To Kill a King: A History of Royal Murders and Assassinations from Ancient Egypt to the Present (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781449982737)

Internationally known author and journalist Frank Sanello has written 26 critically acclaimed books, including the bestseller, "The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another" (Sourcebooks, 2002), a nonfiction account of the two 19th century conflicts caused by Britain's illegal opium trade, which was devastating Chinese society just as crack cocaine blights America's inner cities today. After its U.S. release, "The Opium Wars" was published in China, which typically despises Westerners' often biased interpretations of Chinese history. Sanello's "The Knights Templars: God's Warriors, the Devil's Bankers" (Taylor, 2003); and "Tweakers: How Crystal Meth Is Ravaging Gay America" (Alyson, 2005) demonstrate his wide-ranging interests, especially substance abuse, which is examined in the author's upcoming "The Addict Next Door: The Epidemic of Prescription Painkiller Abuse and Other Contemporary Plagues," which was inspired by a survey in 2007 that said opiates like Vicodin and OxyContin have surpassed sales of marijuana, America's previous drug of choice. Sanello's articles have been distributed around the world by the New York Times Syndicate and have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, People, US Weekly, Penthouse, and USA Today. Cosmo and other magazines have excerpted his books. Sanello was formerly a film reviewer for the Los Angeles Daily News and a business reporter for UPI. After graduating with honors from the University of Chicago, he earned a master's degree from UCLA's film school.