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Thousands flocked to see gladiators, charioteers, wild animals, women and children hacked, crucified, torn to pieces, ravished, burned, and drown. Biographies, paintings, historical evidence and an author's imagination merge to tell the story of one of history's most ruthless exhibitions—the Roman games.
The author of The Way of the Gladiator continues his exploration of the dark side of history with this grisly account of pain and punishment through the ages. Human beings have a deep-seated instinct for cruelty, and, so far, have not evolved much past it. History is rife with examples of the infliction of pain used as penalty or execution. In The History of Torture, Daniel P. Mannix takes you from the crucifixions of ancient Rome, to the hanging of women during the Salem witch trials, to the atrocities discovered at Nazi concentration camps. The act of torture has shifted from simple barbarism to advanced psychological techniques thanks to science and technology. Now it’s not just an actu...
Unhappy with city life and at odds with his step-father, fourteen year old Billy is sent to live in the country with his eccentric great-uncle — a powwow man and natural healer who teaches him the lore of a vanishing world.
Daniel P. Mannix's father and grandfather were distinguished navel officers who expected Daniel to keep up the family tradition. Daniel tried, he really did, but when all those attempting to mold him into a respectable cadet eventually gave up, well, what else can a navel academy flunkie do — TA DA! Join a carnival, of course. Inspired by the perseverance, bold imagination, and showmanship of the performers, Daniel was soon eating flaming torches, swallowing swords and neon lights, walking on knives, assisting as a mentalist, and writing stories about all he experienced. From the pen of a man who lived the life and loved and respected carnival folk, Step Right Up! will take the reader on a comprehensive and highly entertaining excursion into the vanishing world of sideshow performers. Fire-eating and sword swallowing are not tricks, ladies and gentlemen. Allow the talented Daniel P Mannix to explain!
A noir classic about the era of the sideshow when freaks were the star attraction — respected and revered by other carnival members. Their stories are frankly and tenderly told by an author who lived and worked as a carny.
The award-winning author of The Way of the Gladiator brings to life medieval Paris and the wolves who held it hostage, in a novel based on real events. Praised as “nature writing at its best,” The Wolves of Paris takes readers to fifteenth-century France, a country so decimated by the Hundred Years’ War that its people became prey for marauding wolf packs (Hartford Courant). With France split among the English, the Burgundians, and the forces of the weak Charles VII, a wolf-dog rises to ensure the existence of his pack by any means necessary . . . Courtaud begins his life as the possession of a count until an attack on the castle leaves him to fend for himself. To survive, the huge, ru...
A baby bald eagle is raised by attentive parents in a tall tree overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. A story overflowing with eagle facts and information, feathered with humor, and nested in a commentary on the fate of the bald eagle in North America.
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Peter Ryhiner — hero, adventurer, and romantic — was one of the world's most active wild animal collectors. Born in Basel, Switzerland, on January 1, 1920, Peter knew by the time he was eight years old that he wanted to be a naturalist and explorer — and thought about nothing else. His parents listened to him with good natured amusement, but were not so amused when his interests caused him to flunk out of two schools and precipitated his expulsion from a third for truancy. Eventually, throwing up their hands in frustration, his family cut off his funds, and Peter had to use all his ingenuity to figure out how to continue collecting and studying animals — including breeding and develo...