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THE PREMONITIONS BUREAU

A TRUE ACCOUNT OF DEATH FORETOLD

A reasonable, readable excursion into realms of unreason—and good evidence to pay attention to dreams and hunches.

Fascinating exploration of the eldritch matter of foreknowledge.

In 1902, a British soldier in the Boer War dreamed of a volcano exploding on an unnamed island, recognizably a French colony, and killing 4,000 people. A few weeks later, he read a newspaper account of the explosion of Mont Pelée on Martinique, which killed 40,000. “I was out by a nought,” he remarked of the discrepancy in the death count. More precise, writes London-based New Yorker staff writer Knight, was the foretelling on the part of a middle-aged Briton who warned of an impending air crash that would kill 124 people—the exact casualty count when a French passenger jet crashed a few days later. (The toll would rise when two wounded survivors succumbed later.) “Premonitions are impossible,” writes the author, “and they come true all the time.” Though Arthur Koestler attempted to wrestle the matter to the ground in his 1972 book The Roots of Coincidence, there wasn’t much effort to quantify it until a British science editor named Peter Fairley established a “premonitions bureau” at the London Evening Standard in the mid-1960s, inviting readers to submit predictions that the paper would then track. The correlations weren’t definitive, most “impossible to verify,” but there were enough to lend credence to the idea that there are people who seem to have special connections to future events. Though, as Knight observes, the laws of thermodynamics don’t support it, things can “prefigure in our minds.” Few of those things are happy. For instance, the author profiles an eccentric British psychiatrist who came into contact with Fairley after investigating a terrible Welsh disaster in which 116 children died, one of them a little girl who had told her mother of a dream in which her school was covered with “something black”—the flood of coal slurry that overcame the victims.

A reasonable, readable excursion into realms of unreason—and good evidence to pay attention to dreams and hunches.

Pub Date: May 3, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-984879-59-2

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Penguin Press

Review Posted Online: March 21, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Awards & Accolades

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  • Kirkus Reviews'
    Best Books Of 2017


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Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

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MELANIA

A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.

A carefully curated personal portrait.

First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.

A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.

Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024

ISBN: 9781510782693

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing

Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024

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