59 books match the query 'Tragedy' and 2 start with h

cover of High Desert Blood: The 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot and the Tragedy of the Williams Brothers

High Desert Blood

The 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot and the Tragedy of the Williams Brothers

Andrew Brininstool

University of Iowa Press, 2025

When a cocksure father hatches a simple insurance fraud scheme, he has no idea its failure will lead his family into the maelstrom of America’s most violent prison riot. High Desert Blood takes you inside the walls of the Penitentiary of New Mexico, offering a gripping true crime journey through the heart of a system that failed its inmates, its staff, and the society it was meant to protect.
         Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Andrew Brininstool unveils the conditions that led to the infamous 1980 riot, a catastrophic event that left a permanent scar on the American penal landscape. Snaking through the storyline, we meet Gary Williams, a nonviolent first-time offender thrust into a world of chaos, and his brother, Jeff, a career criminal who mysteriously vanishes during the riot. After his release, Gary’s relentless quest for the truth about his brother’s disappearance leads him to a similar tragic fate.
         This book offers an unflinching look at the brutality and corruption that plagued the prison, shedding light on the systemic issues that made such a disaster inevitable. High Desert Blood is not just a chronicle of violence and despair; it’s a call for reform.
 
[more]
cover of History of a Tragedy: THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN

History of a Tragedy

THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN

Joseph Perez

University of Illinois Press, 2006

Few events in the history of Spain have provoked as much controversy as the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. Conflicts within the Catholic Church, suspicions within the newly unified Spain, and the claims of Spanish merchants combined to make the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella intolerant and inquisitorial. Yet the roots of Spanish anti-Semitism went deeper.  In this concise survey of the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews, Joseph Pérez studies the evolution of the Jewish community in Spain from the time of the Visigoths to the reign of the Catholic kings. He explores the Jewish community’s role in creating and sustaining the vibrant cultural, political, and economic world of medieval Spain, and how growing religious intolerance, a pervasive resentment of the “others,” and a string of escalating encroachments culminated in expulsion.

[more]