Since 1926, Pelican Publishing Company has been committed to publishing books of quality and permanence that enrich the lives of those who read them.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, America was a land of promise—and a land of segregation. Technology and innovation swept across the country—and criminals openly flouted the law. In Oxford, Mississippi, the tug-of-war between modernization and chaos was never as apparent as in 1901. When two federal marshals went to arrest moonshiner Will Mathis, the marshals never guessed they would be gruesomely murdered, their bodies burned.
Adler Berriman “Barry” Seal had a brief, but spectacular, career as a cocaine smuggler-turned DEA informant. At the height of his career, he was under investigation by the DEA in Mena, Arkansas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, in addition to being under the watchful eye of the FBI. Despite the heat surrounding Seal, he made a drug run to Nicaragua in 1984, where he picked up 1,465 pounds of cocaine and took photos of Sandinista soldiers loading the drugs. Then the Washington Post leaked the story, revealing that Seal was working undercover for the CIA. As a result of the article, Seal has long been identified as an undercover CIA informant. The conspiracy revolving around this supposition included the attorney general, FBI agents, Gov. Bill Clinton, and others inside the CIA.
Was Dr. Etienne Deschamps a vicious murderer, or insane? The French dentist made his home in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In addition to traditional dental procedures, he treated patients by using his supposed magnetic and hypnotic powers, frequently using chloroform. Dangerously obsessed with the lost treasure of Jean Lafitte, Deschamps began a search for the perfect spirit medium to guide him to its hiding place.
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The Wild Westerners were a tough breed. They started young and tended to die young, grow wilder, or fizzle into oblivion. Those outlaws that had the most feuds, gunfights, and robberies within the state lines are profiled here along with their associates, enemies, and accomplices. A rough chronological order of events spanning from pre-Civil War to 1935 tracks significant people and events.
In late 2009, the South Florida community learned of the scandal that became the largest Ponzi scheme in Florida history. In this breathtakingly ambitious scam, one of Fort Lauderdale’s top philanthropists, attorney Scott Rothstein, stole $1.4 billion from investors and charitable organizations to finance his opulent lifestyle. A man whose wealth and status seemed to come from nowhere, Rothstein infiltrated and took advantage of the communities of South Florida through charm and manipulation. In this story of greed, betrayal, corruption, sex, and murder, no one is innocent.
Timothy Wells and Christine Sevilla’s love was inspiring. Married for almost twenty years, the husband and wife passionately adored each other. Friends, family, and acquaintances all wished to have a relationship as solid as that of Tim and Christine. There was no sign that their marriage was anything less than ideal—until the day Wells brutally murdered his wife.
Victims of Dead Man Walking is the true story of the rape and murder of Faith Hathaway by Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro. Detective Mike Varnado provides a vivid eyewitness account of the investigation into her murder. Varnado was only twenty-five when he discovered Faith Hathaway’s body. Finding her killers and bringing them to justice has been one of the most important endeavors of his life. Hardcover.
A fearless lawman on a crusade against the mobsters and murderers ruling the state line between Mississippi and Tennessee in the 1960s, Sheriff Buford Pusser was larger than life. During the six years he served as sheriff, Pusser jailed thousands of criminals. Made famous as the Walking Tall sheriff wielding a big stick, Buford Pusser has been the subject of four feature films, a television series, and a handful of books. Now for the first time, Buford Pusser’s daughter presents the story of the McNairy County sheriff’s life and legacy as it has truly never been told before.
As dusk fell on a bitterly cold night during the Great Depression, a posse of ten local lawmen approached two brothers holed up in an isolated Missouri farmhouse. Minutes later, six officers were dead, three were wounded, and the outlaws had escaped. After a wild car chase through Oklahoma and across Texas, police finally surrounded Harry and Jennings Young in their Houston hideout.
Anne Butler’s frank autobiographical narrative of her husband’s attempt to murder her after seven years of marriage examines the reasons why a former prison warden in his seventies would shoot his wife at point-blank range. The book is a compelling and surprisingly compassionate story of true love turned “true crime,” as well as an inspiring tale of survival and spiritual redemption.
Emmet Dalton’s scandalous career of thievery cemented his status in American Old West history. In this autobiography, he candidly describes his days as an outlaw and gang member. Incidents include the ill-fated raid in Coffeyville, Kansas—the deadly shootout that left Dalton with more than twenty gunshot wounds and a life sentence in the Kansas State Penitentiary.