Robert Stroud became known worldwide as the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” thanks largely to a bestselling book and a 1962 Hollywood film. But the real man behind the legend was far more complicated and far ...

On November 25, 1959, one of the best-known prisoners on the infamous US island prison Alcatraz petitioned authorities for his release from 43 years in solitary confinement. Murderer Robert Stroud ...