This first book to reassess the myth and the realities of Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's favourite commando. SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny became a legend in his own time. 'Hitler's favourite commando' acquired a reputation as a man of daring, renowned for his audacious 1943 mission to extricate Mussolini from a mountain-top prison. Skorzeny's influence on special operations doctrine was far-reaching and long-lasting – in 2011, when US Navy SEALs infiltrated Pakistan to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, the operational planning was influenced by Skorzeny's legacy. Yet he was also an egoist who stole other men's credit (including for the seminal rescue of Mussolini), brave and resourceful but also an unrepentant Nazi and a self-aggrandizing hogger of the limelight. Stuart Smith draws on years of in-depth research to uncover the truth about Skorzeny's career and complex personality. From his background as a student radical in Vienna, to his bloody service with the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front, his surprise rebirth as a commando, and his intriguing post-war career and mysterious fortune, this book tells Otto Skorzeny's story in full – warts and all – for the first time.

T.H. Huxley led a fascinating and outgoing life. He did battle with God and Gladstone, sat on royal commissions and campaigned for elementary education. He carried Darwin's fight to the public. This book uses the life of Huxley to illustrate the second half of the 19th century.

1877. The American Civil War is raging and Dick Dudgeon is the Devil, s Disciple, the black sheep in a self-righteous puritan family. But, then trapped in the house of the rebel leader, his mistaken identity leads him towards the gallows... and an act of heroism. Hardback 144p

The Nazi regime was essentially a religious cult, relying on the hypnotic personality of one man, Adolf Hitler, and it was fated to die with him. But while it lasted, his closest lieutenants competed ferociously for power and position as his chosen successor. This deadly contest accounted for many of the regime's worst excesses, in which millions of people died, and which brought Western civilization to its knees. The Devil's Disciples is the first major book for a general readership to examine those lieutenants, not only as individuals but also as a group. It focuses on the three Nazi paladins closest to Hitler - Goring, Goebbels and Himmler - with their nearest rivals - Bormann, Speer and Ribbentrop in close attendance. Others who were removed in various ways - like Gregor Strasser, Ernst R-hm, Heydrich and Hess - play supporting roles. Perceptive and illuminating, The Devil's Disciples is above all a powerful chronological narrative, showing how the personalities of Hitler's inner circle developed and how their jealousies and constant intrigues affected the regime, the war, and Hitler himself.

In the early- and mid-1880s, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the forerunner of the modern IRA, waged a bombing campaign that terrorized the citizens of London for more than four years. Explosives were detonated in such places as the Tower of London, the House of Commons, Victoria station and at the London Bridge. The bombings were carried out in an attempt to secure Ireland's freedom from England. The Fenians, as they were called, hoped citizens would put pressure on the government to resolve the dispute. Implored by the government to end the reign of terror, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson take up residence in a doss house in Whitechapel, which would achieve even greater notoriety a few years later courtesy of Jack the Ripper, posing as dock workers in order to learn more about the shadowy group and ingratiate themselves with its members. When Holmes learns a new bomb-maker is on the way and the bombings will increase in frequency, he understands time is running out. Despite proving his bona fides by bombing 10 Downing Street, Holmes is still held at arm's length by the group's leader Michael. As plans for the extensive new bombing campaign are formulated, Holmes realizes that he must act quickly in order to stop the terror. However, as clever as Holmes is, Michael is his match. The Devil's Disciples pits Holmes against an adversary who is every bit as cunning as he - but far more ruthless.

ARE YOU LISTENING? I AM CLOSING THE DOOR TO YESTERDAY IF I DON'T IT'S NOBODY'S FAULT BUT MINE. I DON'T KNOW WHEN, I DON'T KNOW HOW, I JUST KNOW THAT "MY FATHER'S" DELAY IS NOT A DENIAL.

Approaching the subject as a legal and social historian, Peter Charles Hoffer offers a fresh look at the Salem outbreak based on recent studies of panic rumors, teen hysteria, child abuse, and intrafamily relations. He brings to life a set of conversations -- in taverns and courtrooms, at home and work -- which took place among suspected witches, accusers, witnesses, and spectators. The accusations, denials, and confessions of this legal story eventually resurrect the tangled internal tensions that lay at the bottom of the Salem witch hunts.