Snowboarder Chris Klug battled for years to have his extreme sport accepted in the mainstream, rose through the World Cup ranks, and won a bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics less than two years after undergoing a lifesaving liver transplant. Already an inspiration to millions worldwide, Klug, with award-winning journalist Steve Jackson, gives us his remarkable story of survival and triumph in TO THE EDGE AND BACK. Not since Lance Armstrong’s IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE has a stricken athlete’s story been as poised to touch the hearts of readers everywhere.

Winner of the 2002 Colorado Book Award for History and runnerup for the 2002 Admiral Samuel Morrison Award for Naval History. On March 19, 1945, a Japanese bomber screamed toward the American carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) and dropped two 500-pound bombs through the ship’s decks, killing hundreds in just the first few moments, and thrusting the lives of nearly 3,000 other American seamen and aviators into mortal danger. As the Franklin listed dangerously near capsizing, the light cruiser USS Santa Fe (CL -60), nicknamed the “Lucky Lady,” bellied up alongside her flaming hull and attempted the most daring rescue in U.S. naval history. The book “Lucky Lady” by bestselling author Steve Jackson recreates the legendary World War II careers of the Franklin—the most decorated naval vessel of the war—and the Santa Fe—unparalleled in frontline service and avoiding casualties—through the eyes of the men onboard. In the post-attack devastation, 832 Franklin crewmembers were killed in what was the U.S. Navy’s second worst disaster in history. Perspectives range from the highest levels of rank and flying altitude to the bottom of the pecking odder deep within the ships’ bowels. Through the bloody years of the Pacific campaign—from Pearl Harbor to the Philippines to the coast of Japan, and finally the decimated city of Nagasaki—the crewmembers adapted to the routines of Navy life, braving kamik”Lucky Lady“azes, ship-to-ship combat, and coping with the deaths of crewmates.  is a book that readers of military history cherish as a fitting tribute, which has resonance in our own time.

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