A Capitol Death

Author: Lindsey Davis
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 1250152712
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
In Rome, ruled by the erratic Emperor Domitian, Flavia Albia is dragged into the worst sort of investigation—a politically charged murder—in Lindsey Davis’s next historical mystery, A Capitol Death. A man falls to his death from the Tarpeian Rock, which overlooks the Forum in the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome. While it looks like a suicide, one witness swears that she saw it happen and that he was pushed. Normally, this would attract very little official notice but this man happened to be in charge of organizing the Imperial Triumphs demanded by the emperor. The Emperor Domitian, autocratic and erratic, has decided that he deserves two Triumphs for his so-called military victories. The Triumphs are both controversial and difficult to stage because of the not-so-victorious circumstances that left them without treasure or captives to be paraded through the streets. Normally, the investigation would be under the auspices of her new(ish) husband but, worried about his stamina following a long recovery, private informer Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, steps in. What a mistake that turns out to be. The deceased proves to have been none-too-popular, with far too many others with much to gain from his death. With the date of the Triumphs fast approaching, Flavia Albia must unravel a truly complex case of murder before danger shows up on her own doorstep.

Murder at the Capitol

Author: C. M. Gleason
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496724003
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Book Description
In July 1861, just months after the Battle of Fort Sumter plunges the young nation into civil war, President Lincoln’s top priority is to unite the country, while Adam Quinn finds himself on the trail of a murderer . . . On Independence Day, the citizens of Washington, DC, are celebrating as if there isn’t a war. But the city is teeming with green Union recruits while President Lincoln and his War Department are focused on military strategy to take Richmond in Secessionist Virginia in order to bring the conflict to a swift end. Manassas, Virginia, near Bull Run Creek, is in their sights. The very next morning, as Congress convenes once more, a dead body is found hanging from the crane beneath the unfinished dome of the Capitol. Lincoln’s close confidant, Adam Speed Quinn, is called upon to determine whether the man had taken his own life, or if someone had helped him. With the assistance of Dr. George Hilton and journalist Sophie Gates, Quinn investigates what turns out to be murder. But the former scout is about to be blindsided, for a Southern sympathizer in the city is running a female spy network reporting to the Confederacy, and she has an insidious plot to foil the Union Army’s march to Manassas by employing the charms of one Constance Lemagne to get as close to Adam as possible . . .

Murder on Capitol Hill

Author: Margaret Truman
Publisher: Rosetta Books
ISBN: 0795344937
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Book Description
A senator’s death sends shock waves through Washington, DC, in this mystery by the New York Times–bestselling author and presidential daughter. Sen. Cale Caldwell and his blue-blooded wife maintained a far-reaching and powerful grip on Capitol Hill society, but not powerful enough to save him from foul play. The influential senator’s life is cut short in brutal fashion at a glamorous reception held in his honor. It happens just two short years after tragedy struck the Caldwell family in the form of the unsolved murder of his niece, but when attorney Lydia James suggests a connection, she’s shut down, and fast. Who stands to benefit from the Caldwells’ tragedies, and James’s silence—the senator’s political rivals, the media, or perhaps even the family’s closest allies? “A dazzling series.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Murder on Capitol Hill proves that the author is much more than a one-term mystery writer . . . All the insider’s knowledge and gossip that made Murder in the White House so captivating.” —Booklist “Truman has settled firmly into a career of writing murder mysteries, all evoking brilliantly the Washington she knows so well.” —The Houston Post

Capital Defense

Author: Jon B. Gould
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479873756
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description
The unsung heroes who defend the accused from the ultimate punishment What motivates someone to make a career out of defending some of the worst suspected killers of our time? In Capital Defense, Jon B. Gould and Maya Pagni Barak give us a glimpse into the lives of lawyers who choose to work in the darkest corner of our criminal justice system: death penalty cases. Based on in-depth personal interviews with a cross-section of the nation’s top capital defense teams, the book explores the unusual few who voluntarily represent society’s “worst of the worst.” With a compassionate and careful eye, Gould and Barak chronicle the experiences of American lawyers, who—like soldiers or surgeons—operate under the highest of stakes, where verdicts have the power to either “take death off the table” or put clients on “the conveyor belt towards death.” These lawyers are a rare breed in a field that is otherwise seen as dirty work and in a system that is overburdened, under-resourced, and overshadowed by social, cultural, and political pressures. Examining the ugliest side of our criminal justice system, Capital Defense offers an up-close perspective on the capital litigation process and its impact on the people who participate in it.

When the State Kills

Author: Austin Sarat
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691188661
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
Is capital punishment just? Does it deter people from murder? What is the risk that we will execute innocent people? These are the usual questions at the heart of the increasingly heated debate about capital punishment in America. In this bold and impassioned book, Austin Sarat seeks to change the terms of that debate. Capital punishment must be stopped, Sarat argues, because it undermines our democratic society. Sarat unflinchingly exposes us to the realities of state killing. He examines its foundations in ideas about revenge and retribution. He takes us inside the courtroom of a capital trial, interviews jurors and lawyers who make decisions about life and death, and assesses the arguments swirling around Timothy McVeigh and his trial for the bombing in Oklahoma City. Aided by a series of unsettling color photographs, he traces Americans' evolving quest for new methods of execution, and explores the place of capital punishment in popular culture by examining such films as Dead Man Walking, The Last Dance, and The Green Mile. Sarat argues that state executions, once used by monarchs as symbolic displays of power, gained acceptance among Americans as a sign of the people's sovereignty. Yet today when the state kills, it does so in a bureaucratic procedure hidden from view and for which no one in particular takes responsibility. He uncovers the forces that sustain America's killing culture, including overheated political rhetoric, racial prejudice, and the desire for a world without moral ambiguity. Capital punishment, Sarat shows, ultimately leaves Americans more divided, hostile, indifferent to life's complexities, and much further from solving the nation's ills. In short, it leaves us with an impoverished democracy. The book's powerful and sobering conclusions point to a new abolitionist politics, in which capital punishment should be banned not only on ethical grounds but also for what it does to Americans and what we cherish.

Capital Is Dead

Author: McKenzie Wark
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1788735331
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
It's not capitalism, it's not neoliberalism - what if it's something worse? In this radical and visionary new book, McKenzie Wark argues that information has empowered a new kind of ruling class. Through the ownership and control of information, this emergent class dominates not only labour but capital as traditionally understood as well. And it’s not just tech companies like Amazon and Google. Even Walmart and Nike can now dominate the entire production chain through the ownership of not much more than brands, patents, copyrights, and logistical systems. While techno-utopian apologists still celebrate these innovations as an improvement on capitalism, for workers—and the planet—it’s worse. The new ruling class uses the powers of information to route around any obstacle labor and social movements put up. So how do we find a way out? Capital Is Dead offers not only the theoretical tools to analyze this new world, but ways to change it. Drawing on the writings of a surprising range of classic and contemporary theorists, Wark offers an illuminating overview of the contemporary condition and the emerging class forces that control—and contest—it.

The Grove of the Caesars

Author: Lindsey Davis
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 125024157X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
In the sacred grove of Julius Caesar, something deadly stirs in the undergrowth—a serial killer, who haunted the gardens for years, has claimed another victim—in Lindsey Davis’s next historical mystery, The Grove of the Caesars. At the feet of her adoptive father, renowned private informer Marcus Didius Falco, Flavia Albia learned a number of important rules. First and foremost—always keep one's distance from the palace, nothing good comes from that direction. But right behind it—murder is the business of the Vigiles, best to leave them to it. Having broken the first rule more often than she'd like, it's no surprise to anyone when she finds herself breaking the second one. The public gardens named after the Caesars is a place nice girls are warned away from and when a series of bodies are uncovered, it seems that a serial killer has been haunting the grove for years. The case is assigned to one Julius Karus, a cohort of the Vigiles, but Albia is convinced that nothing will come of his efforts. Out of sympathy for the dead women and their grieving relatives, Albia decides to work with the vile Karus and bring the serial killer to justice.

The Asian 21st Century

Author: Kishore Mahbubani
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811668116
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
This open access book consists of essays written by Kishore Mahbubani to explore the challenges and dilemmas faced by the West and Asia in an increasingly interdependent world village and intensifying geopolitical competition. The contents cover four parts: Part One The End of the Era of Western Domination. The major strategic error that the West is now making is to refuse to accept this reality. The West needs to learn how to act strategically in a world where they are no longer the number 1. Part Two The Return of Asia. From the years 1 to 1820, the largest economies in the world were Asian. After 1820 and the rise of the West, however, great Asian civilizations like China and India were dominated and humiliated. The twenty-first century will see the return of Asia to the center of the world stage. Part Three The Peaceful Rise of China. The shift in the balance of power to the East has been most pronounced in the rise of China. While this rise has been peaceful, many in the West have responded with considerable concern over the influence China will have on the world order. Part Four Globalization, Multilateralism and Cooperation. Many of the world's pressing issues, such as COVID-19 and climate change, are global issues and will require global cooperation to deal with. In short, human beings now live in a global village. States must work with each other, and we need a world order that enables and facilitates cooperation in our global village.

Margaret Truman's Undiplomatic Murder

Author: Donald Bain
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0765333678
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
After a suicide bomber kills his youngest daughter at an outdoor cafe in Washington, D.C., private investigator Robert Brixton seeks revenge and answers.

Murder in the State Capitol

Author: Pamela Chase Hain
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780881464306
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In his own words, Alston went to war to defend his ownership of slaves. During the Civil War, Alston served under General John Hunt Morgan initially as his adjutant and later in command of a brigade. In 1864, Alston's strong sense of honor caused him to become disillusioned, by the robberies and depredations of Morgan's troops and he reported Morgan to authorities for not investigating them. Following the Civil War, Alston became a cotton farmer using freedmen, practiced law, and sold insurance. He later became an editor and owner of the Atlanta Herald and was responsible for bringing the famous journalist Henry Grady to the newspaper. Alston was also active in politics and the efforts to bring the Democrats back to power. In 1878, as a state representative from DeKalb County, he became chairman of the penitentiary committee. Reporting on the deplorable conditions in the convict camps that were leased by private companies Alston thus became the first man in Georgia to expose the enormities of the convict lease system. The owners included the most powerful men in the State-former governor Joseph Brown, the acting governor Alfred Colquitt, and senator and later governor John Gordon. As a result of his expose, Alston's life was threatened. Intrigue, bribery, and murder silenced Alston just as he was poised to become one of Georgia's most influential leaders. While his efforts did not result in abolishing the system immediately, he is credited with beginning its eventual demise. Book jacket.