The “fascinating…great-grandson’s account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the US postal inspector who brought to justice the deadly Black Hand is “unputdownable” (Library Journal, starred review). Before the emergence of prohibition-era gangsters like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, there was the Black Hand: an early twentieth-century Sicilian-American crime ring that preyed on immigrants from the old country. In those days, the FBI was in its infancy, and local law enforcement were clueless against the dangers. Terrorized victims rarely spoke out, and the criminals ruled with terror—until Inspector Frank Oldfield came along. In 1899, Oldfield became America’s 156th Post Office Inspector—joining the ranks of the most powerful federal law enforcement agents in the country. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the unconventional Oldfield brilliantly took down train robbers, murderers, and embezzlers from Ohio to New York to Maryland. Oldfield was finally able to penetrate the dreaded Black Hand when a tip-off put him onto the most epic investigation of his career, culminating in the 1909 capture of sixteen mafiosos in a case that spanned four states, two continents—and ended in the first international organized crime conviction in the country. Hidden away by the Oldfield family for one hundred years and covered-up by rival factions in the early 20th century Post Office Department, this incredible true story out of America’s turn-of-the-century heartland will captivate all lovers of history and true crime. “I tip my hat to Inspector Oldfield. He was way ahead of his time and his efforts are magnificently relived in this book” (Daniel L. Mihalko, former Postal Inspector in Charge, Congressional & Public Affairs).

Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the American "Golden Age" (1950-2000). With books like Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers and Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky has established himself as the foremost expert on the history of serial killers. In this first definitive history of the "Golden Age" of American serial murder, when the number and body count of serial killers exploded, Vronsky tells the stories of the most unusual and prominent serial killings from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century. From Ted Bundy to the Golden State Killer, our fascination with these classic serial killers seems to grow by the day. American Serial Killers gives true crime junkies what they crave, with both perennial favorites (Ed Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer) and lesser-known cases (Melvin Rees, Harvey Glatman).

"The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844" by Frederick Engels is a powerful indictment of the Industrial Revolution's detrimental impact on workers. Engels meticulously demonstrates how industrial cities like Manchester and Liverpool experienced alarmingly high mortality rates due to diseases, with workers being four times more likely to succumb to illnesses like smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough compared to their rural counterparts. The overall death rate in these cities far surpassed the national average, painting a grim picture of the workers' plight. Engels goes beyond mortality statistics to shed light on the dire living conditions endured by industrial workers. He argues that their wages were lower than those of pre-industrial workers, and they were forced to inhabit unhealthy and unpleasant environments. Addressing a German audience, Engels' work is considered a classic account of the universal struggles faced by the industrial working class. It reveals his transformation into a radical thinker after witnessing the harsh realities in England. "The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844" remains an essential resource for understanding the hardships endured by workers during the Industrial Revolution. Engels' meticulous research and impassioned arguments continue to shape discussions on labor rights, social inequality, and the historical agency of the working class.

During the Cold War, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy’s most cherished possession—but such freedom was put in service of a hidden agenda. In The Cultural Cold War, Frances Stonor Saunders reveals the extraordinary efforts of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West were working for or subsidized by the CIA—whether they knew it or not. Called "the most comprehensive account yet of the [CIA’s] activities between 1947 and 1967" by the New York Times, the book presents shocking evidence of the CIA’s undercover program of cultural interventions in Western Europe and at home, drawing together declassified documents and exclusive interviews to expose the CIA’s astonishing campaign to deploy the likes of Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Lowell, George Orwell, and Jackson Pollock as weapons in the Cold War. Translated into ten languages, this classic work—now with a new preface by the author—is "a real contribution to popular understanding of the postwar period" (The Wall Street Journal), and its story of covert cultural efforts to win hearts and minds continues to be relevant today.

As a teenager, in the early 1900s, Antonio Caliendo left Italy in hopes of finding a better life in America. His journey from the Italian countryside would take him from the steel mills of Western Pennsylvania to the iron bars of Western Penitentiary. Through his involvement in "bootlegging" during the Prohibition, Antonio would be introduced to the beginnings of organized crime in his new country. He would eventually face the most challenging obstacle of his life as he fought to protect himself from certain death. One hundred years later, his great-nephews would seek the truth surrounding events in their uncle's life and uncover evidence of a century-old murder.

A notorious case of terror and extortion in the Buckeye State In the early 1900s, a criminal society known as the Black Hand became feared across the United States as it extorted hard-working immigrants. In 1908, Agostino Iannarino received a series of threatening letters and when he refused to pay, a bomb exploded at the entrance of his Columbus home. His family fled to Sicily only to continue receiving threats. The following year, U.S. Post Office Inspectors learned that a Black Hand gang called the Society of the Banana was headquartered in Marion, Ohio, and authorities attempted to put an end to the violent outrages occurring across the Midwest. Revealing twenty-four extortion letters written by members of the Society of the Banana, author Shane W. Croston details factual and fatal accounts of the Black Hand.

This work argues for the existence of a committee of 300, an elite body which controls every aspect of politics, religion, commerce and industry, answerable to no one except itself. It maintains that the confusion of social and moral values in the free world has been deliberately created.

A notorious case of terror and extortion in the Buckeye State In the early 1900s, a criminal society known as the Black Hand became feared across the United States as it extorted hard-working immigrants. In 1908, Agostino Iannarino received a series of threatening letters and when he refused to pay, a bomb exploded at the entrance of his Columbus home. His family fled to Sicily only to continue receiving threats. The following year, U.S. Post Office Inspectors learned that a Black Hand gang called the Society of the Banana was headquartered in Marion, Ohio, and authorities attempted to put an end to the violent outrages occurring across the Midwest. Revealing twenty-four extortion letters written by members of the Society of the Banana, author Shane W. Croston details factual and fatal accounts of the Black Hand.