Kidnapped...for real

The Birthday Party: a Memoir of Survival / by Stanley P. Alpert
While walking near his Manhattan home on the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday, federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was abducted at gunpoint, blindfolded and forced to submit his bank card and PIN number to a carful of would-be-thieves. Upon revelation of his identity as an attorney, Alpert was taken to a Brooklyn apartment, strapped to a chair and threatened at gunpoint throughout the night. Though initially persisting with a series of violent threats, taunts and accusations, the atmosphere eventually became more relaxed with the kidnappers even offering Alpert alcohol upon learning it was his birthday. In a strange twist of fate, Alpert was released the following day relatively unharmed. Details of the incident along with the ensuing investigation and trial are chronicled by Alpert himself in this harrowing memoir of a man who lived to tell about his own abduction.

Kidnap: the Story of the Lindbergh Case / by George Waller
American aviator Charles Lindbergh became even more famous in 1932 when his one-year-old son was taken from his crib one night in March. The incident set off one of the nineteenth century's most involved criminal investigations, attracting widespread public attention with even mafia members--then incarcerated Al Capone among them--proffering aid in exchange for plea-bargains. A ransom note found at the scene demanded nearly $100,0000 for the child's life with subsequent notes upping the sum to nearly $200,000 before a rendesvous could be settled upon. Tragically, events unfolded unsuccessfully when the deceased child's remains were found one month after being abducted. Bruno Hauptmann, a carpenter and first generation German-American, was eventually convicted and electrocuted for the crime despite proclaiming his innocence throughout.

In Plain Sight: the Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation / by Tom Smart
In a case made widely-popular through several 24-hour news outlets, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping wasted no time in becoming the most celebrated child-abduction story of the new millenium. It was the summer of 2002 when the 14-year-old Smart went missing, apparently captured from her own bedroom by Brian David Mitchell as part of an intended bigamist plot. Uncle and one-time suspect Tom Smart chronicles the bizarre case from start to finish, commenting on the frenzied media atmosphere which likely hindered the police investigation and thwarted quicker rescue efforts.