Reversal of Fortune


Book Description

Defense attorney and Harvard law professor provides an insider's account of the trial, appeal, subsequent retrial, and acquittal in the murder case of Claus von Bulow, profiling the people involved. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.




My Claus von Bulow Affaire


Book Description

Andréa Reynolds was Claus von Bulow's mistress from 1982 to 1987, and she helped him successfully appeal his conviction of attempted murder, for which he had been sentenced to thirty-two years in prison. Von Bulow was convicted in 1982 of two counts of attempted murder of his wife, the immensely wealthy heiress Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. His wife was rich, beautiful, and American-and the case stirred up a firestorm of coverage in the tabloids and mainstream press. But Reynolds, an aristocratic married to the famous television producer Sheldon Reynolds, believed in his innocence. She defied her husband by corresponding with the convict before slipping into a passionate love affair-risking everything for von Bulow. My Claus von Bulow Affaire offers an insider's account of a controversial case that spawned two bestsellers and was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close. What's more, it provides a portrait of a largely vanished world, vividly depicting how rich and titled people on both sides of the Atlantic talked and thought, what they ate, how they dressed and made love, argued, and handled money.




Hans Von Bülow


Book Description

Hans von Bulow's career unfolded in at least six directions simultaneously. He was a renowned concert pianist; the first virtuoso orchestral conductor; a respected (and sometimes feared) teacher; an influential editor of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and above all of Beethoven, in the performance of whose music he had no rival; a scourge as a music critic; and lastly, he was himself also a composer of music. In Hans von Bulow: A Life and Times, Alan Walker, the acclaimed author of numerous award-winning books on the era's iconic composers, provides the first full-length English biography of this remarkable musical figure.




The Von Bülow Affair


Book Description

The true story of heiress Sunny von Bülow’s coma and the attempted-murder trial of her husband, Claus—the case that inspired the film Reversal of Fortune. On December 21, 1980, millionaire socialite Sunny Von Bülow was found unconscious on her bathroom floor. She would remain in a coma for twenty-seven years. Although her condition appeared to be the result of hypoglycemia, Sunny’s children suspected their stepfather, the debonair Claus Von Bülow, of attempting to murder his wife and abscond with her fortune. Claus went on trial for attempted murder in 1982, initiating a legal circus that would last for years. In the greatest society trial of the twentieth century, the opulence of Newport and New York provides a backdrop for one of the most intriguing family feuds of all time. In this comprehensive account of the trial and its aftermath, Wright draws on court transcripts and interviews with those involved to present an unparalleled behind-the-scenes look into the legal proceedings as well as the Von Bülows’ private lives. This ebook contains photos.




Defending Israel


Book Description

World-renowned lawyer Alan Dershowitz recounts stories from his many years of defending the state of Israel. Alan Dershowitz has spent years advocating for his "most challenging client"—the state of Israel—both publicly and in private meetings with high level international figures, including every US president and Israeli leader of the past 40 years. Replete with personal insights and unreported details, Defending Israel offers a comprehensive history of modern Israel from the perspective of one of the country's most important supporters. Readers are given a rare front row seat to the high profile controversies and debates that Dershowitz was involved in over the years, even as the political tides shifted and the liberal community became increasingly critical of Israeli policies. Beyond documenting America's changing attitude toward the country, Defending Israel serves as an updated defense of the Jewish homeland on numerous points—though it also includes Dershowitz's criticisms of Israeli decisions and policies that he believes to be unwise. At a time when Jewish Americans as a whole are increasingly uncertain as to who supports Israel and who doesn't, there is no better book to turn to for answers—and a pragmatic look toward the future.




Learning Empire


Book Description

The First World War marked the end point of a process of German globalization that began in the 1870s. Learning Empire looks at German worldwide entanglements to recast how we interpret German imperialism, the origins of the First World War, and the rise of Nazism.




When the Husband is the Suspect


Book Description

“One bloody roll call of botched crime scenes, outlandish alibis and celebrity trials” by the bestselling author of The Truth About the O.J. Simpson Trial (Chicago Sun-Times). This book provides an overview of several of the most famous homicidal husband cases of recent years, including: Sam Sheppard, who inspired the TV series and movie The Fugitive Jeffrey McDonald, who became the subject of the bestseller Fatal Vision Mister Perfect, Brad Cunningham, who was convicted of bludgeoning his wife to death Michael Peterson, who was the subject of the IFC documentary series The Staircase and a Lifetime movie original starring Treat Williams O.J. Simpson, whose dream team of lawyers defended the former pro-football player and movie star of the brutal murder of his ex-wife as the entire nation watched Claus von Bulow, immortalized in the book and movie Reversal of Fortune Robert Blake, former TV star, who was suspected of engineering the death of his conwoman wife Scott Peterson, a philandering sociopathic husband who almost escaped arrest for the murder of his wife and unborn child Lambert “Bart” Knol, who claimed he suffered from “substance-induced persistent amnesia” when he was accused of killing his wife of 38 years These cases and others are presented in an objective manner by a knowledgeable voice that recognizes that suspicion, and sometimes even conviction, are not always synonymous with guilt. “For the reader who would like to learn about these famous cases without the hype of the tabloids, When the Husband is the Suspect offers solid interest and information.” —St. Louis Today




Unnatural Death


Book Description




Homintern


Book Description

In a hugely ambitious study which crosses continents, languages, and almost a century, Gregory Woods identifies the ways in which homosexuality has helped shape Western culture. Extending from the trials of Oscar Wilde to the gay liberation era, this book examines a period in which increased visibility made acceptance of homosexuality one of the measures of modernity. Woods shines a revealing light on the diverse, informal networks of gay people in the arts and other creative fields. Uneasily called “the Homintern” (an echo of Lenin’s “Comintern”) by those suspicious of an international homosexual conspiracy, such networks connected gay writers, actors, artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, politicians, and spies. While providing some defense against dominant heterosexual exclusion, the grouping brought solidarity, celebrated talent, and, in doing so, invigorated the majority culture. Woods introduces an enormous cast of gifted and extraordinary characters, most of them operating with surprising openness; but also explores such issues as artistic influence, the coping strategies of minorities, the hypocrisies of conservatism, and the effects of positive and negative discrimination. Traveling from Harlem in the 1910s to 1920s Paris, 1930s Berlin, 1950s New York and beyond, this sharply observed, warm-spirited book presents a surpassing portrait of twentieth-century gay culture and the men and women who both redefined themselves and changed history.




The Rest Is Noise


Book Description

Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.