“Illuminating.… An eloquent testament to a doomed city and its people.” —The Wall Street Journal In early 1945, General Douglas MacArthur prepared to reclaim Manila, America’s Pearl of the Orient, which had been seized by the Japanese in 1942. Convinced the Japanese would abandon the city, he planned a victory parade down Dewey Boulevard—but the enemy had other plans. The Japanese were determined to fight to the death. The battle to liberate Manila resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the city and a rampage by Japanese forces that brutalized the civilian population, resulting in a massacre as horrific as the Rape of Nanking. Drawing from war-crimes testimony, after-action reports, and survivor interviews, Rampage recounts one of the most heartbreaking chapters of Pacific War history.

Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats is the first comprehensive account of how the rise of postwar youth culture was depicted in mass-market pulp fiction. As the young created new styles in music, fashion, and culture, pulp fiction shadowed their every move, hyping and exploiting their behaviour, dress, and language for mass consumption and cheap thrills. From the juvenile delinquent gangs of the early 1950s through the beats and hippies, on to bikers, skinheads, and punks, pulp fiction left no trend untouched. With their lurid covers and wild, action-packed plots, these books reveal as much about society’s deepest desires and fears as they do about the subcultures themselves. Girl Gangs features approximately 400 full-color covers, many of them never reprinted before. With 70 in-depth author interviews, illustrated biographies, and previously unpublished articles from more than 20 popular culture critics and scholars from the US, UK, and Australia, the book goes behind the scenes to look at the authors and publishers, how they worked, where they drew their inspiration and—often overlooked—the actual words they wrote. Books by well-known authors such as Harlan Ellison and Lawrence Block are discussed alongside neglected obscurities and former bestsellers ripe for rediscovery. It is a must read for anyone interested in pulp fiction, lost literary history, retro and subcultural style, and the history of postwar youth culture. Contributors include Nicolas Tredell, Alwyn W. Turner, Mike Stax, Clinton Walker, Bill Osgerby, David Rife, J.F. Norris, Stewart Home, James Cockington, Joe Blevins, Brian Coffey, James Doig, David James Foster, Matthew Asprey Gear, Molly Grattan, Brian Greene, John Harrison, David Kiersh, Austin Matthews, and Robert Baker.

In the last decade, school shootings have decimated communities and terrified parents, teachers, and children in even the most "family friendly" American towns and suburbs. These tragedies appear to be the spontaneous acts of troubled, disconnected teens, but this important book argues that the roots of violence are deeply entwined in the communities themselves. Rampage challenges the "loner theory" of school violence, and shows why so many adults and students miss the warning signs that could prevent it. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with town residents, distinguished sociologist Katherine Newman and her co-authors take the reader inside two of the most notorious school shootings of the 1990s, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Paducah, Kentucky. In a powerful and original analysis, she demonstrates that the organizational structure of schools "loses" information about troubled kids, and the very closeness of these small rural towns restrained neighbors and friends from communicating what they knew about their problems. Her conclusions shed light on the ties that bind in small-town America.

Perilus is a Roman boy who is crazy about chariot racing. He loves to practise in his own homemade chariot (pulled by the family goat) and dreams of riding in the Circus Maximus himself one day. But when Perilus's hero, the brilliant charioteer Scorcha , goes missing on the day of the big race, Perilus finds his wish coming true sooner than he'd imagined!

From the award-winning author of the Spy Dog series comes a wildly funny tale in HarperCollins’ Awesome Animals series – the funniest fiction, starring the wildest of wildlife from leading authors.

The public has always had a fascination with true crime, from the Victorian era to the present day. This collection presents 4 classic true crime books in one volume. Three are by Wenzell Brown, who worked with troubled teenagers in New York, turning their stories to stories for his books. Ones is by Martin M. Frank, who worked as an Assistant District Attorney, bringing his experiences to book form. Included in this volume: TEEN-AGE TERROR, by Wenzell Brown BEDEVILED, by Wenzell Brown GIRLS ON THE RAMPAGE, by Wenzell Brown DIARY OF A D.A., by Martin M. Frank If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 300+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!

Chris Taggart is a ruthless, driven, real estate entrepreneur whose buildings have changed the skyline of New York. Young, handsome, irresistible to women, Taggart has won it all with his bare hands and fierce ambition. But his dazzling success can never erase the bitter memory of his father's death at the hands of the mob—and now Taggart sets out to use his wealth and power to destroy the men whom he holds responsible.It is a secret vendetta—a war, in fact—that Taggart launches single-handedly against the Five Families of New York. It pits him against some of the toughest men in organized crime—as well as his own brother, a crusading assistant U.S. attorney, one of the strikeforce prosecutors.Taggart risks his fortune, his reputation, finally his life, to get revenge; only to find that he has instead become one of them, that his triumph over criminals has turned him into a more dangerous threat than any mob boss in New York.