Louisiana is our most exotic state. It is religious and roguish, a place populated by Cajuns, Creoles, Rednecks, and Bible-thumpers. It is a state that loves good food, good music, and good times. Laissez les bons temps rouler -- let the good times roll -- is the unofficial motto. Louisiana is also excessively corrupt.

In the 1990s, it plunged headlong into legalized gambling, authorizing more games of chance than any other state. Leading the charge was Governor Edwin Edwards, who for years had flaunted his fondness for cold cash and high-stakes gambling, and who had used his razor-sharp mind and catlike reflexes to stay one step ahead of the law. Gambling, Edwin Edwards, and Louisiana's political culture would prove to be a combustible mix.

Bad Bet on the Bayou tells the story of what happened when the most corrupt industry came to our most corrupt state. It is a sweeping morality tale about commerce, politics, and what happens when the law catches up to our most basic human desires and frailties.

Both history and memoir, The Flight tells the story of Richard W. "Dick" Bridges's heroic service in World War II. Bridges survived a German attack on his plane, the Fascinatin' Witch, by parachuting out of the exploding B-24. He escaped detection in Austria, became the first American prisoner of war in Hungary, was sent to Yugoslavia, escaped from his POW camp there, was sheltered by the Partisans one step ahead of the Germans, and was finally airlifted to safety in Italy by the British. Bridges's story, which seems almost too astonishing to be true, went untold until after his death in 2003, when his son, Tyler Bridges, pieced it together. The younger Bridges's odyssey in search of his father's wartime experiences connected him with the families of other crew members aboard the Fascinatin' Witch and led him to retrace his father's footsteps through Austria, Hungary, and the former Yugoslavia. With his findings, Bridges has woven a story not only about World War II and the bravery of this unique group of soldiers, but also about fathers and sons, what can get lost in the gulf between generations, and how patience and understanding can bridge that gap.

The wildest finish ever to a college football game occurred when five laterals on the final kickoff ended with a sprint through the opposing team’s marching band—prematurely in celebration on the field—for the winning touchdown. It was 21 seconds of action so unfathomable it has become known simply as The Play. Five Laterals and a Trombone captures the madcap story as it developed in November 1982, tracing the ups and downs, mood swings, and hijinks surrounding the 85th Big Game between the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. Journalist Tyler Bridges has deftly reconstructed the pivotal moments and resulting lore thanks to hundreds of interviews with all the key figures on both sides of the rivalry, including players, coaches, referees, and stadium personnel. Among the memorable characters are Stanford star quarterback John Elway, Cal linebacker Ron Rivera, the final lateral receiver Kevin Moen, and the immortalized Cardinal trombone player Gary Tyrrell. The Play was not televised live. There was no instant replay—let alone a viral video. In 1982, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who had founded Apple Computer Company in a garage only 10 miles from the Stanford campus, were just developing the first personal computers. It took hours for news of the rivalry game's outcome to spread across the country, yet football fans would remain enthralled by the bizarre sequence for decades to come. Readers will be transported onto the field and inside the huddle in this definitive history of college football's ultimate oddity.