The gripping true crime story of the nineteenth-century "Dynamite Fiend"

The Dynamite Fiend brings to light the stunning story behind one of the most devious criminals of the nineteenth century, Alexander "Sandy" Keith. Beginning his dark career as a Confederate secret agent, Keith helped orchestrate some of the most infamous terrorist plots of the Civil War. In peacetime, dogged by creditors and victims of his frauds, Keith kept on the move, leaving more scams, schemes, and cheated women in his wake. As his situation became more desperate, his obsession with explosives and violence became more intense, leading to a horrifying plot that he put together while posing as a prosperous American businessman living in Germany. In 1875, one of Keith's bombs exploded on a dock, killing eighty people and injuring fifty more. The world heralded the deed as the "Crime of the Century" and Keith became the "Dynamite Fiend" and a true mass murderer. In The Dynamite Fiend, author Ann Larabee unfolds this engrossing tale of hidden identity, technological obsession, and an unparalleled lust for power and profit.

A transnational history of the first urban bombing campaign, when Irish nationalists targeted symbolic British public buildings in the 1880s.

In 1863–1864, Confederate naval operations were launched from Canada against America, with an unexpected impact on North America’s future. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a myth has persisted that the hijackers entered the United States from Canada. This is completely untrue. Nevertheless, there was a time during the U.S. Civil War when attacks on America were launched from Canada, but the aggressors were mostly fellow Americans engaged in a secessionist struggle. Among the attacks were three daring naval commando expeditions against a prisoner-of-war camp on Johnsons Island in Lake Erie. These Confederate operations on the Great Lakes remain largely unknown. However, some of the people involved did make more indelible marks in history, including a future Canadian prime minister, a renowned Victorian war correspondent, a beloved Catholic poet, a notorious presidential assassin, and a son of the abolitionist John Brown. The improbable events linking these figures constitute a story worth telling and remembering. Rebels on the Great Lakes offers the first full account of the Confederate naval operations launched from Canada in 186364, describing forgotten military actions that ultimately had an unexpected impact on North Americas future.