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A vivid portrait of the Columbia River Bar that combines maritime history, adventure journalism, and memoir, bringing alive the history--and present--of one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world
Off the coast of Oregon, the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River Bar: a watery collision so turbulent and deadly that it's nicknamed the Graveyard of the Pacific.
Two thousand ships have been wrecked on the bar since the first European ship dared to try to cross it in the late 18thcentury. For decades ships continued to make the bar crossing with great peril, first with native guides and later with opportunistic newcomers, as Europeans settled in Washington and Oregon, displacing the natives and transforming the river into the hub of a booming region. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, and despite the construction of jetties on either side, the bar remains treacherous, even today a site of shipwrecks and dramatic rescues as well as power struggles between small fishermen, powerful shipowners, local communities in Washington and Oregon, the Coast Guard, and the Columbia River Bar Pilots - a small group of highly skilled navigators who help guide ships through the mouth of the Columbia.
When Randall Sullivan and a friend set out to cross the bar in a two-man kayak, they're met with skepticism and concern. But on a clear day in July 2021, when the tides and weather seem right, they embark. As they plunge through the currents that have taken so many lives, Randall commemorates the brave sailors that made the crossing before him - including his own abusive father, a sailor himself who also once dared to cross the bar - and reflects on toxic masculinity, fatherhood, and what drives men to extremes.
Rich with exhaustive research and propulsive narrative, Graveyard of the Pacific follows historical shipwrecks through the moment-by-moment details that often determined whether sailors would live or die, exposing the ways in which boats, sailors, and navigation have changed over the decades. As he makes his way across the bar, floating above the wrecks and across the same currents that have taken so many lives, Randall Sullivan faces the past, both in his own life and on the Columbia River Bar.
Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan
Throughout history, humans have struggled to explain the evils of the world and the darkest parts of ourselves. The Devil's Best Trick is a unique and far-reaching investigation into evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it - particularly through the figure of the Devil.
Sullivan's narrative moves through centuries of historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil and the Devil: from the Mesopotamian and Egyptian gods to the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping Black Mass ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He references major literary, religious and historical figures, from the Persian sages Zoroaster and Mani, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Aleister Crowley, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book.
But this is not just a cultural history - Sullivan intersperses original reporting and personal reflection. He travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the Hour of the Witches -- an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which occurred in 1928 and lasted four months. He ponders the psychology of evil through his encounter with one brutal serial killer and he reports on the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, detailing the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about cult worship spread throughout the wider community.
Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called extraordinary and enthralling by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.
From longtime Rolling Stone contributing editor and journalist Randall Sullivan, The Curse of Oak Island explores the curious history of Oak Island and the generations of individuals who have tried and failed to unlock its secrets.
An investigation into the curse of Oak Island, where rumors of buried riches have beguiled treasure hunters over the past two centuries.
In 1795, a teenager discovered a mysterious circular depression in the ground on Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada, and ignited rumors of buried treasure. Early excavators uncovered a clay-lined shaft containing layers of soil interspersed with wooden platforms, but when they reached a depth of ninety feet, water poured into the shaft and made further digging impossible.
Since then the mystery of Oak Island's Money Pit has enthralled generations of treasure hunters, including a Boston insurance salesman whose obsession ruined him; young Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and film star Errol Flynn. Perplexing discoveries have ignited explorers' imaginations: a flat stone inscribed in code; a flood tunnel draining from a man-made beach; a torn scrap of parchment; stone markers forming a huge cross. Swaths of the island were bulldozed looking for answers; excavation attempts have claimed two lives. Theories abound as to what's hidden on Oak Island--pirates' treasure, Marie Antoinette's lost jewels, the Holy Grail, proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare's plays--yet to this day, the Money Pit remains an enigma.
The Curse of Oak Island is a fascinating account of the strange, rich history of the island and the intrepid treasure hunters who have driven themselves to financial ruin, psychotic breakdowns, and even death in pursuit of answers. And as Michigan brothers Marty and Rick Lagina become the latest to attempt to solve the mystery, as documented on the History Channel's television show The Curse of Oak Island, Sullivan takes readers along to follow their quest firsthand.
In The Curse of Oak Island, longtime Rolling Stone contributing editor and journalist Randall Sullivan explored the curious history of Oak Island and the generations of people who tried and failed to unlock its secrets. Drawing on his exclusive access to Marty and Rick Lagina, stars of the History Channel's television show The Curse of Oak Island, Sullivan delivers an up to the minute chronicle of their ongoing search for the truth.
In 1795, a teenager discovered a mysterious circular depression in the ground on Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada, and ignited rumors of buried treasure. Early excavators uncovered a clay-lined shaft containing layers of soil interspersed with wooden platforms, but when they reached a depth of ninety feet, water poured into the shaft and made further digging impossible.
Since then the mystery of Oak Island's Money Pit has enthralled generations of treasure hunters, including a Boston insurance salesman whose obsession ruined him; young Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and film star Errol Flynn. Perplexing discoveries have ignited explorers' imaginations: a flat stone inscribed in code; a flood tunnel draining from a man-made beach; a torn scrap of parchment; stone markers forming a huge cross. Swaths of the island were bulldozed looking for answers; excavation attempts have claimed two lives. Theories abound as to what's hidden on Oak Island. Could it be pirates' treasure or Marie Antoinette's lost jewels? Or perhaps the Holy Grail or proof of the identity of the true author of Shakespeare's plays?
In this rich, fascinating account, Sullivan takes readers along as the Lagina brothers mount the most comprehensive effort yet to crack the mystery, and chronicles the incredible history of the curse of Oak Island, where for two centuries dreams of buried treasure have led intrepid treasure hunters to sacrifice everything.
A vivid portrait of the Columbia River Bar that combines maritime history, adventure journalism, and memoir, bringing alive the history--and present--of one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world
Off the coast of Oregon, the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River Bar: a watery collision so turbulent and deadly that it's nicknamed the Graveyard of the Pacific.
Two thousand ships have been wrecked on the bar since the first European ship dared to try to cross it in the late 18thcentury. For decades ships continued to make the bar crossing with great peril, first with native guides and later with opportunistic newcomers, as Europeans settled in Washington and Oregon, displacing the natives and transforming the river into the hub of a booming region. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, and despite the construction of jetties on either side, the bar remains treacherous, even today a site of shipwrecks and dramatic rescues as well as power struggles between small fishermen, powerful shipowners, local communities in Washington and Oregon, the Coast Guard, and the Columbia River Bar Pilots - a small group of highly skilled navigators who help guide ships through the mouth of the Columbia.
When Randall Sullivan and a friend set out to cross the bar in a two-man kayak, they're met with skepticism and concern. But on a clear day in July 2021, when the tides and weather seem right, they embark. As they plunge through the currents that have taken so many lives, Randall commemorates the brave sailors that made the crossing before him - including his own abusive father, a sailor himself who also once dared to cross the bar - and reflects on toxic masculinity, fatherhood, and what drives men to extremes.
Rich with exhaustive research and propulsive narrative, Graveyard of the Pacific follows historical shipwrecks through the moment-by-moment details that often determined whether sailors would live or die, exposing the ways in which boats, sailors, and navigation have changed over the decades. As he makes his way across the bar, floating above the wrecks and across the same currents that have taken so many lives, Randall Sullivan faces the past, both in his own life and on the Columbia River Bar.
An] engrossing, damning tale of widespread unchecked corruption in one of the nation's largest police departments, one that deserves attention . . . Exhaustively researched . . . The most thorough examination of these much-publicized events. --Boston Globe
In September 1996, Tupac Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. In March 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. was similarly shot after an awards show in Los Angeles. Neither crime has ever been solved. Also in 1997, highly decorated LAPD detective Russell Poole uncovered evidence that certain officers in the department were moonlighting for Death Row Records--and, when he was placed on the task force assigned to the Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, evidence that these same men were linked to the murders. The first book to bring this story out of the shadows, LAbyrinth received critical acclaim, ignited a firestorm of controversy, and prompted two lawsuits against the LAPD. Now the basis for the major motion picture City of Lies and updated with new material from the author, LAbyrinth is a compelling tale of a grave miscarriage of justice.
Sullivan does a masterly job of juggling the dense thicket of facts . . . But he's also busy revving the engine, encouraging Poole to connect any dots left untouched. --Salon.com
LAbyrinth is a jeremiad, leveling everything in its path. --Los Angeles Magazine
Compelling . . . No single source presents so complete or damning a record as LAbyrinth. --Entertainment Weekly
Part true crime story, part religious and literary history, an investigation into the nature of evil and the figure of the Devil by acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan
Throughout history, humans have struggled to explain the evils of the world and the darkest parts of ourselves. The Devil's Best Trick is a unique and far-reaching investigation into evil and the myriad ways we attempt to understand it - particularly through the figure of the Devil.
Sullivan's narrative moves through centuries of historical, religious, and cultural conceptions of evil and the Devil: from the Mesopotamian and Egyptian gods to the Book of Job to the New Testament to the witch hunts in Europe in the 15th through 17th centuries to the history of the devil-worshipping Black Mass ceremony and its depictions in 19th-century French literature. He references major literary, religious and historical figures, from the Persian sages Zoroaster and Mani, Plato, Thomas Aquinas, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Aleister Crowley, and many more, among them Charles Baudelaire, from whose work Sullivan took the title of the book.
But this is not just a cultural history - Sullivan intersperses original reporting and personal reflection. He travels to Catemaco, Mexico, to participate in the Hour of the Witches -- an annual ceremony in which hundreds of people congregate in the jungle south of Vera Cruz to negotiate terms with El Diablo. He takes us through the most famous and best-documented exorcism in American history, which occurred in 1928 and lasted four months. He ponders the psychology of evil through his encounter with one brutal serial killer and he reports on the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, detailing the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, one summer in 1988, unraveled into paranoia after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from the branch of a horse apple tree and rumors about cult worship spread throughout the wider community.
Randall Sullivan, whose reportage and narrative skill has been called extraordinary and enthralling by Rolling Stone, takes on a bold task in this book that is both biography of the Devil and a look at how evil manifests in the world.
Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan delivers an explosive investigation into the murder of the Notorious B.I.G., with exclusive material from the FBI investigation and his estate's wrongful death suit against the City of Los Angeles.
In 2002, acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan's groundbreaking book LAbyrinth ignited a firestorm with its startling disclosures about corruption in the LAPD. It told the story of Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective, who uncovered a cabal of gangsta cops tied to Marion Suge Knight's notorious rap label, Death Row Records, and allegedly to the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Over twenty years later, no one has been held accountable for their killings.
Now Dead Wrong tells the story of the last sixteen years in the B.I.G. investigations, and uncovers the conspiracy of silence that met the estate's wrongful death suit against the City. Back in 2001, an eyewitness identified the man who shot Biggie as Amir Muhammad, a man who was former LAPD officer, Death Row associate, and convicted bank robber David Mack's college roommate and the only man to visit him in prison. Poole's investigation was repeatedly directed away from Mack and Muhammad, and the wrongful death lawsuit sought to make the city explain why--but instead, investigators encountered a disturbing pattern of selective investigation, hidden evidence, and possible witness tampering. Exclusive interviews with the FBI's lead investigator of the Biggie murder demonstrate a conspiracy that went to the top, and which implicates some of the most powerful men in law enforcement nationally. A gripping investigation into murder, police corruption, and the corridors of power in Los Angeles, Dead Wrong is full of shocking revelations about a mystery that continues to hold us twenty years on.
Sullivan has done what every aspiring true crime writer hopes to do: He has crossed the line from titillation into cultural history.--Los Angeles Times
The shocking story of Joe Hunt and the downfall of the Billionaire Boys Club -- from social investing group to Ponzi scheme to murderers -- told in a propulsive narrative by Randall Sullivan, now updated with a new afterword and soon to be a CNN miniseries
When it first came to the public's attention in the fall of 1986, the story of the Billionaire Boys Club and its leader, Joe Hunt, a young man labeled a yuppie Charles Manson by the prosecutor was splashed across headlines and TV screens throughout the nation.
The story of rich kids, flagrant excess, and multiple murders fascinated the American public, but deeper truths lay buried beneath. The saga was so complex that neither its scope nor its implications could be clearly discerned--that is, until The Price of Experience was published in 1996.
A scholarship student with a strange father and a mysterious background, Joe was socially shunned at the ultra-elite Harvard School in Los Angeles. By age twenty, however, Joe had made and lost $14 million on Chicago's commodities exchange. Back in L.A., he dazzled former classmates with his power and confidence, assembling them into the BBC Consolidated of North America, Inc. - part corporate empire and part private social club. Joe convinced the children of L.A.'s most powerful families that all the wealth, status, and power in the world was theirs for the taking. They gave him their trust funds and a loyalty he transformed into cultish devotion. Hunt and the BBC became the talk of L.A. - not only for the meteoric rise that brought them control of more than $100 million in assets, but for the grisly murders connected to the group. As the group's deadly momentum increased and its business dealings spun out of control, BBC members began to talk, and eventually Hunt and four others were arrested on two counts of murder.
In this utterly gripping narrative, award-winning journalist Randall Sullivan finally revealed the whole story. Now, in the new afterword, he returns to Joe Hunt--who has now been in prison for almost forty years--and recounts the fates of his accomplices. This is a landmark true-crime book with a diabolical, but almost irresistibly seductive, genius at its center.