Loyalty meant nothing to Vlad Dracula, a Transylvanian prince whoÂ’d sacrifice anything to stay in power. He ruled with a thirst for blood so terrible that the most famous vampire in literature was named after him....

Grigory Rasputin was a poor peasant from Siberia who claimed he could heal the sick and predict the future. Some people worshipped him. Others wanted him dead. No wonder the story of his life and death is stranger than fiction....

From property forfeiture to public flogging to burning at the stake, persecution and torture were all in a day’s work for Tomás de Torquemada-- a monk without mercy for anyone who broke the laws of the Church....

Genghis Khan set out to conquer the world with an army rumored to be the fastest on earth. But the Mongol warlord didn’t need rumors to make his enemies fear him. His campaign of terror left thousands dead and cities in ruins, from East Asia to Eastern Europe, for anyone who survived to see....