Randall Sullivan – författare

How we explain the evils of the world - and the darkest parts of ourselves - has preoccupied humans throughout history.In The Devil's Best Trick, Randall Sullivan investigates historical, religious and cultural conceptions of evil, from Biblical times to European witch hunts to the devil-worshipping 'Black Mass' ceremony. He travels to 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 exorcism in American history. And he delivers original reporting on the shocking story of a small town in Texas that, in 1988, unravelled into paranoia and panic after a seventeen-year-old boy was found hanging from a tree and rumours about Satanic worship and cults flourished.Nimble and expertly researched, The Devil's Best Trick brilliantly melds cultural and historical commentary with a suspenseful true-crime narrative. 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.

"Flaunt" magazine declares "LAbyrinth" "absolutely impossible to put down." Acclaimed journalist Sullivan follows Russell Poole, an LAPD detective who discovered that a growing cadre of black officers were allied not only with Death Row but with the murderous Bloods street gang. of photos.

UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL FROM THE AUTHORIn 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 worldOff 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.

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 worldOff 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.

Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan tells the story of baseball in America, from its rough-and-tumble origins through the first decades of the twentieth century and into the pivotal summer of 1933—when national crisis and a sport’s fight for survival converged in baseball’s first All-Star Game1933. America was still reeling from the crash. Breadlines stretched around city blocks, and shantytowns sprawled in the shadows of skyscrapers. American optimism was fading—and baseball was in trouble, too. Owners slashed budgets, fans stayed home, and even the mighty Babe Ruth seemed to have lost some of his magic. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt offered hope, but just days before his inauguration, five shots rang out—missing the president-elect, killing the mayor of Chicago, and setting in motion a chain of events that would eventually bring together the world’s best ballplayers for the first All-Star Game.It was a newspaperman’s idea: The Game of the Century. Put the world’s best players on one field and let the public decide who belonged there. At a moment when some feared the national pastime would not survive the decade, Chicago would host the ballgame as the highlight of the 1933 World’s Fair. The city hoped to shed its reputation as a haven for gamblers and gangsters and help restore America’s standing on the world stage. But abroad, dark clouds were gathering. Hitler was Germany’s new chancellor, and Mussolini had consolidated his power. As visitors strolled the fairgrounds, Italian warplanes flew overhead, and a zeppelin sent by the German delegation circled the city emblazoned with a swastika.The First All-Star Game is the story of a nation and a sport at a crossroads, and a sweeping look back at baseball’s early history and the America that shaped it. Deeply researched and filled with remarkable characters—legendary players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Lefty Grove rubbing shoulders with Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, and Charles Lindbergh—Randall Sullivan explores the history of an American obsession and captures the moment when both the sport and the nation found renewal in a single spectacle of hope.

The shocking story of Joe Hunt and the downfall of the Billionaire Boys Clubfrom social investing group to Ponzi scheme to murdererstold 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 discernedthat 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 LA, 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 LA'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 LAnot 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 Huntwho has now been in prison for almost forty yearsand recounts the fates of his accomplices. This is a landmark true-crime book with a diabolical, but almost irresistibly seductive, genius at its center.

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.