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 ...

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 —...

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.

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...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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 — ...

They had loved each other since childhood. Marriage was supposed to be their happily ever after. Instead, it nearly destroyed them. Claire Banning has loved Billy Joe Briscoe for as long as she can remember. From childhood kisses on the sidewalks of Tarrytown to the dreams she carried into adulthood, Claire has always believed there would be only one man for her. When Billy Joe finally becomes her husband, she believes every dream she has ever had is about to come true. Then she discovers Jennifer Welch. Suddenly, Claire is forced to confront a devastating possibility: the man she has loved...

Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

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 ...

The One Who Got Away The Woman Even the President Could Not Stop by Dr. Jacquiline Cox In 1796, while the President of the United States sat down to dinner, an enslaved woman quietly walked out of his house—and never returned. Her name was Ona Judge. She left knowing she could be hunted for the rest of her life. And she was. Pursued across state lines by presidential authority, denied legal recognition of her freedom, and forced to escape more than once, Ona Judge chose a life of uncertainty over a life of ownership. What followed was not ease, but endurance—love found and lost, ...

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 ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER From the author of London Falling—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One of The New York...