True Historical

Matilda Koontz cherishes her life as a wife and mother on a Missouri farm, but her hardworking husband wants to claim free farmland in the Pacific Northwest. When he suggests selling the farm to trek two thousand miles across the Oregon Trail, she balks. But in the spring of 1847, Matilda and Nicholas Koontz and their sons embark on a grueling journey westward. Fresh graves testify to dangers of disease, accidents, starvation, and a multitude of hazards threatening her family and her beloved’s dream.

At seventeen, he was thrown into the deadliest front of World War II. In 1942, a young German soldier was sent to the Eastern Front—into the icy Caucasus Mountains. Surrounded by cold, fear, and despair, he faced horrors that no teenager should ever endure. Wounded three times, every day could have been his last. More than eighty years later, his memories come to light—a raw and unfiltered testimony of survival, fear, and resilience—also available as an unabridged audiobook on Audible and Spotify. Inside this powerful World War II memoir, you will discover: • Survival against all ...

The American West was never just a man’s world. In The Forgotten Frontier, bestselling author Richard Fleischman uncovers the extraordinary lives of women who braved the harsh realities of the 19th-century American frontier. Through vivid, deeply researched storytelling, this powerful volume gives voice to the women who crossed mountains, deserts, and boundaries—both physical and social. From midwives who delivered babies on dirt floors to widows who defended their homes with rifles in hand, these women lived at the intersection of grit, grief, resilience, and resolve. Some followed ...

INTO THE AMERICAS (A novel based on a true story) is a gritty, real-life adventure based on one of history’s greatest survival stories. It was inspired by the diary entries of young English blacksmith John Jewitt during his time aboard the brigantine The Boston and also during his sojourn at Nootka Sound, on North America's western seaboard, from 1802 to 1805. Written by father-and-son writing team Lance & James Morcan (authors of The World Duology and The Orphan Trilogy), INTO THE AMERICAS is a tale of two vastly different cultures – Indigenous North American and European civilization ...

Based on the remarkable true story of Irish convict John Graham, WHITE SPIRIT is an epic historical adventure set in 19th Century Australia. After escaping from the notorious Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Graham finds refuge with the Kabi, a tribe of Aborigines who eventually accept him as one of their own. Attempts to recapture Graham are orchestrated by a variety of contrasting characters working for the all-pervasive British Empire. They include Moreton Bay's tyrannical, opium-addicted commandant Lord Cheetham, the dashing yet warlike Lieutenant Hogan, native tracker Barega and the penal...

"Evil is an element. Like iron. Like carbon. It does not appear from nowhere. It was always there, in the first place." Budapest. Winter 1944. The Arrow Cross has taken the streets. Escaping Budapest follows one Jewish family through the final, terrifying months of World War II in Hungary, a city where a neighbor's knock can mean death and a stranger's hand can mean life. Miriam, István, and their seventeen-year-old daughter Magda are separated across a dying city in which human nature, freed of all restraint, has gone in every direction at once. Each of them will face a moment that no ...

Every investigator knows the golden rule of a crime scene. Physical evidence never lies. Yet history is full of tragic missteps where the truth was buried beneath tunnel vision, forced confessions, and ignored details. This collection dives deep into the most complex investigations of the modern era. It explores the dark intersection where human error meets the undeniable reality of biology. You will follow the painstaking journey of real detectives, geneticists, and innocence organizations as they strip away decades of deception to reveal what actually happened. From tragic disappearances ...

What if your job involved treating plague victims, tasting a king’s dinner for poison, chasing birds from a field, running a lighthouse during a hurricane, or lowering yourself into the ocean inside a giant upside-down cup? Welcome back to Strange But True: The Weird History of Jobs, Volume 2, another funny, fascinating journey through the bizarre ways people once earned a living. History’s strangest occupations were usually created for a very practical reason: somebody had a problem, and somebody else figured out how to get paid for solving it. Plague spreading through town? Hire a ...

Four years. One promise. A song that would not stay hidden. Munich, 1940. When a government questionnaire arrives asking about her younger sister's mind, nineteen-year-old Grete Hoffmann understands at once what it really is: the first page of a death sentence. Lena is fifteen, gentle, incapable of lying — and, in the eyes of the Reich, unworthy of life. Grete makes her sister a promise at their mother's deathbed: I will be the world for her. She has no idea what that promise will cost. When their father's underground printing press is discovered, the whole family is swept into Dachau —...

Fifteen cases. Three states. One river system carrying evidence across county and parish lines. Across the river towns of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, violence rarely remained within a single jurisdiction. Sheriffs, coroners, juries, prison officials, employers, political organizations, racial hierarchies, and federal courts shaped what investigators recorded—and what the law could eventually prove. Backwater examines fifteen documented cases spanning more than a century, from the Colfax and Thibodaux massacres to the murder of Emmett Till, the Scottsboro prosecutions, Parchman ...

Weird but True Stories from Irish History: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from the Emerald Isle Ireland's past is filled with saints, scholars, and... flaming whiskey floods? Ghost ships? Phantom islands? In this captivating collection of true and historically verified tales, Weird but True Stories from Irish History explores the most bizarre, unsettling, and unexpected events ever to unfold on the Emerald Isle. From the medieval witch trial of Alice Kyteler to the whiskey-fueled infernos of Dublin and Tullamore, from ancient tsunamis and ghostly ships to the recent excavation of...

Ever wondered how a single lie can reshape the world? From a forged letter that toppled a British government to a dead prince who came back to claim his throne — three times — this is a collection of history's most audacious deceptions. But it's also something rarer: a book about why we fall for them. Because almost none of these hoaxes worked by being clever. They worked because entire nations, grieving families, and frightened crowds wanted them to be true. Six unforgettable sections take you from the newsroom to the throne room, from the altar to the archive: HEADLINE HIJACKERS — ...

A damaged U.S. submarine leaves Fremantle with unreliable torpedoes, a secret coded mission, and a captain haunted by the twelve Marines he left behind. September 1942. USS Rathbone is ordered into hostile waters with a crew still learning to trust its new commander. When a sealed directive sends them toward a mysterious signal called PILGRIM, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Deere must lead his boat through Japanese convoys, faulty torpedoes, depth charges, and a mission that may cost more than any man aboard can bear. Perfect for readers of classic WWII submarine fiction, Pacific war thrillers...

Two women. Two timelines. One story of resistance, art, and courage in the face of tyranny. Marseille, August 2004 When Sil Anderson arrives in Marseille to attend the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, her only goal is to heal through painting. But when she finds a vintage suitcase in her new flat, filled with wartime letters and sketches, everything changes. The letters belonged to Lise de Baissac, a real-life SOE agent in Nazi-occupied France, whose legacy has long been forgotten. Through Lise’s eyes, Sil is swept into the world of WWII female spies, French Resistance missions, and the...

True Crime Stories You Won't Believe-Omnibus Edition s brings together three critically acclaimed volumes—Books One, Two, and Three—into a single, unflinching collection of true crime stories that dig deeper than most. From forgotten killers and overlooked trials to psychological profiles and courtroom spectacles, this is a journey through the darkest corners of criminal history. Written by forensic psychologist and author Romeo Vitelli, Ph.D., this omnibus offers a sweeping look at real-life crimes that defy easy explanation. These aren’t just tales of murder—they are explorations ...

In a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016, the shooter, Omar Mateen, murdered 49 people and wounded 53 others. The attack was the deadliest act of violence against the LGBTQ+ community in US history and the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11. But there’s a story you haven’t heard. The FBI had a secret history with the shooter and his father. To obscure that history, the FBI pushed a false story that the media dutifully carried—that the attacker was a secretly gay Islamist extremist who had chosen to target Pulse and planned the attack for weeks.

Over 300 of the world’s most notorious killers, brought together in one definitive volume. The Ultimate Guide to History’s Most Infamous Murderers 2026 Edition Some kill for power. Some for control. Others for reasons no one can fully explain. Some hide in the shadows. Others live in plain sight — neighbours, colleagues, people you might pass every day. From infamous names you recognise to chilling cases you’ve never heard before, The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers takes you inside the crimes, motives and methods of history’s most disturbing murderers — and the twisted psyches ...

Have you ever wanted to pull up the curtain and look at what the US Army was really like during the Vietnam War? From enlistment through Basic, Officer, and Flight training, veteran pilot Richard Guay will take you on a journey many have never witnessed… Sit with Richard in the cockpit of the venerable UH-1 Huey helicopter as he maneuvers the sky to accomplish missions, protect his troops, and put to the test his years of training to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. Through a journey from steamy jungles to war-torn skies over battlefields, Richard’s raw and informative ...

Ambushed in Afghanistan and betrayed by their own leaders, these elite Marines fought for their lives again, back home. A cross between A Few Good Men and American Sniper, this is the true story of an elite Marine special operations unit bombed by an IED and shot at during an Afghanistan ambush. The Marine Commandos were falsely accused of gunning down innocent Afghan civilians following the ambush. The unit’s leader, Major Fred Galvin, was summarily relieved of duty, and his unit was booted from the combat zone.

Terrifying true tales to keep you up at night—from TikTok sensation Sebastian Krahl This deeply horrifying collection of 50 chilling stories is not for the faint of heart. Collected and told by viral true crime storyteller Sebastian Krahl, these true tales dive into the unexplained, the...