True Story

True Story PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062436465
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
The improbable but true story of a man accused of murdering his entire family and the journalist he impersonated while on the run In 2001, Mike Finkel was on top of the world: young, talented, and recently promoted to a plum job at the New York Times Magazine. Then he made an irremediable slip: Under extraordinary pressure to keep producing blockbuster stories, he fabricated parts of an article. Caught and excommunicated from the Times, he retreated to his home in Montana, swearing off any contact with the media. When the phone rang, though, he couldn’t resist. At the other end was a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, whom Finkel congratulated on being the first in what was sure to be a long and bloodthirsty line of media watchdogs. The reporter was puzzled. In Waldport, Oregon, Christian Longo had killed his young wife and three children and dumped their bodies into the bay. With a stolen credit card, he fled south, making his way to Cancun, where he lived for several weeks under an assumed identity: Michael Finkel, journalist for the New York Times. True Story is the tale of a bizarre and convoluted collision between fact and fiction, and a meditation on the slippery nature of truth. When Finkel contacts Longo in jail, the two men begin a close and complex relationship. Over the course of a year, they exchange long letters and weekly phone calls, playing out a cat-and-mouse game in which it’s never quite clear if the pursuer is Finkel or Longo—or both. Finkel’s dogged pursuit of the true story pays off only at the end, in the gripping trial scenes in which Longo, after a lifetime of deception, finally tells the whole truth. Or so he says.

True Story

True Story PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062436465
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
The improbable but true story of a man accused of murdering his entire family and the journalist he impersonated while on the run In 2001, Mike Finkel was on top of the world: young, talented, and recently promoted to a plum job at the New York Times Magazine. Then he made an irremediable slip: Under extraordinary pressure to keep producing blockbuster stories, he fabricated parts of an article. Caught and excommunicated from the Times, he retreated to his home in Montana, swearing off any contact with the media. When the phone rang, though, he couldn’t resist. At the other end was a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, whom Finkel congratulated on being the first in what was sure to be a long and bloodthirsty line of media watchdogs. The reporter was puzzled. In Waldport, Oregon, Christian Longo had killed his young wife and three children and dumped their bodies into the bay. With a stolen credit card, he fled south, making his way to Cancun, where he lived for several weeks under an assumed identity: Michael Finkel, journalist for the New York Times. True Story is the tale of a bizarre and convoluted collision between fact and fiction, and a meditation on the slippery nature of truth. When Finkel contacts Longo in jail, the two men begin a close and complex relationship. Over the course of a year, they exchange long letters and weekly phone calls, playing out a cat-and-mouse game in which it’s never quite clear if the pursuer is Finkel or Longo—or both. Finkel’s dogged pursuit of the true story pays off only at the end, in the gripping trial scenes in which Longo, after a lifetime of deception, finally tells the whole truth. Or so he says.

The Stranger in the Woods

The Stranger in the Woods PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1101911530
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Get Book Here

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. “A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival.” —The Wall Street Journal In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life—why did he leave? what did he learn?—as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.

True Story

True Story PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780060580483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
On February 2002, New York Times Magazine writer Michael Finkel received a startling piece of news: a young man named Christian Longo, wanted for killing his entire family, had been captured in Mexico, where he'd taken on a new identity: Michael Finkel of the New York Times. The next day, on page A-3 of the Times, came another troubling item: a note from the editors explaining that Finkel, having falsified parts of an investigative article, had been fired. Nonetheless, the only journalist Longo would speak with was the real Michael Finkel, and so Finkel placed a call to Oregon's Lincoln County jail, intent on getting the true story. So began a bizarre and intense relationship—a reporting job that morphed into a shrewd game of cat-and-mouse. Part mystery, part memoir, part mea culpa, True Story weaves a spellbinding tale of murder, love, and deceit with a deeply personal inquiry into the slippery nature of truth.

The Art Thief

The Art Thief PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0735278962
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Get Book Here

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser. • “The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."—The New Yorker "Enthralling." —The Wall Street Journal In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them. For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down. This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

Breakshot

Breakshot PDF Author: Kenny Gallo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439195838
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Get Book Here

Book Description
Gallo made millions for New York's Colombo Mafia family before becoming an undercover FBI informant. In "Breakshot," he captures the American underworld in all its tawdry spectacle.

Alpine Circus

Alpine Circus PDF Author: Michael Finkel
Publisher: Lyons Press
ISBN: 9781592280322
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
A white-knuckle ride around the world with an intrepid skier in search of the exhilarating and bizarre.

Company Man

Company Man PDF Author: John Rizzo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451673930
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
At the intersection of politics, law and national security--from "protect us at all costs" to "what the hell have you guys been up to, anyway?"--A lawyer's life in the CIA. Under seven presidents and 11 different CIA directors, Rizzo rose to become the CIA's most powerful career attorney. Given the agency's dangerous and secret mission, spotting and deterring possible abuses of law, offering guidance and protecting personnel from legal jeopardy was, and remains, no easy task. The author accumulated more than 30 years of war stories, and he tells most of them.

Love, Daddy

Love, Daddy PDF Author: Carlton Smith
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429908882
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book Here

Book Description
He Looked like the Perfect Dad... Shortly before Christmas of 2001, the bodies of Mary Jane Longo and her three young children, Zachary, Sadie Ann, and Madison were discovered. They'd been murdered and dumped off the Oregon coast in Yaquina and Alsea Bay. The youngest victim was only two years old. Their father, Christian Longo, was missing. And Became One of America's Most Wanted Within days, the twenty-seven-year-old all-American dad was added to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted fugitives. As law enforcement officials scoured northern California in pursuit of the suspected family-killer, Longo was already looking for a new job-and a new life-under a new name. Believed to be skilled in identity theft, Christian Longo was on the run. Now investigative reporter Carlton Smith takes a journey into the heart of darkness-from Longo's masquerade as a devoted family man and finally to his capture at a beach camp in Mexico-to uncover the unfathomable trail of a deadly master of deception.

How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder

How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder PDF Author: Mike Gilbert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1596980648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
You Don't Know the Full Truth About O.J. Simpson and the Murders that Gripped a Nation. But Mike Gilbert does, and after nearly two decades of being O.J. Simpson's sports agent, business advisor, and trusted confidant, Gilbert is breaking his silence and telling the full story of the man he idolized, but now despises. Gilbert's shocking tale is unlike anything you've read before; it isn't his "version" of what happened--it's the unvarnished truth. The truth about O.J., the murders, and the infamous trial. Not as Gilbert imagined or would like it to be, but how it actually was. Gilbert doesn't spare anyone, not even himself--he helped deceive the jury and feels deeply responsible for the "Not Guilty" verdict.

Life and Death in Shanghai

Life and Death in Shanghai PDF Author: Cheng Nien
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802145167
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 561

Get Book Here

Book Description
A woman who spent more than six years in solitary confinement during Communist China's Cultural Revolution discusses her time in prison. Reissue. A New York Times Best Book of the Year.