True Historical

Wilhelm Canaris was appointed by Hitler to head the Abwehr (the German secret service) 18 months after the Nazis came to power. But Canaris turned against the Fuhrer and the Nazi regime, believing that Hitler would start a war Germany could not win. In 1938 he was involved in an attempted coup, undermined by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. In 1940 he sabotaged the German plan to invade England, and fed General Franco vital information that helped him keep Spain out of the war.

Henry Every was the 17th century’s most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular - and wildly inaccurate - reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Every’s most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a major shift in the global economy. Enemy of All Mankind focuses on one key event - the attack on an Indian treasure ship by Every and his crew - and its surprising repercussions across time and space.

In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the 20th century's most notorious criminals and life as one of his "girls". While much has been written about Charles Manson, this riveting account from an actual Family member is a chilling portrait that recreates in vivid detail one of the most horrifying chapters in modern American history.

Uncover the captivating true story of Mick Thompson’s journey to discover his identity in No Ordinary Man. Mick’s secretive life throughout World War II continued after returning home to New Zealand in 1945. This seductive and intriguing true story explores love against the back drop of this courageous ANZAC soldier’s fight in the Western Desert war. The writer skilfully delves into Mick’s personal struggle with sexuality, focusing on his secretive alter ego. This real-life account intrigues and challenges conventional thinking about bravery, male and female roles, love, lust and ...

As new forms of lie detection gain momentum in the present day, Tremors in the Blood reveals the incredible truth behind the creation of the polygraph, through gripping true-crime cases featuring explosive gunfights, shocking twists, and high-stakes courtroom drama. Touching on psychology, technology, and the science of the truth, Tremors in the Blood is a vibrant, atmospheric thriller and a warning from history: beware what you believe.

“Sharks are as timid as rabbits,” says a superintendent of the Coast Guard, dismissing the possibility that a shark could be the culprit in an unprecedented fatal attack at the Jersey Shore. It’s July, and swimming in the sea is a popular new pastime, but people up and down the East Coast are shocked and mystified by the swimmer’s death. A prominent surgeon at the shore, Dr. Edwin Halsey is the one who examines the victim, and the only one who believes the perpetrator was a shark—and that it will strike again.

On April 10, 1834, firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning Royal Street mansion of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. In the billowing smoke and flames they made an appalling discovery: the remains of Madame Lalaurie's chained, starved, and mutilated slaves. This house of horrors in the French Quarter spawned a legend that has endured for more than 150 years. But what actually happened in the Lalaurie home? Rumors about her atrocities spread as fast as the fire. But verifiable facts were scarce.

In the entrance of the CIA headquarters looms a huge marble wall in to which seventy-one stars are carved - each representing an agent who has died in the line of duty. At the base of this wall lies "The Book of Honor," in which the names of these agents are inscribed, or at least thirty-five of them... In this remarkable program, author Ted Gup delves into covert lives and classified deaths at the CIA.

Kurt is an English evacuee with a difference, his father is a Nazi. As Kurt grows into an adult and is forced to pretend he is someone he isn’t for his own protection, can he survive in the hostile world in which he finds himself? And with his enemies closing in, will even the woman he loves believe who he really is? Sent to a small town deep in the English countryside to escape the bombing of London during the Second World War, Kurt should have been safe but a chance discovery will change his life in ways he could never have imagined when the war finds him and challenges both his ...

Margot and her adoring husband, Jochen, are madly in love. But in Nazi Germany, being in love is the most dangerous act of all. A marriage between Margot, a German woman, and Jochen, a Jewish man, is forbidden under Hitler’s tyrannical rule. Yet when friends cross the street to avoid Margot and her own mother rejects her, she stays loyal to Jochen. When the Gestapo break into their home and steal their belongings, she remains steadfast. And when soldiers arrest Jochen, imprisoning him with countless others, Margot will stop at nothing to save him.

Cilka was only 16 years old when she was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, in 1942. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, noticed her long beautiful hair, and forced her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka did what she had to in order to survive Auschwitz. And yet after Russian soldiers liberated Auschwitz in 1945, Cilka was charged as a collaborator and sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence for 'sleeping with the enemy'. Once again, she found herself on a brutal train journey, crammed into a carriage with many desperate women and children.

For Clara Deverill, standing in for the real Lady Truelove means dispensing advice on problems she herself has never managed to overcome. There’s nothing for it but to retreat to a tearoom and hope inspiration strikes between scones. It doesn’t - until Clara overhears a rake waxing eloquent on the art of “honorable” jilting. The cad may look like an Adonis, but he’s about to find himself on the wrong side of Lady Truelove.

It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden. Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.

True Believer reveals the life of Noel Field, an American who betrayed his country and crushed his family. Field, once a well-meaning and privileged American, spied for Stalin during the 1930s and '40s. Then, a pawn in Stalin's sinister master strategy, Field was kidnapped and tortured by the KGB and forced to testify against his own Communist comrades.

By 1944, the war has turned against Hitler’s Third Reich, and German cities lie in ruins from the constant bombing by the Allies. On every front, Allied forces are driving the Wehrmacht forces back. Inspired by the success of his terror weapons, the V-1 and V-2 rockets, against cities in England, Hitler approved plans for a secret operation to retaliate against the United States by launching V-1 buzz bombs from the decks of German U-boats in an attack on New York City. In September of 1944, a clandestine operation involving the Abwehr, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe, codenamed Operation ...

Live the action of six deadly and seminal conflicts in Australia’s first 150 years: The Eureka Stockade – The Gold miners of Ballarat valiant stand against Government tyranny. The Siege at Glenrowan – Australia’s most infamous outlaw, Ned Kelly, shoots it out with police. The Battle of Cocos Islands – The face-off between HMAS Sydney and SMS Emden would result in the Australian Navy’s first victory. The Broken Hill Massacre – A call to jihad in Turkey is the catalyst for the first terrorist act in Australia. The Battle of Surry Hills – A rambunctious American, called ‘...

Nearly a hundred years ago, two wealthy and privileged teenagers—Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb—were charged and convicted in a gruesome crime that would lead to the original “Trial of the Century”. Even in Jazz Age Chicago, the murder was uniquely shocking for the motive of the killers: well-to-do Jewish scions, full of promise, had killed fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The trial was made even more sensational by the revelation of a love affair between the defendants and by defense attorney Clarence Darrow.

Christchurch, New Zealand. September 2010. A city sleeps. In the early hours of the morning came the noise of a freight train and a ferocious shaking the likes of which this South Island city had never before experienced. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake came without warning or prejudice and transformed a city forever, setting off a string of devastating events that were to have a lifelong impact on all who experienced them. This is a personal account of the lasting effects of that day and the effects of all the earthquakes that were to follow. This is the story of how the fury of Mother Nature ...

What do Wyatt Earp, Belle Gunness, Big Foot the Renegade, Billy the Kid, Dr. H.H. Holmes, and The Black Hand have in common? They were all subjects of true crime newspaper reporting in the 1800s. Now their stories and that of many others are brought together in their original form in this compilation by New York Times best-selling author Mike Rothmiller. These classic works of journalism resurrect astonishing stories that will take the listener back to when these horrific tales mesmerized a nation.

Prague, 1939. Young mother Eva has a secret from her past. When the Nazis invade, Eva knows the only way to keep her daughter, Miriam, safe is to send her away - even if it means never seeing her again. But when Eva is taken to a concentration camp, her secret is at risk of being exposed. In London, Pamela volunteers to help find places for the Jewish children arrived from Europe. Befriending one unclaimed little girl, Pamela brings her home. It is only when her young son enlists in the RAF that Pamela realises how easily her own world could come crashing down.