Named one of Mother Jones' BOOKS WE NEEDED IN 2022 Named one of CrimeReads' BEST NEW TRUE CRIME BOOKS OUT NOW A true-crime story for the post-truth era In the early hours of July 10, 2016, gunshots rang out and a young man lay fatally wounded on a quiet Washington, DC, street. But who killed Seth Rich? When he was buried in his hometown, his rabbi declared: “There are no answers for a young man gunned down in the prime of his life.” The rabbi was wrong. There were in fact many answers, way too many. In the absence of an arrest, a howling mob filled the void. Wild speculation and fantastical theories surfaced on social media and gained traction thanks to a high-level cast of provocateurs. But it wasn’t until Fox News took the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something altogether unexpected—one of the foundational conspiracy theories of modern times. A Death on W Street unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness, and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest DC and the most powerful voices in American media. It's the story of an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars, until his family decided that they had no choice but to defend his name and put an end to the cruel deceptions that surrounded his death. This is the definitive story of Seth Rich, of those who tried to weaponize his memory in a war of words unlike any other, and of one family’s crusade to protect the truth against all odds.
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was so excited to be working on a presidential campaign because I’ve always wanted to work on a presidential campaign, and this was my first shot. #2 The next guy to hire was a young white guy from Nebraska named Seth who had no political experience. He ended up not liking politics much. #3 Mary is a hot tempered blond Iowa woman, and Joel is a gentle bear of a man with springy curls. They met at a fancy Italian restaurant and got married four months later. They had their first son, Aaron. #4 He was a nice, funny, kind, athletic, pretty, hot, ghetto, handsome, talkative, smart, energetic, hyper, cute, studly, blonde, and modeling. He wanted to be famous.
The true story of an untrue story-- how the murder of a DNC political staffer spawned conspiracy theories, fanned the culture wars, and pitted one family against a media empire. In the small hours of June 16th, gunshots rang out and a young man lay bleeding and fatally wounded on a downtown Washington, DC, street. But who killed Seth Rich? When he was buried in his hometown, his rabbi declared: "There are no answers for a young man gunned down in the prime of his life". But the rabbi was wrong. There were in fact many answers, way too many. The police had a suspect but they could not find evidence to charge him, and into the void hurtled the howling mob. Within 36 hours Reddit had thrown up an explanation: "given his position & timing in politics ... Seth Rich was murdered by corrupt politicians for knowing too much information on election fraud". A month later Julian Assange hinted that Rich might have been the source for stolen DNC emails provided to Wikileaks and offered a $20,000 reward for information. An investigator claimed a Romanian hitman had killed Rich, and that the motive was a political coverup. If this sounds like a great News story then soon it was. Rich's family had viewed the first wild conjecture with morbid curiosity, but soon the story became turbocharged as FOX News began broadcasting segment after segment exploring the murder and the theories surrounding it, no matter how unfounded. Rolling Stone's Washington bureau chief, Andy Kroll, relives one of the foundational conspiracies at the heart of the conspiracy-theory industrial complex, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton, a pizzeria in northwest DC, Alex Jones, the Drudge Report and a high-level cast of provocatuers from Laura Ingraham to Sean Hannity. He shows how one young aspiring twenty-six-year-old political staffer became a tragic victim of the culture wars, until his family determined that they would save his name, expose the lies and put an end to the distortions and deep web fantasies that had surrounded his death. This then, is the definitive, and true story of Seth Rich, and of those who tried to weaponize him in a war of words unlike any other.
For more than a century, the term "Main Street" has conjured up nostalgic images of American small-town life. Representations exist all around us, from fiction and film to the architecture of shopping malls and Disneyland. All the while, the nation has become increasingly diverse, exposing tensions within this ideal. In The Death and Life of Main Street, Miles Orvell wrestles with the mythic allure of the small town in all its forms, illustrating how Americans continue to reinscribe these images on real places in order to forge consensus about inclusion and civic identity, especially in times of crisis. Orvell underscores the fact that Main Street was never what it seemed; it has always been much more complex than it appears, as he shows in his discussions of figures like Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, Frank Capra, Thornton Wilder, Margaret Bourke-White, and Walker Evans. He argues that translating the overly tidy cultural metaphor into real spaces--as has been done in recent decades, especially in the new urbanist planned communities of Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany--actually diminishes the communitarian ideals at the center of this nostalgic construct. Orvell investigates the way these tensions play out in a variety of cultural realms and explores the rise of literary and artistic traditions that deliberately challenge the tropes and assumptions of small-town ideology and life.
The face of the pedestrian safety crisis looks a lot like Ignacio Duarte-Rodriguez. The 77-year old grandfather was struck in a hit-and-run crash while trying to cross a high-speed, six-lane road without crosswalks near his son’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. He was one of the more than 6,000 people killed while walking in America in 2018. In the last ten years, there has been a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths. The tragedy of traffic violence has barely registered with the media and wider culture. Disproportionately the victims are like Duarte-Rodriguez—immigrants, the poor, and people of color. They have largely been blamed and forgotten. In Right of Way, journalist Angie Schmitt shows us that deaths like Duarte-Rodriguez’s are not unavoidable “accidents.” They don’t happen because of jaywalking or distracted walking. They are predictable, occurring in stark geographic patterns that tell a story about systemic inequality. These deaths are the forgotten faces of an increasingly urgent public-health crisis that we have the tools, but not the will, to solve. Schmitt examines the possible causes of the increase in pedestrian deaths as well as programs and movements that are beginning to respond to the epidemic. Her investigation unveils why pedestrians are dying—and she demands action. Right of Way is a call to reframe the problem, acknowledge the role of racism and classism in the public response to these deaths, and energize advocacy around road safety. Ultimately, Schmitt argues that we need improvements in infrastructure and changes to policy to save lives. Right of Way unveils a crisis that is rooted in both inequality and the undeterred reign of the automobile in our cities. It challenges us to imagine and demand safer and more equitable cities, where no one is expendable.
“Sheer entertainment… Bennett infuses wit and an arch sensibility into her prose… This is not mere froth, it is pure confection.” – New York Times Book Review “[A] pitch-perfect murder mystery… If The Crown were crossed with Miss Marple…, the result would probably be something like this charming whodunnit.” – Ruth Ware, author of One by One The bestselling first book in a highly original and delightfully clever crime series in which Queen Elizabeth II secretly solves crimes while carrying out her royal duties. It is the early spring of 2016 and Queen Elizabeth is at Windsor Castle in advance of her 90th birthday celebrations. But the preparations are interrupted by the shocking and untimely death of a guest in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene leads some to think the young Russian pianist strangled himself, yet a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play. When they begin to question the Household’s most loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they’re looking in the wrong place. For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her teenage years as “Lilibet.” Away from the public eye and unbeknownst to her closest friends and advisers, she has the most brilliant skill for solving crimes. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian officer recently appointed to the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen discreetly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth won’t hesitate to use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice. SJ Bennett captures Queen Elizabeth’s voice with skill, nuance, wit, and genuine charm in this imaginative and engaging mystery that portrays Her Majesty as she’s rarely seen: kind yet worldly, decisive, shrewd, and, most important, a superb judge of character.
Upon receiving his execution date, one of the thousands of men living on death row in the United States had an epiphany: “All there ever is, is this moment. You, me, all of us, right here, right now, this minute, that's love.” Right Here, Right Now collects the powerful, first-person stories of dozens of men on death rows across the country. From childhood experiences living with poverty, hunger, and violence to mental illness and police misconduct to coming to terms with their executions, these men outline their struggle to maintain their connection to society and sustain the humanity that incarceration and its daily insults attempt to extinguish. By offering their hopes, dreams, aspirations, fears, failures, and wounds, the men challenge us to reconsider whether our current justice system offers actual justice or simply perpetuates the social injustices that obscure our shared humanity.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES • “Both an American tragedy and [Grisham’s] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true.”—Entertainment Weekly John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction: a true crime masterpiece that tells the story of small town justice gone terribly awry. In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. Don’t miss Framed, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, co-authored with Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey.
Imagine your neighbours begin to die in a series of accidents. Only they aren't accidents... Someone is murdering Greg Unsworth's neighbours and staging the deaths to look like accidents. Greg knows the truth, but when he's grappling with OCD and simply closing his front door and crossing the road are a battle, how is he supposed to stop a serial killer? An Amazon US Top #100 bestseller from the author of WHERE THE DEAD WALK, VESSEL and COLD SWEATS & VIGNETTES. Discover a murder mystery with a difference... Meet Greg Unsworth, afflicted with OCD, who begins to realize a series of fatal accidents on his street are in fact a series of murders. After encountering Beth Grue at the scene of one such crime, the two share their suspicions. Beth, a local librarian, aspiring author, and a woman who has never allowed herself to be defined by her cerebral palsy, agrees they have to do something. So when the police repeatedly dismiss their concerns, they take matters into their own hands, seek to discover the Kettle Street killer's identity and expose him before he claims his next victim... Praise for Death Stalks Kettle Street: 'An exciting and compelling read. I loved the brilliant way that disability was explored and humanised.' - Francesca Martinez - Award winning comedian, actress and writer. 'So much more than your average whodunnit.' - Tracy Fenton - THE Book Club, CompulsiveReaders.com 'A book this good is no accident.' - Iain Grant - Bestselling author. 'Will keep you guessing all the way.' - Barbara Copperthwaite - Bestselling crime author. What Amazon reviewers are saying - - completely unputdownable! Not your traditional who-dun-it, Death Stalks Kettle Street is a character fueled murder mystery, cleverly written, shining a comedic insight into the quintessential English street. - I could not put this down. And when you think you know who did it, you will most likely be wrong. Loved it. - Wow! I absolutely LOVED this book! I'm always looking to be surprised by the books that I read, I like something a little different-a twist on the norm. And this book had it all for me! - Brilliant, quirky and charming, I could go on and on. John Bowen has written and absolute corker of a book which I struggled to put down. - Beth has cerebral palsy and Greg OCD, however, they complement each other and add that much more heart to the story. I myself have been diagnosed with OCD and found that the subject is very accurately described and given the respect the subject deserves. - A gripping 'cosy' murder mystery, one of the best I've read in a long time. An absolute must for the fans of Agatha Christie. Well written, intelligent, with wonderful, original characters and unpredictable, suspenseful storyline. - What a gem of a book! I loved the characters, the plot, the beautiful prose - just everything! - A thoroughly enjoyable read, with many jaw dropping moments. - I love both quirky reads and old fashioned 'cosy crime' novels; this is a brilliant combining of the two to give a modern challenging 'whodunnit' puzzle with some fabulous lead characters. It has some great twists and turns, enough convincing 'suspects' for you to consider but I think Greg and Beth are the real stars of this book. - So much more than just a murder/mystery book. Full of wonderful characters! - a brilliant murder mystery that keeps you guessing right until the end. With lots of twists and wonderful character moments throughout this is a book I won't easily forget. - If you are a sucker for a great 'who dunnit' that keeps you guessing right until the end then this is definitely one for you - BUT this book is so much more than that!!
