The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror

The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror Review

See more picture

The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror Feature

Just after noon on September 16, 1920, as hundreds of workers poured onto Wall Street for their lunchtime break, a horse-drawn cart packed with dynamite exploded in a spray of metal and fire, turning the busiest corner of the financial center into a war zone. Thirty-nine people died and hundreds more lay wounded, making the Wall Street explosion the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history until the Oklahoma City bombing.

In The Day Wall Street Exploded, Beverly Gage tells the story of that once infamous but now largely forgotten event. Based on thousands of pages of Bureau of Investigation reports, this historical detective saga traces the four-year hunt for the perpetrators, a worldwide effort that spread as far as Italy and the new Soviet nation. It also gives readers the decades-long but little-known history of homegrown terrorism that helped to shape American society a century ago. The book delves into the lives of victims, suspects, and investigators: world banking power J.P. Morgan, Jr.; labor radical "Big Bill" Haywood; anarchist firebrands Emma Goldman and Luigi Galleani; "America's Sherlock Holmes," William J. Burns; even a young J. Edgar Hoover. It grapples as well with some of the most controversial events of its day, including the rise of the Bureau of Investigation, the federal campaign against immigrant "terrorists," the grassroots effort to define and protect civil liberties, and the establishment of anti-communism as the sine qua non of American politics.

Many Americans saw the destruction of the World Trade Center as the first major terrorist attack on American soil, an act of evil without precedent. The Day Wall Street Exploded reminds us that terror, too, has a history.

Praise for the hardcover:

"Outstanding."
--New York Times Book Review

"Ms. Gage is a storyteller...she leaves it to her readers to draw their own connections as they digest her engaging narrative."
--The New York Times

"Brisk, suspenseful and richly documented"
--The Chicago Tribune

"An uncommonly intelligent, witty and vibrant account. She has performed a real service in presenting such a complicated case in such a fair and balanced way."
--San Francisco Chronicle

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

The Midnight Show Murders: A Billy Blessing Novel

The Midnight Show Murders: A Billy Blessing Novel Review

See more picture

The Midnight Show Murders: A Billy Blessing Novel Feature

Beloved TV personality, trusted weathercaster, and all-around Renaissance man Al Roker continues his newest successful career with the thrilling sequel to his dynamite mystery debut, The Morning Show Murders. Professional chef turned amateur sleuth Billy Blessing once again finds himself in hot water, when a brutal killing cancels a TV show—and its host—during its debut.

Billy has never liked going to the West Coast, but when he runs into high-energy comic Desmond O’Day, he reluctantly agrees to play second banana on the funnyman’s new late-night talk show. Los Angeles holds bad—and bloody—memories for Billy. Twenty years ago, he had suspected obnoxious chef Roger Charbonnet of murdering his ex-starlet girlfriend there, and told the cops. A tricked-up alibi freed Roger, who vowed vengeance. And now Billy might be on the verge of getting burned.

After a horrifying explosion during a TV taping kills more than Desmond O’Day’s chance at high ratings, Billy believes that he was the intended target—and that Roger Charbonnet was somehow involved. And when politics, infidelity, and high finance are sprinkled in, the case turns out to have more ingredients than Billy could ever have imagined. Soon a beautiful female TV producer convinces Billy to find the culprit himself—on camera. And the table’s set for a conspiracy with too many cooks and far too many killers.

Filled with the high-style hilarity, insider info, and surefire suspense that are Al Roker’s series trademark, The Midnight Show Murders is a four-star feast for any fan of top-flight mystery fiction. As James Patterson says, “Maybe Al Roker should quit his day job!”

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties

Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties Review

See more picture

Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties Feature

In 1919, when J. Edgar Hoover was 24 years old, a New York City postal clerk discovered sixteen bombs wrapped in individual packages — America's first instance of homegrown terrorism. Then-Attorney General Palmer vowed a crackdown and enlisted Hoover as his deputy. Amid the hysteria, details of abuses emerged, Palmer fell, and the rise of J. Edgar Hoover began. Hoover's drive to gain immense power, as well as his coolness and calculation, is explored in Young J. Edgar. With the Palmer raid a as a lens through which to view the terror–hysteria of post-9/11 America, Young J. Edgar reaches the heart of our modern debate over personal freedom in a time of war and fear.

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees

America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees Review

See more picture

America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees Feature

The Boston Massacre. The Dred Scott decision. The Chicago Seven. O.J. Simpson. These are some of the trials that have both shaped and fascinated American society. Alan M. Dershowitz, who has been either a lawyer, consultant, or commentator on some of the most celebrated cases of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, highlights the trials he believes to be the most significant in our history, and discuses how they were central to the development of America's political and social structure.

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

Touch and Go: A Memoir

Touch and Go: A Memoir Review

See more picture

Touch and Go: A Memoir Feature

The extraordinary, widely praised memoir—"a masterpiece about a life which itself is a sort of masterpiece" (Oliver Sacks)

Chosen as a best book of the year in 2007 by the Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly, and Playboy, Studs Terkel's memoir Touch and Go is "history from a highly personal point of view, by one who has helped make it" (Kirkus).

Terkel takes us through his childhood and into his early experiences—as a law student during the Depression, as a young theatergoer, and eventually as an actor himself on both radio and the stage—offering a brilliant and often hilarious portrait of Chicago in the 1920s and '30s. Describing his beginnings as a disc jockey after World War II, his involvement with progressive politics during the McCarthy era, and later his career as an interviewer and oral historian, Touch and Go is a testament to Terkel's "generosity of spirit, sense of social justice and commitment to capture on his ever present tape recorder the voices of those who otherwise would not be heard" (The New York Times Book Review). It is a brilliant lifetime achievement from the man the Washington Post has called "the most distinguished oral historian of our time."

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

Letters of Eugene V. Debs: 3 Volume Set. Edited by J. Robert Constantine. Vol. 1: 1874-1912. Vol. 2: 1913-1919. Vol. 3: 1919-1926

Letters of Eugene V. Debs: 3 Volume Set. Edited by J. Robert Constantine. Vol. 1: 1874-1912. Vol. 2: 1913-1919. Vol. 3: 1919-1926 Review

See more picture

Letters of Eugene V. Debs: 3 Volume Set. Edited by J. Robert Constantine. Vol. 1: 1874-1912. Vol. 2: 1913-1919. Vol. 3: 1919-1926 Feature

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

Notorious 92: Indiana's Most Heinous Murders in All 92 Counties

Notorious 92: Indiana's Most Heinous Murders in All 92 Counties Review

See more picture

Notorious 92: Indiana's Most Heinous Murders in All 92 Counties Feature

With about 400 murders each year in Indiana, Hoosiers witness their share of human darkness. And, while many citizens might prefer to forget these unfortunate episodes, the seamy side of the state must not go unexamined. Notorious 92: Indiana's Most Heinous Murders In All 92 Counties examines the state's dark side, illustrating that the murderous venom of today has been present in Indiana for two centuries. From marital and financial problems to substance abuse and racial hostilities, generations of Hoosiers are linked by not only the lands they inhabit, but by the demons they face.

In Notorious 92, Andrew E. Stoner recounts murders from each of Indiana's 92 counties. Among the eye-opening cases detailed in this volume are:

• The story of Vigo County's Larry Eyler, a serial killer who claimed the lives of 21 men from 1982 to 1984
• The story of an unidentified runaway slave who was killed in downstate Switzerland County by a Kentucky slave owner in 1859
• The story of Elkhart County's Shirley Rock, a young woman who admitted to poisoning her husband because she didn't believe in divorce
• The story of brothers Anthony "The Ant" and Michael Spilotro, two alleged members of the Chicago Mob who were found beaten to death and buried in a Newton County cornfield, with the gruesome double murder portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film Casino
• The story of Marion County's Marjorie Jackson, a wealthy widow who was murdered in her home while her killer robbed her of $3.5 million, but didn t find an additional $5 million hidden around her estate

Notorious 92 makes clear that for Indiana to cure itself of society's ills, it first must be familiar with the motives and patterns of its citizens' violent tendencies.

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology

The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology Review

See more picture

The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology Feature

The Black New Yorkers
THE SCHOMBURG ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY

"The Black New Yorkers will no doubt prove to be a document for the ages: a timely, highly informative record of the significant and multifaceted enrichment provided by our forebears and contemporaries to the evolution of one of the world’s greatest cities."–Jessye Norman

"This fascinating book says to the world that New York has been made great by the achievements of many people, including the black New Yorkers who have struggled here, who succeeded here, and who continue to work to make this city great."–H. Carl McCall

"The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology is a book for all New Yorkers and for all Americans. It chronicles our story–the lives and times of people who for nearly four centuries have been creating a presence and a voice for themselves in the city, the nation, and the world."–Maya Angelou, from her Foreword

Featuring more than 200 striking photographs, rare documents, and vintage illustrations from the Schomburg’s world-famous collection, and packed with thousands of fascinating details, The Black New Yorkers offers an unparalleled view of African American life.

Afterword by David Dinkins

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America

There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Review

See more picture

There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Feature

From an award-winning historian, a stirring (and timely) narrative history of American labor from the dawn of the industrial age to the present day.

From the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, the first real factories in America, to the triumph of unions in the twentieth century and their waning influence today, the con­test between labor and capital for their share of American bounty has shaped our national experience. Philip Dray’s ambition is to show us the vital accomplishments of organized labor in that time and illuminate its central role in our social, political, economic, and cultural evolution. There Is Power in a Union is an epic, character-driven narrative that locates this struggle for security and dignity in all its various settings: on picket lines and in union halls, jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the halls of Congress, and the White House. The author demonstrates, viscerally and dramatically, the urgency of the fight for fairness and economic democracy—a struggle that remains especially urgent today, when ordinary Americans are so anxious and beset by eco­nomic woes.

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review

Crime, Communities, and Public Policy

Crime, Communities, and Public Policy Review

See more picture

Crime, Communities, and Public Policy Feature

Check price now

Rerate Products

Customer Review