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 18th century. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, and the bar remains a site of shipwrecks and dramatic rescues as well as power struggles between small fishermen, powerful shipowners, local communities, the Coast Guard and the Columbia River Bar Pilots - a small group of highly skilled navigators. When Randall Sullivan and a friend set out to cross the bar in a two-man kayak, they're met with scepticism 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 - and reflects on toxic masculinity, fatherhood and what drives men to extremes.

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.

UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL FROM THE AUTHOR 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

"The first deep-dive narrative by a veteran journalist covering the King of Pop's convoluted final years on earth . . . [Untouchable] helps cast Jackson in a new light."--Los Angeles Times "A dishy Michael Jackson biography that makes the exhaustively covered King of Pop fascinating all over again."--People "A tale of family, fame, lost childhood, and startling accusations never heard before."--ABC Nightline Delivering exclusive information and a compelling psychological portrait, Untouchable is the story of Michael Jackson from his boy idol childhood to the final four-year odyssey of his tumultuous adult life. Beginning with his last departure from Neverland, Sullivan captures Jackson's final years shuttling around the world, and plans to recapture his wealth and reputation with a comeback album and planned series of fifty mega-concerts. Sullivan delves deep into Jackson's past, depicting a man both naive and deeply cunning, a devoted father whose parenting decisions created international outcry, a shrewd businessman whose failures nearly brought down a megacorporation, and an inveterate narcissist who desperately wanted a quiet, normal life. Sullivan has never-before-reported information about Jackson's business dealings, the pedophilia allegations that besmirched his reputation, and the fate of his billion-dollar-plus estate, and exclusive access to inner-circle figures including Jackson's former attorneys and managers. Untouchable is a remarkable portrait of the man who still reigns as King of Pop. "Randall Sullivan more than tells the story of Michael Jackson--he relives it. . . . Sullivan leaves few stones unturned."--The Daily Beast

As sightings of the Virgin Mary have increased around the world over the last couple of decades, the Vatican has placed increased importance on a group of theologians, scientists and physicians whose job is to investigate them. These are the miracle detectives. Randall Sullivan's book follows these investigators on the trail of the Virgin Mary from the Vatican City in Rome to Oregon, Arizona, Venezuela, Switzerland, Ireland, Japan and Kenya. What he discovers is that every road and each mystery leads back to a tiny village in Bosnia. There, against the background of the ongoing war, eight young visionaries have been receiving what they say are the final apparitions of the Madonna. These appearances, which began in 1981 in a small village in the former Yugoslavia, have been more thoroughly examined than any purported miraculous phenomenon in history. To date, the results defy explanation.;This is an amazing story of religious mysticism, as well as a testing of the author's own faith and beliefs.

In a tiny, dilapidated trailer in northeastern Oregon, a young woman saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in an ordinary landscape painting hanging on her bedroom wall. After being met with skepticism from the local parish, the matter was officially placed under investigation by the Catholic diocese. Investigative journalist Randall Sullivan wanted to know how, exactly, one might conduct the official inquiry into such an incident, so he set off to interview theologians, historians, and postulators from the Sacred Congregation of the Causes for Saints. These men, dubbed miracle detectives by the author, were charged by the Vatican with testing the miraculous and judging the holy. Sullivan traveled from the Vatican in Rome to the tiny village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six visionaries had been receiving apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Sullivan's quest turns personal and takes him to Scottsdale, Arizona, site of America's largest and most controversial instances of Virgin Mary sightings, culminating an eight-year investigation of predictions of apocalyptic events, false claims of revelation, and the search for a genuine theophany-that is, the ultimate interface between man and God.