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Kill for Peace: American Artists Against the Vietnam War
by Matthew Israel&“The book addresses chronologically the most striking reactions of the art world to the rise of military engagement in Vietnam then in Cambodia.&” —Guillaume LeBot, Critique d&’art The Vietnam War (1964–1975) divided American society like no other war of the twentieth century, and some of the most memorable American art and art-related activism of the last fifty years protested U.S. involvement. At a time when Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art dominated the American art world, individual artists and art collectives played a significant role in antiwar protest and inspired subsequent generations of artists. This significant story of engagement, which has never been covered in a book-length survey before, is the subject of Kill for Peace. Writing for both general and academic audiences, Matthew Israel recounts the major moments in the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement and describes artists&’ individual and collective responses to them. He discusses major artists such as Leon Golub, Edward Kienholz, Martha Rosler, Peter Saul, Nancy Spero, and Robert Morris; artists&’ groups including the Art Workers&’ Coalition (AWC) and the Artists Protest Committee (APC); and iconic works of collective protest art such as AWC&’s Q. And Babies? A. And Babies and APC&’s The Artists Tower of Protest. Israel also formulates a typology of antiwar engagement, identifying and naming artists&’ approaches to protest. These approaches range from extra-aesthetic actions—advertisements, strikes, walk-outs, and petitions without a visual aspect—to advance memorials, which were war memorials purposefully created before the war&’s end that criticized both the war and the form and content of traditional war memorials. &“Accessible and informative.&” —Art Libraries Society of North America
Kill for the Thrill: The Crime Spree That Rocked Western Pennsylvania (True Crime)
by Michael W Sheetz&“The book recounts a brutal string of murders committed by John Lesko and Michael Travaglia, who face the death penalty.&” —TribLIVE During the winter of 1979, southwestern Pennsylvania was rocked by a series of sensational murders, sparking a thirty-year criminal justice saga. A week of brutal, seemingly random killings culminated in the provocation and fatal shooting of Patrolman Leonard Miller, an officer new to the town of Apollo&’s police force and only twenty-one years old. Little more than a year later, two men were convicted of the rash of homicides and sentenced to death—yet both are alive today. Incorporating details of the central characters&’ personal lives as well as the state&’s court system, criminologist Michael W. Sheetz here relays the awful story of the so-called &“kill for thrill&” crime spree with the drama of a novelist and the insight of an officer of the law.
Kill or Be Kilt
by Victoria RobertsIt's been three years since Lady Elizabeth Walsingham ended her childish crush on Laird Ian Munro, the fierce Highlander who scared everyone but her. She's a grown woman now, heading to London to find a proper English gentleman. But when the wild Highland laird walks through the door, she's that breathless youth all over again.Ian tries hard to avoid the young lass who's confounded him for years. But now that they're attending court, he must keep watch on her night and day. Danger is at every turn and advisors to the Crown are being murdered. Ian soon realizes the girl he's been protecting is a beautiful lady who needs his help, almost as much as he needs her. The Highland Spies Series: My Highland Spy (Book 1) Kilts and Daggers (Book 2) Kill or Be Kilt (Book 3).
Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist
by Matthew AlexanderThe electrifying true story of the pursuit for the man behind al Qaeda's suicide bombing campaign in Iraq Kill or Capture is a true-life thriller that tells the story of senior military interrogator Matthew Alexander's adrenaline-filled, "outside the wire" pursuit of a notorious Syrian mass murderer named Zafar—the leader of al Qaeda in northern Iraq—a killer with the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands. In a breathless thirty-day period, Alexander and a small Special Operations task force brave the hazards of the Iraqi insurgency to conduct dangerous kill-or-capture missions and hunt down a murderer. Kill or Capture immerses readers in the dangerous world of battlefield interrogations as the author and his team climb the ladder of al Qaeda leadership in a series of raids, braving roadside bombs, near death by electrocution and circles within circles of lies.
Kill or Cure: An Illustrated History of Medicine (DK Short Histories)
by Steve ParkerTelling the compelling stories behind mankind's never-ending quest to cure every disease, Kill or Cure uses an all-new format — a text-rich narrative combined with DK's beautiful visual design — to trace the extraordinary history of medicine. Beginning with early healers, chance discoveries, technological advancement, and "wonder" drugs, and using panels, timelines, and thematic spreads, Kill or Cure highlights information about human anatomy, surgical instruments, and medical breakthroughs while telling the dramatic tale of medical progress. Diaries, notebooks, and other first-person accounts tell the fascinating stories from the perspective of people who witnessed medical history firsthand.
Kill or Die (Flintlock #3)
by William W. Johnstone J.A. JohnstoneThe bounty hunter aims his trusty muzzleloader at the Baron of the Bayou in this Western adventure by the New York Times bestselling authors.Brewster Ritter, the so-called Baron of the Bayou, has a special dislike for Flintlock ever since the legendary bounty hunter killed one of Ritter&’s gunmen in a Texas dustup. Now the Baron has issued Flintlock a warning: Do not cross the Sabine River. But Flintlock has powerful reasons for crossing into the nightmarish swamp country. In an eerie land of mysterious mists, haunting cypress trees, snakes, gators, and black-hearted, trigger-happy war hogs, Ritter is waiting for Flintlock with enough men and guns to kill him ten times over. Flintlock knows very well what he's getting into. And losing is not an option. Because what's at stake—beyond lives or Ritter's criminal kingdom—is the very soul and survival of this land.
Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars (Investigating Visible Evidence: New Challenges for Documentary)
by Jill GodmilowCan the documentary be useful? Can a film change how its viewers think about the world and their potential role in it? In Kill the Documentary, the award-winning director Jill Godmilow issues an urgent call for a new kind of nonfiction filmmaking. She critiques documentary films from Nanook of the North to the recent Ken Burns/Lynn Novick series The Vietnam War. Tethered to what Godmilow calls the “pedigree of the real” and the “pornography of the real,” they fail to activate their viewers’ engagement with historical or present-day problems. Whether depicting the hardships of poverty or the horrors of war, conventional documentaries produce an “us-watching-them” mode that ultimately reinforces self-satisfaction and self-absorption.In place of the conventional documentary, Godmilow advocates for a “postrealist” cinema. Instead of offering the faux empathy and sentimental spectacle of mainstream documentaries, postrealist nonfiction films are acts of resistance. They are experimental, interventionist, performative, and transformative. Godmilow demonstrates how a film can produce meaningful, useful experience by forcefully challenging ways of knowing and how viewers come to understand the world. She considers her own career as a filmmaker as well as the formal and political strategies of artists such as Luis Buñuel, Georges Franju, Harun Farocki, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Rithy Panh, and other directors. Both manifesto and guidebook, Kill the Documentary proposes provocative new ways of making and watching films.
Kill the Indian: A Killstraight Story
by Johnny D. Boggs"Boggs is among the best Western writers at work today. He writes with depth, flavor, and color.” -BooklistYoung Comanches Daniel Killstraight and Charles Flint have been called to Texas. Captain Pratt will be giving a talk on the transformations brought about by the Carlisle Industrial School, of which Killstraight and Flint are shining examples. They’ll be joining a Comanche delegation led by Quanah Parker, who will be negotiating grasslands leases-until blown-out gas lamps in Quanah Parker’s room kill a Comanche chief and put Parker in a coma.But the question of who tried to murder Quanah Parker is not an easy one. He had many enemies among both native and white men. Daniel attempts to unravel the mystery while fulfilling his original purpose in Texas-to support Captain Pratt’s talk. But he doesn’t know who to trust, especially as the list of suspects begins to dwindle.Will Killstraight figure out who is after Quanah Parker? Can the land disputes of the People be resolved? And will justice be served by the anti-Indian townspeople? Find out in Johnny D. Boggs’s novel Kill the Indian.
Kill-Devil And Water: A Pyke Mystery (Pyke Mystery Ser. #3)
by Andrew PepperPyke returns in a gripping tale of brutal murder and deception, set in the back streets of Victorian London and the cane fields of Jamaica.London: 1840. The economy is sliding into recession; gangs of unemployed workers roam the streets; and a murderer prowls the capital's poor neighbourhoods. Pyke, still grieving over the death of his wife and struggling to shoulder his responsibilities as a father, is in debtors' prison, having lost his home and reached the edge of bankruptcy. Fitzroy Tilling, now head of the new Metropolitan Police Force gives Pyke his freedom, but in return he must agree to investigate the brutal death of a young mulatto woman, who was apparently working as a prostitute.It is not long before another woman turns up dead, and Pyke begins to suspect that he has stumbled on something more sinister, and more far-reaching than the murder of a couple of prostitutes...Pyke's investigation takes him from the London docks to the sugar plantations of Jamaica, from a fading colonial mansion to the back-streets of the East End in a struggle against ambitious and ruthless enemies, as well as demons of his own.
Kill-Devil And Water: From the author of The Last Days of Newgate (Pyke Mystery)
by Andrew PepperPyke returns in a gripping tale of brutal murder and deception, set in the back streets of Victorian London and the cane fields of Jamaica.London: 1840. The economy is sliding into recession; gangs of unemployed workers roam the streets; and a murderer prowls the capital's poor neighbourhoods. Pyke, still grieving over the death of his wife and struggling to shoulder his responsibilities as a father, is in debtors' prison, having lost his home and reached the edge of bankruptcy. Fitzroy Tilling, now head of the new Metropolitan Police Force gives Pyke his freedom, but in return he must agree to investigate the brutal death of a young mulatto woman, who was apparently working as a prostitute.It is not long before another woman turns up dead, and Pyke begins to suspect that he has stumbled on something more sinister, and more far-reaching than the murder of a couple of prostitutes...Pyke's investigation takes him from the London docks to the sugar plantations of Jamaica, from a fading colonial mansion to the back-streets of the East End in a struggle against ambitious and ruthless enemies, as well as demons of his own.
Killdeer Mountain: A Novel
by Dee BrownAn intrepid reporter&’s investigation into the death of a controversial major reveals a surprising story of betrayal and redemptionIt is 1866, and Sam Morrison, reporter for the St. Louis Herald, is aboard a steamer bound for Fort Standish off the coast of Massachusetts, determined to solve a mystery. The fort is about to be renamed in honor of Charles Rawley, a major who recently died in a fire while trying to prevent the escape of a captured Sioux chief. But just who was Rawley? Morrison is told a dizzying host of tales about the man—some call him a despot but others describe him as a martyr. He was a man all too willing to execute a deserter, but one who would spur his troops to do the utmost to ensure the safety of women and children. As the investigation unfolds, Morrison doesn&’t know which stories to believe—especially when it comes to the truth about Rawley&’s death. Thrilling and wily, Killdeer Mountain is a deft triumph of historical fiction. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Dee Brown including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell
by Elaine Forman Crane"It was Rebecca's son, Thomas, who first realized the victim's identity. His eyes were drawn to the victim's head, and aided by the flickering light of a candle, he 'clapt his hands and cryed out, Oh Lord, it is my mother.' James Moills, a servant of Cornell . . . described Rebecca 'lying on the floore, with fire about Her, from her Lower parts neare to the Armepits.' He recognized her only 'by her shoes.'"--from Killed Strangely On a winter's evening in 1673, tragedy descended on the respectable Rhode Island household of Thomas Cornell. His 73-year-old mother, Rebecca, was found close to her bedroom's large fireplace, dead and badly burned. The legal owner of the Cornells' hundred acres along Narragansett Bay, Rebecca shared her home with Thomas and his family, a servant, and a lodger. A coroner's panel initially declared her death "an Unhappie Accident," but before summer arrived, a dark web of events--rumors of domestic abuse, allusions to witchcraft, even the testimony of Rebecca's ghost through her brother--resulted in Thomas's trial for matricide. Such were the ambiguities of the case that others would be tried for the murder as well. Rebecca is a direct ancestor of Cornell University's founder, Ezra Cornell. Elaine Forman Crane tells the compelling story of Rebecca's death and its aftermath, vividly depicting the world in which she lived. That world included a legal system where jurors were expected to be familiar with the defendant and case before the trial even began. Rebecca's strange death was an event of cataclysmic proportions, affecting not only her own community, but neighboring towns as well. The documents from Thomas's trial provide a rare glimpse into seventeenth-century life. Crane writes, "Instead of the harmony and respect that sermon literature, laws, and a hierarchical/patriarchal society attempted to impose, evidence illustrates filial insolence, generational conflict, disrespect toward the elderly, power plays between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, [and] adult dependence on (and resentment of) aging parents who clung to purse strings." Yet even at a distance of more than three hundred years, Rebecca Cornell's story is poignantly familiar. Her complaints of domestic abuse, Crane says, went largely unheeded by friends and neighbors until, at last, their complacency was shattered by her terrible death.
Killer Apes, Naked Apes, and Just Plain Nasty People: The Misuse and Abuse of Science in Political Discourse
by Richard J. PerryMisunderstood—or deliberately twisted—biological science leads to overheated rhetoric and bad policy.We like to think that science always illuminates. But the disturbing persistence of the concept of biological determinism—the false idea that human behavior is genetically fixed or inherently programmed and therefore is not susceptible to rapid change—shows that scientific research and concepts can be distorted to advance an inhumane and sometimes deadly political agenda. It was biological determinism that formed the basis of the theory of eugenics, which in turn led to the forced sterilization of "misfits" and the creation of Nazi death camps.In Killer Apes, Naked Apes, and Just Plain Nasty People, anthropologist Richard J. Perry delivers a scathing critique of determinism. Exploring the historical context and enduring popularity of the movement over the past century and a half, he debunks the facile and the reductionist thinking of so many popularizers of biological determinism while considering why biological explanations have resonated in ways that serve to justify deeply conservative points of view.Moving through time, from the prevalence of overt racism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to "human nature" arguments, from the rise of sociobiology in the 1970s to the current fixation on evolutionary psychology, the book argues that both history and cross-cultural studies amply demonstrate the human capacity for growth and self-determination. Clearly written, conversational, and rationally argued, this book promotes sound and careful research while skewering the bogus ideological assertions that have been used to justify colonialism, slavery, gender discrimination, neoliberal economic policies, and the general status quo.
Killer Caldwell: Australia's Greatest Figher Pilot
by Jeffrey WatsonClive 'Killer' Caldwell was a natural and brilliant pilot, a superb shot, and a born leader. He saw action against the Germans, Italians and Japanese, and remains Australia's greatest ever fighter pilot.Born and brought up in Sydney, it was obvious from an early age that nothing would stand in Caldwell's way. He bluffed his way into the RAAF, then made sure that he was posted to exactly where he thought he should be.His ability was unquestioned by all those around him, and he devised the vital 'shadow shooting' technique which contributed so much to Allied success in the air in the north African campaign, and in northern Australia. But he was never afraid of voicing his opinions to all those above and below him, be it about the training of pilots, or the equipping of Spitfires for use against the Japanese - and for trying to run the show his way...Caldwell ended his military career in the Morotai Mutiny in 1945, where he and a number of other Australian pilots tried to resign their commisions in protest at not being allowed by General MacArthur - and the RAAF - to take part in the main action. And then he was embroiled in the Barry inquiry into booze smuggling by him and other pilots...Killer Caldwell is a colourful portrait of a colourful Australian.
Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders
by Terry Sullivan Peter T. MaikenThe “chilling” story of America's most notorious serial killer by the man who helped catch him—now updated with the latest DNA findings (Nashville Banner).He was a model citizen. A hospital volunteer. And one of the most sadistic serial killers of all time. But few people could see the cruel monster beneath the colorful clown makeup that John Gacy wore to entertain children in his Chicago suburb. Few could imagine what lay buried beneath his house of horrors—until a teenaged boy disappeared before Christmas in 1978, leading prosecutor Terry Sullivan on the greatest manhunt of his career.Reconstructing the investigation—from records of violence in Gacy's past, to the gruesome discovery of twenty-nine corpses of abused boys in Gacy's crawlspace and four others found in the nearby river—Sullivan's shocking eyewitness account takes you where few true crime books ever go: inside the heart of a serial murder investigation and trial.This updated edition features new revelations that have emerged using DNA evidence to confirm the identities of additional victims—and sixteen pages of dramatic photos.“An unnerving true crime story of murder, terror, and justice.” —Dallas Morning News“As with a good mystery story, to the very end of Killer Clown we find ourselves still rooting for good to triumph over evil, yet fearing that the dice may be loaded the other way.” —Chicago Tribune“Gripping study . . . for true crime addicts” —Publishers Weekly“You will learn more in this book about the daily activities of a police department than you will from any number of Ed McBain novels or episodes of Hill Street Blues.” —The Charleston News & Courier
Killer Cocktails: Dangerous Drinks Inspired by History's Most Nefarious Criminals
by Maria Trimarchi Holly FreyFrom the hosts of the criminally popular podcast Criminalia, Holly Frey and Maria Trimarchi, a dangerously delicious cocktail and mocktail book inspired by history&’s most notorious (and notoriously overlooked) criminals Every month, over 200,000 listeners download Criminalia to hear stories of history&’s wildest and most devious criminals they never knew existed. But this isn't just any true-crime podcast—more than an engaging history lesson, Criminalia also offers a cocktail recipe to go with each criminal. After all, what pairs better with the story of an identity-shifting murderess who burned her house down to cover up a crime… than a fiery jalapeño cocktail? In KILLER COCKTAILS, Criminalia cohosts Holly Frey and Maria Trimarchi offer readers a cornucopia of creative and out-of-the-box cocktail and mocktail recipes, inspired by some of the wildest, weirdest, and most bizarre crimes throughout history. Written with their signature wit and humor, KILLER COCKTAILS gives us dozens of recipes, many of which fans have never seen before, expertly paired with its historical dastardly villain. From brutish bodysnatchers and comely conwomen, to poisonous chemists, nefarious mystics, and even a pirate queen, this book is perfect for anyone who loves a juicy, bloody story and a creative concoction. History and true crime lovers, cocktail and mocktail enthusiasts, and anyone looking for the perfect gift for their off-beat friend will find much to savor in this wickedly fun book. Brimming with stranger-than-fiction stories and recipes that are equally thought-provoking and tasty, KILLER COCKTAILS is a double-shot of morbid fun—and will satisfy all your darkest cravings for years to come.
Killer Colt: Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend
by Harold SchechterAn in-the-room account of John Colt&’s scandalous nineteenth-century murder trial from &“America&’s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers&” (Boston Review). In this masterful account, renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter takes you into the life and crimes of convicted murderer John Caldwell Colt, drawing parallels between John&’s rise to notoriety and his brother Samuel Colt&’s rise to fame as the inventor of the legendary revolver. With a killing that made headlines around the nation, John Colt became a cultural touchstone whose shocking villainy inspired and provoked such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville. Unlike his brother, John lived a nomadic existence, bouncing from one job to another. His one distinction, writing a reference accounting book, would play a part in his fall from grace. For in New York City, on September 17, 1841, John murdered printer Samuel Adams with a hatchet during a heated argument over proceeds from book sales. A media circus ensued, galvanizing the penny press, which printed lurid headlines and gruesome woodcut illustrations. The standing-room-only trial created unforgettable moments in legal history, including such dramatic evidence as Samuel Adams&’s decomposed head. The verdict and its aftermath would reverberate throughout the country and beyond, giving John Colt lasting infamy. &“[Schechter] leads us through Colt&’s trial with such precision that you can smell the cigar smoke in the courtroom. . . . Killer Colt succeeds in making us care about this story now by showing why it mattered to so many people then.&” —HistoryNet
Killer Elite (Previously Published as The Feather Men)
by Ranulph FiennesThe "enthralling page-turner" (Library Journal) now a major motion picture starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro. Here is a gripping novel, inspired by real-life events, about a private team of British vigilantes that sets out to eliminate a gang of cold-blooded contract killers. From 1977 to 1990, four former British soldiers die, one by one, supposedly due to accident or illness. But soon a link is established between the victims: a shared mission in the desert kingdom of Oman, where they fought for a sultan against insurgents and ruined the life of a rival sheikh, who in turn has sent a band of assassins to methodically slay the soldiers and salvage his pride. Now these clever assassins are on the run from an underground group of SAS vets with nothing to lose, no time to waste, and a desire to dispense their own form of justice--no matter the cost. Previously published as The Feather Men.
Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs
by Peter AndreasThere is growing alarm over how drugs empower terrorists, insurgents, militias, and gangs. But by looking back not just years and decades but centuries, Peter Andreas reveals that the drugs-conflict nexus is actually an old story, and that powerful states have been its biggest beneficiaries. In his path-breaking Killer High, Andreas shows how six psychoactive drugs-ranging from old to relatively new, mild to potent, licit to illicit, natural to synthetic-have proven to be particularly important war ingredients. This sweeping history tells the story of war from antiquity to the modern age through the lens of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, opium, amphetamines, and cocaine. Beer and wine drenched ancient and medieval battlefields, and the distilling revolution lubricated the conquest and ethnic cleansing of the New World. Tobacco became globalized through soldiering, with soldiers hooked on smoking and governments hooked on taxing it. Caffeine and opium fueled imperial expansion and warfare. The commercialization of amphetamines in the twentieth century energized soldiers to fight harder, longer, and faster, while cocaine stimulated an increasingly militarized drug war that produced casualty numbers surpassing most civil wars. As Andreas demonstrates, armed conflict has become progressively more drugged with the introduction, mass production, and global spread of mind-altering substances. As a result, we cannot understand the history of war without including drugs, and we similarly cannot understand the history of drugs without including war. From ancient brews and battles to meth and modern warfare, drugs and war have grown up together and become addicted to each other.
Killer History
by Clive GiffordSome kids are natural bookworms and others you have to chase down with a book. But every kid, even the ones that scowl when you say "read" will devour this mega mix of history's grisly stories. From all corners of the globe and dating back to ancient Egypt, this book leaves no tombstone unturned to deliver a glimpse at some of the weirdest traditions, most gruesome methods, craziest causes, and most fascinating facts surrounding death in history. Kids will discover: The ancient Egyptians didn't mummify and bury their dead alone. Oh, no. They also entombed cats, dogs, hippos, crocodiles, and even beetles with their dearly departed. As queen, Marie-Antoinette lost her head for all the fine things France had to offer, and she delighted in them as the country grew poorer and poorer. When the revolution came, she literally lost her head for her frivolity. The guillotine was used for almost 200 years in France. It was the cutting edge of death technology when it was invented in 1792 and stayed in style until 1977. History's most surprising murder weapons The top-ten potent poisons The worst epidemics in history
Killer Images: Documentary Film, Memory, and the Performance of Violence (Nonfictions)
by Joshua Ten Brink Joram OppenheimerCinema has long shaped not only how mass violence is perceived but also how it is performed. Today, when media coverage is central to the execution of terror campaigns and news anchormen serve as embedded journalists, a critical understanding of how the moving image is implicated in the imaginations and actions of perpetrators and survivors of violence is all the more urgent. If the cinematic image and mass violence are among the defining features of modernity, the former is significantly implicated in the latter, and the nature of this implication is the book's central focus. This book brings together a range of newly commissioned essays and interviews from the world's leading academics and documentary filmmakers, including Ben Anderson, Errol Morris, Harun Farocki, Rithy Phan, Avi Mograbi, Brian Winston, and Michael Chanan. Contributors explore such topics as the tension between remembrance and performance, the function of moving images in the execution of political violence, and nonfiction filmmaking methods that facilitate communities of survivors to respond to, recover, and redeem a history that sought to physically and symbolically annihilate them
Killer Instinct: The Popular Science of Human Nature in Twentieth-Century America
by Nadine WeidmanA historian of science examines key public debates about the fundamental nature of humans to ask why a polarized discourse about nature versus nurture became so entrenched in the popular sciences of animal and human behavior. Are humans innately aggressive or innately cooperative? In the 1960s, bestselling books enthralled American readers with the startling claim that humans possessed an instinct for violence inherited from primate ancestors. Critics responded that humans were inherently loving and altruistic. The resulting debate—fiercely contested and highly public—left a lasting impression on the popular science discourse surrounding what it means to be human. Killer Instinct traces how Konrad Lorenz, Robert Ardrey, and their followers drew on the sciences of animal behavior and paleoanthropology to argue that the aggression instinct drove human evolutionary progress. Their message, spread throughout popular media, brought pointed ripostes. Led by the anthropologist Ashley Montagu, opponents presented a rival vision of human nature, equally based in biological evidence, that humans possessed inborn drives toward love and cooperation. Over the course of the debate, however, each side accused the other of holding an extremist position: that behavior was either determined entirely by genes or shaped solely by environment. Nadine Weidman shows that what started as a dispute over the innate tendencies of animals and humans transformed into an opposition between nature and nurture. This polarized formulation proved powerful. When E. O. Wilson introduced his sociobiology in 1975, he tried to rise above the oppositional terms of the aggression debate. But the controversy over Wilson’s work—led by critics like the feminist biologist Ruth Hubbard—was ultimately absorbed back into the nature-versus-nurture formulation. Killer Instinct explores what happens and what gets lost when polemics dominate discussions of the science of human nature.
Killer Poker: Killer Poker (The Loner #9)
by J.A. JohnstoneIn the Old West, the truth is more than enough to get you killed—from the USA Today–bestselling author of The Bounty Killers.Hunter and the HuntedConrad Browning had money, a manservant and a mission: to find his missing children and meet them for the first time. He&’s come as far as Denver, dodged a bullet from a beautiful assassin, and landed in a big buy-in poker tournament against a ruthless heavy-betting cattle baron with a plan of his own—to take this city slicker into the wilderness, and hunt him like an animal.But Rance McKinney doesn&’t know who he is facing. The son of legendary gunman Frank Morgan, Conrad goes by the moniker of the Loner. Now it&’s the Loner against McKinney, the hunter and the hunted. And when he&’s cornered, the Loner is the most dangerous beast of all . . .&“Another strong entry in this excellent series. The author certainly knows how to craft a tale that will capture the readers imagination from the very beginning, and then piles on the suspense making the book difficult to put down until the gunsmoke drifts away from the scene of the final climactic gunfight.&” —Western Fiction Review
Killer Show: The Station Nightclub Fire, America's Deadliest Rock Concert
by John BarylickOn February 20, 2003, the deadliest rock concert in U.S. history took place at a roadhouse called The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island. That night, in the few minutes it takes to play a hard-rock standard, the fate of many of the unsuspecting nightclub patrons was determined with awful certainty. The blaze was ignited when pyrotechnics set off by Great White, a 1980s heavy-metal band, lit flammable polyurethane “egg crate” foam sound insulation on the club’s walls. In less than 10 minutes, 96 people were dead and 200 more were injured, many catastrophically. The final death toll topped out, three months later, at the eerily unlikely round number of 100. The story of the fire, its causes, and its legal and human aftermath is one of lives put at risk by petty economic decisions―by a band, club owners, promoters, building inspectors, and product manufacturers. Any one of those decisions, made differently, might have averted the tragedy. Together, however, they reached a fatal critical mass. Killer Show is the first comprehensive exploration of the chain of events leading up to the fire, the conflagration itself, and the painstaking search for evidence to hold the guilty to account and obtain justice for the victims. Anyone who has entered an entertainment venue and wondered, “Could I get out of here in a hurry?” will identify with concertgoers at The Station. Fans of disaster nonfiction and forensic thrillers will find ample elements of both genres in Killer Show.
Killer Take All (A Duff MacCallister Western #10)
by William W. Johnstone J.A. JohnstoneJohnstone Country. A Home Worth Fighting For.Scotsman-turned-cowboy Duff MacCallister traveled far and worked hard to start a new life in America. And anyone who tries to mess with his dream is in for some serious Highland justice . . . KILLER TAKE ALL The cattle town of Chugwater may not look like much to outsiders. But for Duff MacCallister and the determined settlers who’ve staked their futures here, it’s a land of opportunity. That’s why the whole town is fired up by the latest news. Young railroad developer Jacob Freemantle wants to run a rail line through Chugwater, making it easier to transport cattle. Everyone is on board with the plan—at first. Duff begins to suspect that Freemantle is only after the most valuable land, and he’s using strongarm tactics to force reluctant ranchers to sell. Things only get worse when Freemantle’s hired guns show up—and the violence really begins . . .But Duff’s got a plan of his own. With a little help from some well-armed friends, he’s going to flush this phony out of Chugwater—and run his hired killers out of town on a rail . . .Live Free. Read Hard.