California Memoir

"Golden State Killers" delves deep into the haunting chronicles of seven notorious serial killers who emerged from the sun-kissed expanses of California. While the Golden State is often celebrated for its shimmering beaches and Hollywood glamour, lurking in its underbelly is a darker tale that needs telling.

Twelve-year-old Marion Parker was kidnapped from her Los Angeles school by an unknown assailant on December 15, 1927. Her body was found days later, delivered to her father by the killer, who fled with the ransom money. When William Hickman was hunted down and charged with the killing, he admitted to all of it, in terrifying detail, but that was only the start. His insanity plea was the first of its kind in the history of California, and the nature of the crime led to a media frenzy unlike any the country had seen up to that point.

Most familiar with the Wild West know Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp for the famous shootout on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona. But few know the later years of the close-knit Earp family, which revolved around patriarch Nicholas Earp, and their last push at a major monetary coup in Los Angeles.

You're about to discover the incredibly inspirational story of UFC superstar Ronda Rousey. If you're reading this then, you must be a fan of Ronda, like so many others. As a fan, you must wonder how this woman is so talented and want to know more about her. Ronda is considered one of the greatest MMA fighters in the world and it's been an honor to be able to watch her compete throughout her young career.

A native of northern Russia, Alexander Baranov was a middle-aged merchant trader with no prior experience in the fur trade when, in 1790, he arrived in North America to assume command over Russia’s highly profitable sea otter business.

This audiobook covers famous and not-so-famous murderers, but the deaths they dealt to their victims were just as deadly, gruesome, and fatal. It didn’t matter to these soulless murderers whether death came to their anguished victims by knife, gun, bayonet, or bare hands. Listen and discover the stories behind the lingering silent sounds of those who no longer walk above ground in California - a state meant for its beauty, beaches, and bright sun.

I'm often asked why I still do criminal defense. My response is because the stories are the best. Richard Stanley has proven adage to be true ten times over. This is a fascinating story told in masterful fashion that is riveting and entertaining.

Prohibition. Mobsters, murder, and mayhem. FBI agents. Cops, robbers, and worse. Sound like the background for a Hollywood epic? It's Ernest Marquez's latest very true story of the renowned gambling ships that anchored in Santa Monica Bay in the 1920s and 1930s. It's the story of Tony Cornero, the cockiest gangster who ever bootlegged a bottle of scotch, the man who helped found Las Vegas, and the smooth operator of the most glamorous gambling ship in the Pacific, the Rex.

Hermosa Beach, California, in the mid-1960s. Sun, surf, and sand castles along The Strand to a soundtrack of “Fun, Fun, Fun.” But the hang-loose life of the locals was soon being drowned out—by a social storm able to turn even the most perfect wave into a brutal riptide. How do you go from planning vacations and evaluating investments to planning prison visits and evaluating defense pleas? How do you watch your surfer-champion sons turn into drug lords? Inmates? How do you watch your entire family die, one by one? Yet never stop fighting. It takes a rare and special person: Karl McMillen.

For 46 years, author Charles Hillinger journeyed around the world writing human-interest stories for the Los Angeles Times. He also helped to create and produce special features for the popular NBC television show Real People. From these experiences comes California Characters, a collection of stories about intriguing, eccentric, or simply amazing individuals.

The Hanging Judge of California probes outrageous decisions by the Federal 9th Circuit Court in overturning death penalty verdicts. California Judge Donald A. McCartin, who sent nine men to death row, speaks out in fury when convicted child killer Rodney Alcala's verdict was overturned after 23 years. The audiobook chronicles Alcala's crimes and trials, as well as the horrific murders committed by eight other killers who were sentenced by McCartin.

The Apostolic School That Wasn’t... narrates a gripping account of how a rugged and picturesque 240 acre property in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada slowly transformed into an accredited minor seminary, junior high, and high school for boys interested in the Catholic priesthood, then flourished, floundered, and finally shuttered. Situated between the action of God’s divine providence and human realities, the narration seeks to give witness to the faith and effort of the many persons involved in the project, while exploring the reasons that led to the school’s demise.

In Blues City, Ishmael Reed, one of our most brilliant essayists, takes us on a tour of Oakland, exploring its fascinating history, its beautiful hills and waterfronts, and its odd cultural juxtapositions. He takes us into a year in the life of this amazing city, to black cowboy parades and Indian powwows, to Black Panther reunions and Gay Pride concerts, to a Japanese jazz club where a Lakota musician plays Coltrane’s "Naima".

Listen as five criminals tell their stories. Jay Jay found trouble young, very young. Serving time at age 12 is not the beginning of Jay Jay’s descent into criminality. Cjay has been in nearly as many prisons as she has fingers, yet nothing in her upbringing predestined her for crime. Lawrence, a child raised in American ghetto circumstances, became the epitome of extreme violence while at the same time holding tight an inner secret of female identity. Brian was a young man with a twinkle in his eye and a propensity for getting caught.

Richard Milhous Nixon was the United States' 37th president, serving from 1969 to 1974. Nixon, a Republican politician, formerly worked as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961, after rising to country prominence as a California agent and senator. Following the Watergate occurrence, he ended up being the only president to leave from office after five years in the White House that observed the end of the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned moon landing, and the starting of the EPA.

In this first biography of Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. in more than 30 years, Chuck McFadden explores the unique persona of one of the most idiosyncratic politicians in California history. The son of California political royalty who forged his own political style against the tumultuous backdrop of a huge, balkanized state - and shoved to and fro by complex currents - Jerry Brown pursued visionary impulses as well as his grandiose ambitions.

While the journey was long and brutal, Lavinia found time to keep a daily journal of the entire adventure. Later in life, upon the urging of her children and grandchildren, she wrote this book to share her overland journey in great detail with anyone who wanted to learn what it was like for those old pioneers. They risked everything for a new land and a new start, and many died on the way, but for many who made it, the risk was well worth the reward.

This rapidly aging bird flew the coop - via TWA! I left my tear-soaked, empty nest in the California dust, and joyously migrated to Paris, France! I took to the air with two bulging K-Mart wide-belly suitcases; one seriously emaciated bank account; an excess of self-confidence; and last, but not least, my little "hotdog" and main squeeze...Sport Dachshund!

Charles Manson è l'uomo che ha annegato in un mare di sangue il sogno del flower power: insieme alla sua "Family" è stato il protagonista di alcuni dei crimini più efferati della storia americana, come il massacro di Cielo Drive, in cui l'attrice Sharon Tate (all'epoca incinta) venne trucidata con più di 160 coltellate, o gli omicidi LaBianca.

Bring Me the Head of Joaquin Murrieta tells the infamous story of Joaquin’s life, his bloody career and his gruesome fate. With careful research and never-before-told stories of the violent trail Murrieta and his gang left in their wake, award-winning author and definitive Wild West historian John Boessenecker separates fact from fiction in this gripping portrait of the California Gold Rush era, for readers of Tom Clavin and H. W. Brands.