"ROAD TO GOLD" : WHAT IT TAKES TO EARN THOSE COVETED "WINGS OF GOLD"Celebrating the 100TH Anniversary of Naval AVIATIONBY: Bill "Sweetwater" LaBarge, Navy Carrier Pilot and New York Times Bestselling Author.From basic training to deadly battle in the skies, he followed a path of high risk and proud tradition.Matt "Sweetwater" Sullivan's dream of becoming a Navy pilot could not possibly have prepared him for the body-numbing pace of basic training with a class of bewildered beginners. With grit, verve, and determination, Matt would survive the "Pensacola Pressure-Cooker" and go on to Saufley Field to meet the grueling demands of the Navy's basic flight program.But learning to handle high-altitude crises and hazardous landings was only a prelude to the harrowing night flights, the hair-trigger laser weapons training, dicey test flights from the desk of the Lady Lex, and deadly DEA combat action. Facing down fears and doubts, meeting every challenge, Matt would take every risk, until he could say with a naval aviator's pride that he had gone the distance and earned the right to join the select few who wear the hard-won, coveted Wings of Gold.

Celebrate another historic gold medal with the behind-the-scenes story of the Canadian World Junior program, from bestselling author Mark Spector. On the World Juniors hockey stage today, Canada is known as the team to beat. They hold the record for the most gold medals won (eighteen since the tournament’s inception), their games draw millions of fans each year, and the tournament serves as a showcase for each year’s best talent. But things weren’t always so rosy. For years, Canada languished in obscurity at the World Juniors. Wearing the red-and-white wasn’t a mark of honour but merely a sideshow to the players, owners resented the interruption to their league operations, and Canada was an afterthought at the tournament. Canada was supposed to be better at hockey than any nation on earth, but no one took them seriously. So, the team set out on a reclamation mission. The Program of Excellence was born, and with it, a new hope for hockey’s future in Canada. No more would Canada be content with merely showing up. Instead, each year, the country would send its best talent—from Gretzky to Lemieux to Crosby to McDavid—to reclaim its spot at the top of the hockey world. Tracing the owner disputes, off-ice antics, and riveting on-ice action of nearly forty years at the World Juniors, Road to Gold is full of inside stories from hockey greats. And, this edition features a new chapter reliving the amazing final game against Russia in January 2020 that brought the gold medal back to Canada. Funny, smart, and clear-eyed, Mark Spector traces the remarkable rise of the Canadian World Junior program and shows how Canada created not just a new team, but a new dream for the sport.

I entered the New York Police Academy in 1965 and my first assignment was to the 23rd Precinct and then 13th Precinct on patrol and also with their Anti-Crime Unit. In 1970 I attended the Criminal Investigations Course and was assigned to Plainclothes duties with the Organized Crime Control Bureau investigating Gambling, Prostitution and Narcotics violations in Queens County. In 1974 I was transferred to the Special Operations Section. This unit was tasked with the investigation and surveillance of the Five New York Crime Families (Gambino, Columbo, Genovese, Giganti and Luchese). For several months I operated in an undercover capacity posing as a corrupt officer during which time the operation netted over $50,000 in cash and merchandise including an all- expense paid trip to Las Vegas for myself and my partner. We were being tested to see if we really were corrupt. As a result of this investigation over 40 members of Organized Crime were arrested and convicted. In 1979 I was promoted to Detective 3rd Grade and transferred to Queens County District Attorney’s Squad, where I continued my investigations of Organized Crime with the investigation of John Gotti and his crime family. This investigation led to my promotion to Detective 2nd Grade. In 1985 I retired after 20 years of service.

The dramatic journeys of the 19th century Gold Rush come to life in this geologist’s tour of the American West and the events that shaped the land. In 1848, news of the discovery of gold in California triggered an enormous wave of emigration toward the Pacific. The dramatic terrain these settlers crossed is so familiar to us now that it is hard to imagine how frightening—even godforsaken—its sheer rock faces and barren deserts once seemed to them. Hard Road West brings their perspective vividly to life, weaving together the epic overland journey of the covered wagon trains and the compelling story of the landscape they encountered. Taking readers along the 2,000-mile California Trail, Keith Meldahl uses settler’s diaries and letters—as well as his own experiences on the trail—to reveal how the geology and geography of the West shaped our nation’s westward expansion. He guides us through a landscape of sawtooth mountains, following the meager streams that served as lifelines through an arid land, all the way to California itself, where colliding tectonic plates created breathtaking scenery and planted the gold that lured travelers west in the first place. “Alternates seamlessly between vivid accounts of the 19th-century journey and lucid explanations of the geological events that shaped the landscape traveled.”—Library Journal

Woo-Choong Kim went from being a penniless paperboy to founding a business that now has higher sales than Xerox and Sony--$22 billion worldwide last year. Here are his management and leadership secrets--surefire strategies, proven tips, simple parables, and unique techniques. This is one of the most successful books in Korean history--1.3 million copies sold to date.

The events of May 24, 1865 in Lincoln County, Ga., spawned a legend that has taken on a life of its own. A wagon train loaded with nearly a half million dollars in gold coins is robbed in the middle of the night, apparently by Confederate veterans, who believe the stash to be the remnants of their failed government's treasury. The hunt for the thieves and their loot is an adventure of its own, but a Union general's use of torture on a prominent family only serves to inflame the local population and to heat up already volatile tempers. GRABALL ROAD is the true story behind the "Legend of the Confederate Gold." Decide for yourself whether a pot of Confederate gold lies buried somewhere deep in this river valley.