The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs & Murder - Softcover

When Kentucky Blueblood Drew Thornton parachuted to his death in September 1985 carrying thousands in cash and 150 pounds of cocaine, the gruesome end of his startling life blew open a scandal that reached to the most secret circles of the U.S. government. The story of Thornton and The Company he served, and the lone heroic fight of State Policeman Ralph Ross against an international web of corruption, is one of the most portentous tales of the 20th century.

Sally Denton is an investigative reporter, author, and historian who writes about the subjects others ignore--from a drug conspiracy in Kentucky to organized crime in Las Vegas; from corruption within the Mormon Church to the hidden history of Manifest Destiny; from one of America's bitterest political campaigns to the powerful forces arrayed against Franklin D. Roosevelt. She has an extensive background in print and broadcast journalism, including newspapers, magazines, and television, and is the author of eight books of narrative history and investigative nonfiction. While the subjects of her books at first glance seem disparate, they are actually unified by a central theme of the exploration of subjects in American history--and especially in the American West--that have been neglected or marginalized. What she has done in her 30-year career is to explore the unmentioned truths about America--what the eminent scholar Daniel Boorstin called "Hidden History." She is a Guggenheim fellow, a Woodrow Wilson public scholar, a Hoover Institute Media Fellow, a Black Mountain/Kluge fellow, the recipient of two Western Heritage Awards, and has been inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. She is a fourth generation Nevadan, where she began her journalism career in 1976, and is a longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico.