Includes a plot summary, brief history, and list of selected recordings for each ballad! At the end of the 19th century, Harvard professor Francis James Child published a collection of 305 traditional English and Scottish ballads that would influence folk tradition and popular culture for decades to come. Presented here are those Child Ballads that have become most widely known around the world. While the songs themselves may be centuries old, the stories they tell are timeless. So go forth now and enjoy these tales of kings, queens, serving men and maidens, spirits, demons and guardian angels; of redemption, betrayal, avengement and loss, and, of course... MAD LOVE, MURDER & MAYHEM.

A true tale of evil lurking beneath the surface of a sleepy Smoky Mountains town. In November of 1994, a black Jeep carrying the battered body of a young man plunged over the side of a cliff in the Smoky Mountains. The discovery of that body launched a criminal investigation that revealed a shocking tale of tawdry ambition, amoral sex and a spectacularly brutal murder. Shayne Mills Lovera was, on the surface, an all-American girl - beautiful, popular, and the step-daughter of a prominent man. Gatlinburg and its sister towns of Pigeon Forge and Sevierville were, on the surface, classic American small towns - pretty and God-fearing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The towns dealt in hypocrisy and hid drug dealers and shady deaths. The girl hid a black heart and used manipulation and sex to persuade a young man to help her murder her husband. In Mad Notions, award-winning mystery writer John Lawrence Reynolds peels away the facades of the towns and their people to create a chilling portrait of the dark underbelly of the American dream. The story is as gripping as it is chilling - a fast-paced, suspenseful read destined to become a true crime classic.

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.

"The pristine waters of the Finger Lakes inspire tranquility, but the region has not been spared a history of high-profile murders. ...Author R. Marcin explores the gruesome history of homicide in the Finger Lakes."--Back cover.

A single night can change everything. Now I’m pregnant with a biker’s baby. I try to give Slash an out, but he claims me. He wants more. He wants us. He wants to protect me and our baby. Slash is rugged and virile, and I’m falling for him hard and fast. I know he’s not white-picket-fence material, but he makes me feel safe and adored. I never thought I’d be with a man like him. But he’s so wrong he might be my right.

From Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, Kojak, and Melrose Place, from books, music, cartoons, advertising, and newspapers, we all derive our images of mental illness. These omnipresent media portrayals are at the least insensitive, inaccurate, and unfavorable and at the worst stigmatizing and pernicious. In this important book, Dr. Otto Wahl examines the prevalence, nature, and impact of such depictions, using numerous examples from film, television, and print media. He documents the remarkable frequency of these images and demonstrates how the media has stereotyped the mentally ill through exaggeration, misunderstanding, ridicule, and disrespect. Media Madness also shows the damaging consequences of such stereotypes - stigma, rejection, loss of self-esteem, reluctance to seek, accept, or reveal psychiatric treatment, discrimination, and restriction of opportunity. The forces that shape current images of mental illness are clarified, as are the efforts of organizations and individuals to combat such exploitation.

"Rock-solid characters, buzz-saw action and backstories deserving of books of their own. Amazing..." Conor Maguire nearly lost his daughter Barb when she was three years old, injured by the drunk driver that killed his wife. When the justice system failed him, Conor -- the son and grandson of IRA bombers -- retaliated against the driver in dramatic and gruesome fashion. While an ironclad alibi prevented the police from pinning the murder on Conor, it did not prevent a covert agency within the US government from recruiting the talented young bomber and machinist. For over twenty-five years, Conor designed and built custom weapons of death and destruction at his compound in the mountains of Virginia. Then a series of devastating terror attacks brought down the United States. Conor and Barb assumed they were safe in their secure compound. They had food and a water source. They were armed and highly-trained. Then Barb was kidnapped. The kidnappers, needing slave labor for their farm, didn't know why Conor was known as The Mad Mick. They didn't know the fear and respect his name invoked in the shadowy world of covert operations. They didn't know that when it came to protecting his family, he was without conscience, without compassion, and without equal. But they would soon find out.