What comes to mind when you hear the words “mentally tough”?More often than not, you think of someone who does not break down easily, and in fact, emerges victorious in the face of adversity.Be careful, mental toughness is not a single attribute, but a set of traits that enables an individual to overcome difficult situations without putting a strain on his or her self-confidence.Being mentally tough is a state of mind that can give you the strength to achieve, to overc...

Mountains take many forms, from physical to metaphorical. Sooner or later and more often than not, we all come upon some kind of mountain. Maybe you’re an aviator facing an unusual test. Can you see the portal and do you know where it leads? Maybe you’re a hiker facing a monstrous decision. Maybe danger erupts during your mining expedition. Did someone say treasure? Are we all just walking each other home? Do you hear singing? Could healing come from facing your biggest fear? What is “The ...

Effective peacebuilding in the aftermath of civil war usually requires the deep reform of security institutions, a process frequently known as security sector reform. Nearly every major donor, as well as a growing number of international organizations, supports the reform of security organizations in countries emerging from conflict and suffering high levels of violence. But how are reform strategies implemented?This collection of nine case studies examines the strategies, methods,...

#1 Amazon New Release! ─ Terrifying true crime storiesTrue Crime is hot right now, with true crime books, TV shows, and podcasts topping lists of readers, viewers, and listeners across the country. Eric Brach's new book Double Lives: True Tales of the Criminals Next Door offers terrifying true stories about the criminals hidden among us and the banality of evil and crime, elevated by its frank discussion of the nation-wide criminal scourge of the moment: o...

Investigate the mysteries surrounding the horrifying murder of Battle Creek's Daisy Zick. A must-listen for fans of true crime and Michigan history enthusiasts.On a bitterly cold morning in January 1963, Daisy Zick was brutally murdered in her Battle Creek home. No fewer than three witnesses caught a glimpse of the killer, yet today, it remains one of Michigan's most sensational unsolved crimes.The act of pure savagery rocked not only the community but also...

"A socialite bride, a $1 million inheritance, an older husband of questionable social rank, Yankees misbehaving on Southern soil . . . [A] web of intrigue" (Our State).A news media frenzy hurled the quiet resort community of Pinehurst, North Carolina, into the national spotlight in 1935 when hotel magnate Ellsworth Statler's adopted daughter was discovered dead early one February morning weeks after her wedding day. A politically charged coroner's inquest ...

Shocking true crime from the Edgar Award–winning author. "Powerful . . . A frightening close-up of sociopathic personalities at their most deadly" (Vincent Bugliosi, author of Helter Skelter).Evil has a way of finding itself. How else could you explain the bond between Alvin and Judith Ann Neelley, who consecrated their marriage in blood? Before the killings started, they restricted themselves to simple mischief: prank calls, vandalism, firing guns at stra...

Edgar Award Finalist: The shocking account of a Wyoming father who terrorized his family for years—until his children plotted a deadly solution.One cold November night, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, fifteen-year-old Richard Jahnke Jr., ROTC leader and former Boy Scout, waited for his parents to return from celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the night they met. When his father got out of the car, the boy blasted him through the heart with a twelve-gauge pump-action sh...

The press nicknamed him "The Prime Minister of the Underworld." The U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Narcotics described him as "one of the most powerful and influential Mafia leaders in the U.S." But to friends and associates, he was simply "Uncle Frank." Who was Frank Costello really? That's the question Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano sets out to answer—in this definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in the annals of American crime . . .Using new...

Absolute Madness tells the disturbing true story of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black males and struck fear into the residents of Buffalo and New York City in the 1980s. Dubbed both the .22-Caliber Killer and the Midtown Slasher, Christopher allegedly claimed eighteen victims during a savage four-month spree across the state.The investigation, aided by famed FBI profiler John Douglas, drew national attention and biting criticism from Jesse Jackso...

Six moving profiles reveal the complex realities behind gun violence in the United States. These are the stories of the shooters. In South Carolina, a young man embarks on a life of crime that culminates in a drug-related shooting and decades in prison; in Chicago, an off-duty police officer engages in a shootout with a murderous gunman, saving a fellow patrolman; in rural Tennessee, a troubled teenager shoots her abusive father in his sleep. The Trigger recounts the dramatic life stories ...

In June 2015 two vicious convicted murderers broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, in New York's "North Country," launching the most extensive manhunt in state history. Aided by prison employee Joyce Mitchell, double murderer Richard Matt and cop-killer David Sweat slipped out of their cells, followed a network of tunnels and pipes under the thirty-foot prison wall, and climbed out of a manhole to freedom.For three weeks, the residents of local communities we...