Some individuals have such a magnetic personality that they can attract a hugely devoted following, ignoring the misdeeds of their leader and even committing evil on their behalf. With religious, spiritual or philosophical beliefs to guide them, cults can lead to some of the disturbing events of the modern era. Filled with shadowy rituals and sinister hierarchies and led by masterful manipulators, they can easily become the site of unthinkable horror - and it is only after the leader is br...

Pirates have an almost mythical status in the public imagination - we think of rogue heroes riding the high seas and 'X marks the spot'. But this image is flawed at best.Using contemporary sources, Nigel Cawthorne turns the spotlight on the reality of pirate life, revealing the truth behind the legends. It gives us an insight into infamous the men and women who plundered ship and shore, including Captain Kidd, Blackbeard and Mary Read. We learn of the hazy distinct...

Beneath the outward appearance of legitimate government and accountable officials there lurk hidden agendas, shadowy personalities and special interest groups seeking to seize control of the nation for their own ends. These 'states within a state', unfettered by legal norms and unworried by public opinion, are known as 'deep states'.In this fascinating account, Ian Fitzgerald examines what a deep state really is and how they have emerged in various places across th...

The diminutive Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known universally by his nickname of 'El Chapo' ('Shorty' in Spanish), is the highest-profile narco-terrorist since the demise of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s. Loera began work at the age of nine as a gomero - a farmhand harvesting opium - and as he grew up he shot and murdered his way to the top. In 2009, he made the Forbes annual billionaires list and, before his capture by Mexican marines in 2016, the Sinaloa cartel which he commanded was turn...

Sent to Reformatory at the age of 10, Sicilian-American Sam Giancana lived a gilded life as mobster and mob boss at a pivotal point in history when the mafia decided who ruled America, who lived and who died.Born in 1908, in The Patch, Chicago, Giancana joined the Forty-Two gang of lawless juvenile punks in 1921 and quickly proved himself as a skilled 'wheel man' (or getaway driver), extortionist and vicious killer. Called up to the ranks of the Outfit, he reputedly held talks with...

Award-winning architecture writer Ike Ijeh introduces 50 of the world's most influential architects and a selection of their most celebrated buildings, showcased with full-colour photography.The 50 architects selected here have designed buildings that are as dramatic as their impact on the world of architecture. From Zaha Hadid to Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect and journalist Ike Ijeh reveals his top 50 list of the architects deserving of the description 'greatest'.

What dark thoughts roam the mind of a murderer?Serial killers like Ed Kemper, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz have committed some of the most horrible crimes known to man. Their evil deeds seem unthinkable to the rest of us. Yet each had their own twisted logic for their dastardly deeds. In this book, author Al Cimino examines these serial killers by their own words - through the confessions they gave to police, their outbursts in court and the chilli...

Discover the psychological motivations behind the world's most dangerous killers.In Killer Psychopaths, Paul Roland examines reveals the methods and insights behind criminal profiling that have helped bring some of the world's worst criminals to justice. Drawing on the harrowing real-life experiences of leading profilers and forensic psychologists, he examines a range of serial killers, sexual predators, extortionists and terrorists to help understand what...

Even as security has grown ever stronger and the techniques to catch criminals are more advanced than ever, serial killers still find a way to conduct their murderous business. In the 21st century, violent killers have used modern technology to help them commit their horrific crimes. Some look to the internet to stalk their victims, while the dark web is home to a shadowy world of illegal weapon sales, murder-for-hire sites and criminal forums providing tips on how to kill and get away wit...

From their promising beginnings at Stanford to their founding of Google and beyond, this fascinating biography charts the extraordinary rise of tech duo Sergey Brin and Larry Page.As PhD students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin devised a powerful search engine. Google, the company they founded in 1998 became a brand, the world's pre-eminent search engine, a centre of artificial intelligence and a source of data collection. This fascinating biogra...

The astonishing true story of a boy who survived the war by hiding in the Polish forestMaxwell Smart was eleven years old when his entire family was killed before his eyes. He might have died along with them, but his mother selflessly ordered him to save himself. Alone in the forest, he dug a hole in the ground for shelter and foraged for food in farmers’ fields. His clothes in rags and close to starvation, he repeatedly escaped death at the hands of Nazis and Ukra...

Bloomsbury presents Earth by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, read by Rachel Handshaw and Mack Gordon.Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.In Earth, a planetary scientist and a literary humanist explore what happens when we think of the Earth as an object viewable from space. As a “blue marble,” “a blue pale dot,” or, as Chaucer described it, “this litel spot of erthe,” th...