Pop Star Avoids Abduction, But Still Wishes She Wasn't Best Known As "Posh Spice"

Scotland Yard foiled an elaborate and brazen plot to kidnap former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham last weekend. British police were informed of the plan by the tabloid newspaper News of the World, which claims it got the information through a staff reporter close to the gang of would-be abductors. The newspaper reported that the gang apparently planned on ambushing Beckham at her home and sedating her with a chemical spray. The ransom was to have been £5 million (nearly $8 million).

After a series of raids in London, nine people were arrested and charged with conspiracy to kidnap. Four were eventually released, but five men remain in custody on unrelated charges of theft and conspiracy to steal a £60,000 jeweled turban from Sotheby's auction house.

For much of the 1990s, Victoria Beckham was known as "Posh Spice," the fashionable member of the musical group Spice Girls. At the height of their fame, the sensationally popular pop band sold about 40 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide. Mrs. Beckham is the wife of soccer star David Beckham, one of the biggest sports celebrities in the world.

So, if you "Wannabe" learning something about kidnappings and music, "Spice Up Your Life" with the following selections!

Kidnapped
By Robert Louis Stevenson
When young David Balfour's parents die, he goes to live with his evil uncle Ebenezer. Unbeknownst to David, his father has left him a large inheritance, and Ebenezer wants to cheat him out of the estate by any means necessary. After failing to kill David, Ebenezer has the boy kidnapped by a group of thugs sailing across the Atlantic to the Carolinas. Shortly after leaving the coast, the ship sinks off the coast of Scotland. David and the swashbuckling and David soon gets caught up in the Jacobite revolt against the English. Stevenson's most well-known work after the iconic Treasure Island, Kidnapped is another classic from the Scottish master of action and adventure.

News of a Kidnapping
By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
During the 1980s, the Colombian government signed a treaty with the United States that permitted the extradition of Colombian citizens. For the infamous Colombian drug lords, this meant that if they were ever arrested, they could be tried in the U.S. where drug laws were much harsher. While trying to cut a deal with the government, drug trafficker Pablo Escobar kidnapped 10 prominent, pro-extradition Colombians. News of a Kidnapping is their harrowing story. A former reporter, the revered Marquez forgoes his trademark magical realism to deliver a suspenseful piece of taut literary journalism.

Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping
By Ann Hagedorn Auerbach
In this unnerving warning for both tourists and business travelers, former Wall Street Journal reporter Auerbach examines the troubling increase in international kidnapping during the mid-1990s. Throughout the book, the story of an abduction that occurred in the Kashmir region is interwoven with facts concerning kidnapping on a global scale, and the measures that governments and law enforcement agencies are taking to combat the problem. Auerbach estimates that 20,000 to 30,000 incidents occur every year, and that most go unreported. The motivation behind most kidnappings remains profit, but a frightening number seem to occur for no reason at all.

All About the Spice Girls
By Julia Richardson, Beth Wyllyams, and Linda Males
Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Baby, and Scary. However you feel about them, the Spice Girls single-handedly resurrected bubblegum pop, and paved the way for the latter-1990s success of "artists" such as Britney Spears and N-Sync. The Spice Girls' day has come and gone, but you can still learn everything about the terminally effervescent quintet in this profusely illustrated and worshipful unofficial guide.

Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth
Edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay
Underground 'zine publisher Cooper and underground 'zine contributor Smay assemble more than 30 essays on the music phenomenon known as bubblegum pop. Sharp, informed, and fun pieces concerning groups such as the Beatles, the Ramones, the Banana Splits, the Bay City Rollers, Britney Spears, KISS, and the Partridge Family walk the line between witty sarcasm and gleeful celebration. Peter Bagge, Dennis Eichhorn, and Steve Mandich are among the contributors.

Our Band Could Be Your Life
By Michael Azerrad
Azerrad's epic and candid portrait of American underground rock from the early 80s through the early 90s is an essential document for anyone interested in the history of music. Thirteen of the eras greatest bands -- including Black Flag, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, and Fugazi -- are spectacularly captured in all of their gritty, ferocious, influential, and uncompromising glory.

• Read our interview with Michael Azerrad!