NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe award-winning investigation into one of the most notorious murder cases in Canadian history—and that helped the wrongfully convicted Truscott clear his name after decades in prison.In 1959, a popular schoolboy, just 14 years old, was convicted and sentenced to hang for the rape and murder of his 12-year-old classmate. That summer, Canada lost its innocence and the shocking story of Steven Truscott became imprinted on the nation’s memory. First published in 2001, “Until You Are Dead” revealed new witnesses, leads and evidence never presented to the courts. Now this national bestseller is fully revised and updated, and takes readers from that fateful night in 1959 up to the new appeal granted to Truscott in 2006. Julian Sher’s award-winning and insightful chronicle details Steven Truscott’s dramatic final battle – with the help of his family, investigative journalists and lawyers – to clear his name once and for all.
"A riveting dramatic account of the years, months and days leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, revolving around the unexpected ways Canadians were deeply involved in every aspect of the American Civil War. Canadians take pride in being on the "good side" of the American Civil War, serving as a haven for 30,000 escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. But dwelling in history's shadow is the much darker role Canada played in supporting the slave South and in fomenting the many plots against Lincoln. The North Star weaves together the different strands of five extraordinary Canadians and a handful of Americans in Canada as they all make their separate, fateful journeys to the night of the assassination on April 14, 1865. Most of them ended up crossing paths directly with either Lincoln or John Wilkes Booth. Some were witnesses to history, while others altered its course--all of them were caught up in the maelstrom that crossed borders and shook the world. The book centres the stories of such intrepid figures as Anderson Abbot, Canada's first Black doctor, who joined the Union Army; Emma Edmonds, the New Brunswick woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist as a Union nurse; and Edward P. Doherty, the Quebec man who sled the hunt to track down John Wilkes Booth. We also meet the wealthy men who bankrolled the Confederate side, such as Toronto aristocrat George Taylor Denison III and banker and Montreal mayor Henry Starnes. Sher creates vivid portraits of places we thought we knew. Montreal was a sort of 19th-century Casablanca of the North: a hub for assassins, money-men, mercenaries and soldiers on the run. Toronto was a headquarters for Confederate plotters and gun-runners. The two largest hotels in the country became nests of Confederate spies. The Catholic Church, prominent politicians and bankers in Upper and Lower Canada and most of the country's newspapers all sympathized with the rebel slave states. Meticulously researched and richly illustrated, The North Star is a sweeping tale that makes long-ago events leap off the page."-- Provided by publisher
The award-winning authors of The Road to Hell provide a comprehensive account of the Hells Angels and the global biker network. Marsden and Sher detail how America's most notorious motorcycle gang evolved from a group of rebels and outcasts into a sophisticated criminal organization. While media portrayals celebrate Sonny Barger, the Hells Angels' California leader, the reality reveals them as a major crime export, with around 2,500 full-patch members in 25 countries. This gang has spawned a global subculture of violent biker groups.
Readers are taken to various locations, including Arizona, where a significant undercover police operation aimed to infiltrate the bikers, and British Columbia, where affluent bikers dominate organized crime. The narrative also covers Australia, where bikies clash with law enforcement, and Curacao, where drug trafficking connects with Dutch bikers. In Scandinavia, a brutal biker war escalated to rocket attacks and bombings.
For the first time, infiltrated police officers share their experiences, revealing the dangers and challenges of going undercover. Marsden and Sher explore the rise of the Hells Angels and the limited successes of law enforcement in curbing their power. The excerpt highlights the violence and destruction associated with the gang, juxtaposed against the media's glorification of Barger as an "American legend."
A terrifying journey to the criminal heart of the Hell's Angels motorcycle
club - the most infamous biker group in the world. 'Brilliant and highly
readable ... an investigative tour-de-force. This is the first book to lift
the lid on the real Hells' Angels.' TONY THOMPSON, author of the bestselling
GANGS
Decennialang hebben de Hells Angels het imago van rebelse volkshelden, moderne Robin Hoods, gehad. De werkelijkheid is anders. In HELSE ENGELEN beschrijven de Canadese onderzoeksjournalisten William Marsden en Julian Sher hoe de motorbende uitgroeide tot een geoliede criminele organisatie met vertakkingen over de hele wereld. Undercoveragenten vertellen over hun infiltratie in de Angels en hun soms gruwelijke ervaringen. Ook de bikers zelf doen hun verhaal in exclusieve interviews, geheime e-mails en rechtbankverslagen.
