no one died, he was the first and only person in Missouri history convicted under this obscure 1979 law and is now serving a life sentence. He won't be eligible for his first parole hearing until 2023, when he will be fifty-five years old.

In Damned to Eternity, Adam Pitluk contends that James Scott was a victim of a federal agency, a town, and law enforcement hell-bent on blaming him for something he maintains he didn't do.

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