Pappyland
Pappyland

Author: Wright Thompson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0735221251

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The New York Times bestseller! “A warm and loving reflection that, like good bourbon, will stand the test of time.” —Eric Asimov, The New York Times “Bourbon is for sharing, and so is Pappyland.”—The Wall Street Journal The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply. Following his father’s death decades ago, Julian Van Winkle stepped in to try to save the bourbon business his grandfather had founded on the mission statement: “We make fine bourbon—at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.” With the company in its wilderness years, Julian committed to safeguarding his namesake’s legacy or going down with the ship. Then he discovered that hundreds of barrels from the family distillery had survived their sale to a multinational conglomerate. The whiskey that Julian produced after recovering those barrels would immediately be hailed as the greatest in the world—and soon would be the hardest to find. Once they had been used up, a fresh challenge began: preserving the taste of Pappy in a new age. Wright Thompson was invited to ride along as Julian undertook the task. From the Van Winkle family, Wright learned not only about great bourbon but about complicated legacies and the rewards of honoring your people and your craft—lessons that he couldn’t help but apply to his own work and life. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Pappyland.

Pappy Gunn
Pappy Gunn

Author: Nathaniel Gunn

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9781418437763

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The name--..oft heard and heralded during and after World War II PAPPY GUNN ordinarily speaks for itself----------------------------however in this book, the unforgettable, untold to this day, human story of the legendary "Pappy Gunn," hero of the Pacific Air War and to his family who knew and loved him ------.this story is told with the understanding of one who had the foreknowledge and burning determination to sort out the facts and myths about him, Nathaniel Gunn, the author, fellow lover of flying, and his youngest son, who was with him until his untimely crash in Civilian life doing what he loved to do - flying, flying, flying!! You'll find the story intriguing in its discoveries, packed with Pappy's own personal original files, long forgotten letters, documents and photographs spanning Pappy's youth into the U.S. Navy, marriage, retirement in Hawaii and move to the Philippine Islands. Then, the untimely entrance of the United States in the WWII bombing and capture of Manila. Most of all, this story draws a perceptive focus on --.the man----as the person and courageous patriot he truly was, joining the U. S.Air Force he was at this time--. Fighting 3 wars at once His family imprisoned by the Japanese.. The brass who needed him to accomplish the impossible And, the enemy who had the upperhand, but not for long !! Thank God - his was a triumphant battle in all three!!!!

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Baa Baa Black Sheep

Author: Gregory Boyington

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2013-08-07

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 0804150796

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Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all—the fight to survive. The World War II air war in the Pacific needed tough men like Colonel Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron. The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave new definition to “hell-raising”—on the ground and in the skies. Pappy himself was a living legend—he personally shot down twenty-eight Japanese planes, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. He broke every rule in the book doing so, but when he fell into the hands of the vengeful Japanese his real ordeal began.

The Cost of These Dreams
The Cost of These Dreams

Author: Wright Thompson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-04-02

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0525505660

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The instant New York Times bestseller! From one of America's most beloved sportswriters and the bestselling author of Pappyland, a collection of true stories about the dream of greatness and its cost in the world of sports. "Wright Thompson's stories are so full of rich characters, bad actors, heroes, drama, suffering, courage, conflict, and vivid detail that I sometimes thinks he's working my side of the street - the world of fiction." - John Grisham There is only one Wright Thompson. He is, as they say, famous if you know who he is: his work includes the most read articles in the history of ESPN (and it's not even close) and has been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series ten times, and he counts John Grisham and Richard Ford among his ardent admirers (see back of book). But to say his pieces are about sports, while true as far as it goes, is like saying Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is a book about a cattle drive. Wright Thompson figures people out. He jimmies the lock to the furnaces inside the people he profiles and does an analysis of the fuel that fires their ambition. Whether it be Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Pat Riley or Urban Meyer, he strips the away the self-serving myths and fantasies to reveal his characters in full. There are fascinating common denominators: it may not be the case that every single great performer or coach had a complex relationship with his father, but it can sure seem that way. And there is much marvelous local knowledge: about specific sports, and times and places, and people. Ludicrously entertaining and often powerfully moving, The Cost of These Dreams is an ode to the reporter's art, and a celebration of true greatness and the high price that it exacts.

Buffalo, Barrels, and Bourbon
Buffalo, Barrels, and Bourbon

Author: F. Paul Pacult

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-09-03

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1119599938

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Learn about one of the most impactful distilleries in American history in this comprehensive tale Buffalo, Barrels, & Bourbon tells the fascinating tale of the Buffalo Trace Distillery, from the time of the earliest explorations of Kentucky to the present day. Author and award-winning spirits expert F. Paul Pacult takes readers on a journey through history that covers the American Revolutionary War, U.S Civil War, two World Wars, Prohibition, and the Great Depression. Buffalo, Barrels, & Bourbon covers the pedigree and provenance of the Buffalo Trace Distillery: The larger-than-life personalities that over a century and a half made Buffalo Trace Distillery what it is today Detailed accounts on how many of the distillery’s award-winning and world-famous brands were created The impact of world events, including multiple depressions, weather-related events, and major conflicts, on the distillery Belonging on the shelf of anyone with an interest in American spirits and history, Buffalo, Barrels, & Bourbon is a compelling must-read.

Indestructible
Indestructible

Author: John R Bruning

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2016-10-11

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 0316339393

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In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family -- imprisoned by the Japanese--and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur whose homespun engineering brilliance helped launch one of the first airlines in Asia. Pappy was drafted into MacArthur's air force when war came to the Philippines; and while he carried out a top-secret mission to Australia, the Japanese seized his family. Separated from his beloved wife, Polly, and their four children, Pappy reverted to his lawless ways. He carried out rescue missions with an almost suicidal desperation. Even after he was shot down twice and forced to withdraw to Australia, he waged a one-man war against his many enemies -- including the American high command and the Japanese--and fought to return to the Philippines to find his family. Without adequate planes, supplies, or tactics, the U.S. Army Air Force suffered crushing defeats by the Japanese in the Pacific. Over the course of his three-year quest to find his family, Pappy became the renegade who changed all that. With a brace of pistols and small band of loyal fol,lowers, he robbed supply dumps, stole aircraft, invented new weapons, and modified bombers to hit harder, fly farther, and deliver more destruction than anything yet seen in the air. When Pappy's modified planes were finally unleashed during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the United States scored one of the most decisive victories of World War II. Taking readers from the blistering skies of the Pacific to the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines to one of the the war's most notorious prison camps, Indestructible traces one man's bare-knuckle journey to free the people he loved and the aerial revolution he sparked that continues to resonate across America's modern battlefields.

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff

Author: Sean Penn

Publisher: Atria Books

Published: 2019-04-09

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1501189050

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“An incredibly interesting work.” —Jane Smiley “A straight up masterwork.” —Sarah Silverman “Blisteringly funny.” —Corey Seymour “A transcendent apocalyptic satire.” —Michael Silverblatt “Crackling with life.” —Paul Theroux “Great fun.” —Salman Rushdie “A provocative debut.” —Kirkus Reviews From legendary actor and activist Sean Penn comes a scorching, “charmingly weird” (Booklist, starred review) novel about Bob Honey—a modern American man, entrepreneur, and part-time assassin. Bob Honey has a hard time connecting with other people, especially since his divorce. He’s tired of being marketed to every moment, sick of a world where even an orgasm isn’t real until it is turned into a tweet. A paragon of old-fashioned American entrepreneurship, Bob sells septic tanks to Jehovah’s Witnesses and arranges pyrotechnic displays for foreign dictators. He’s also a contract killer for an off-the-books program run by a branch of United States intelligence that targets the elderly, the infirm, and others who drain society of its resources. When a nosy journalist starts asking questions, Bob can’t decide if it’s a chance to form some sort of new friendship or the beginning of the end for him. With treason on everyone’s lips, terrorism in everyone’s sights, and American political life sinking to ever-lower standards, Bob decides it’s time to make a change—if he doesn’t get killed by his mysterious controllers or exposed in the rapacious media first. A thunderbolt of startling images and painted “with a broadly satirical, Vonnegut-ian brush” (Kirkus Reviews), Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff is one of the year's most controversial and talked about literary works.