Alvin Townley – författare

Each year roughly 50,000 young men join Scouting's highest rank and Alvin Townley set out to meet some of these incredible Eagles of today. He hoped to discover what the badge means to them, and the promise they hold for America and the world beyond. Everywhere he went he met Eagles continuing the amazing journey they started in Scouting, whether in the villages of Afghanistan, or the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, or in the schools of inner cities. He talks with such success stories as actor Jon Heder, NFL quarterback John Beck, and Olympic medallist Joe Pack. Townley found that Eagles are changing the world through actions that capture the essence of what it means to be part of the Scouting tradition. "Spirit of Adventure" pays tribute to them and provides inspiration for Scouts everywhere.

During the Vietnam War, hundreds of American POWs faced years of brutal conditions and horrific torture at the hands of communist interrogators who ruthlessly plied them for military intelligence and propaganda. Determined to maintain their Code of Conduct, the prisoners developed a powerful underground resistance. To quash it, the North Vietnamese singled out its eleven leaders, Vietnam's own "dirty dozen," and banished them to an isolated jail that would become known as Alcatraz. None would leave its solitary cells and interrogation rooms unscathed; one would never return. As these men suffered in Hanoi, their wives launched an extraordinary campaign that would ultimately spark the POW/MIA movement. When the survivors finally returned, one would receive the Medal of Honor, another became a U.S. Senator, and a third still serves in Congress. A story of survival and triumph in the vein of Unbroken and Band of Brothers, Defiant will inspire anyone wondering how courage, faith, and brotherhood can endure even in the darkest of situations.