The disappearance of writer Ambrose Bierce in 1913 has remained one of the greatest mysteries within the literary world. After crossing the border into revolutionary Mexico, the 71-year-old prolific author, satirist, poet and journalist was never heard from again. Indeed the facts of such a disappearance would not seem out of place in one of his own fictional stories-such was his talent at weaving the strange and the unusual. It is however, not only his disappearance that remains remarkable. More remarkable was the life Bierce lived, the man he was, and the imprint he left on the world through...