Barriers of communication and transportation were being overcome and giants such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and William Randolph Hearst walked the land. The nation’s game was baseball, and its giant was Honus Wagner. In 1996, a baseball card depicting Honus Wagner sold for $640,500 - the largest sum ever paid at auction for a sports artifact. What could possibly make that piece of cardboard, approximately one-and-a-half by two-and-a-half inches, worth more than half a million dollars? The DeValerias tell the unique story behind this now-famous baseball card and the man depicted on it. In doing so, they accurately present the local, regional, and national context so readers gain a thorough understanding of Wagner’s times.Wagner’s gradual emergence from the pack into stardom and popularity is described here in rich detail, but the book also reveals much of Wagner’s family and personal life - his minor leauge career, his values, his failed business ventures during the Depression, and his later years. Neither the “rowdy-ball” ruffian nor the teetotal saint constructed of legend, Wagner is presented here in a complete portrait - one that offers a vivid impression of the era when baseball was America’s game and the nation was evolving into the world’s industrial leader.

    The objective here is to explain science in a simple, attractive and fun form that is open to all.The first axiom of this approach was set out as follows: “We believe in the magic of science. We hope to show you that sci-ence is not a secret art, accessible only to a dedicated few. It involves learning about nature and society, and aspects of our existence which affect us all, and which we should all therefore have the chance to understand. We shall interpret science for those who might not speak its language fluently, but want to understand its meaning. We don’t teach, we just tell stories about the beginnings of science, the natural phenomena and the underlying principles through which they occur, and the lives of the people who discovered them.”The aim of the writings collected in this series is to present some key scientific events, ideas and personalities in the form of short stories that are easy and fun to read. Scientific and philo-sophical concepts are explained in a way that anyone may under-stand. Each story may be read separately, but at the same time they all band together to form a wide-ranging introduction to the history of science and areas of contemporary scientific research, as well as some of the recurring problems science has encountered in history and the philosophical dilemmas it raises today.Review“If I were the only survivor on a remote island and all I had with me were this book, a Swiss army knife and a bottle, I would throw the bottle into the sea with the note: ‘Don’t worry, I have everything I need.’”— Ciril Horjak, alias Dr. Horowitz, a comic artist“The writing is understandable, but never simplistic. Instructive, but never patronizing. Straightforward, but never trivial. In-depth, but never too intense.”— Ali Žerdin, editor at Delo, the main Slovenian newspaper“Does science think? Heidegger once answered this question with a decisive No. The writings on modern science skillfully penned by Sašo Dolenc, these small stories about big stories, quickly convince us that the contrary is true. Not only does science think in hundreds of unexpected ways, its intellectual challenges and insights are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and entertainment. The clarity of thought and the lucidity of its style make this book accessible to anyone … in the finest tradition of popularizing science, its achievements, dilemmas and predicaments.”— Mladen Dolar, philosopher and author of A Voice and Nothing More“Sašo Dolenc is undoubtedly one of our most successful authors in the field of popular science, possessing the ability to explain complex scientific achievements to a broader audience in a clear and captivating way while remaining precise and scientific. His collection of articles is of particular importance because it encompasses all areas of modern science in an unassuming, almost light-hearted manner.”— Boštjan Žekš, physicist and former president of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

    This official companion to the show's first season is an in-depth exploration of the early years of Elizabeth II's time as Queen, complete with extensive research, additional material, and exclusive, beautifully reproduced images. One of the show's most powerful themes is that royals do not choose their duty; it is thrust upon them. Princess Elizabeth never expected her father to die so suddenly, so young, leaving her not only a throne to fill but a global institution to govern. Crowned at twenty-five, already a wife and mother, follow the journey of a woman learning to become a queen while facing her own challenges within her own family. This is the story of how Elizabeth II drew on every ounce of strength and British reserve to deal with crises not only on the continent but at home as well. Written by bestselling historical biographer Robert Lacey, who also serves as the show's historical consultant, this official companion provides an in-depth exploration from behind the palace gates. Relive the majesty of the first season of the hit show, with behind-the-scenes photos, meticulously researched images from the time, and more.

     At home and in school, she is a child that any mother would be proud of — and Eleanor Craig was immensely proud of her oldest daughter. But just as Ann is about to graduate with honors from an Ivy League university, Eleanor receives a phone call that sends her world crashing down. Ann has suffered a mental breakdown. Anxious to help her daughter, Eleanor encourages Ann to be admitted to a prestigious psychiatric hospital, hoping that this will help her daughter find her former self. For a while, it seems like Ann is improving — finally recovered, she is released from hospital and seems ready to resume her old life that was so full of promise. Briefly full of hope, Eleanor is devastated when Ann suffers a relapse — only the first of many illusions to be shattered as Ann’s life becomes a downward spiral of anorexia and drug addiction. As time goes on Eleanor can’t help but feel that Ann is slipping further and further away, into a place where not even the people who love her most can reach her. For Eleanor, a famed therapist-teacher who specialises in working with emotionally impaired young people, Ann’s troubled life is a heartbreaking irony. In The Moon Is Broken, Eleanor Craig speaks to the heart of every parent who has ever loved — and lost — a child. It is a heart-wrenching story about one’s mother’s unwavering courage and commitment to her child. Praise for Eleanor Craig “Poignant. Tender. Heartbreaking. I wish I had Eleanor Craig’s courage. A book every mother should read. It will break your heart — and put it back together again.” — Mary MacCracken, author of A Circle of Children “A poignant account of a young person’s struggle to grow up in our complex and dangerous society. This important, compelling book should be read by mothers and daughters everywhere.” — Lesley Koplow, author of Where Rag Dolls Hide Their Faces: A Story of Troubled Children Eleanor Craig, a therapist and teacher, has chronicled her work with children in P.S. Your Not Listening; One, Two, Three: The Story of Matt, A Feral Child; and If We Could Hear the Grass Grow. She lives and works in Connecticut, where she has a private therapy practice.

    This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

    Lumped into the burgeoning alt-country movement, the band soon landed a major label deal and recorded an instant classic: Strangers Almanac. That's when tour manager Thomas O'Keefe met the young musician.For the next three years, Thomas was at Ryan's side: on the tour bus, in the hotels, backstage at the venues. Whiskeytown built a reputation for being, as the Detroit Free Press put it, "half band, half soap opera," and Thomas discovered that young Ryan was equal parts songwriting prodigy and drunken buffoon. Ninety percent of the time, Thomas could talk Ryan into doing the right thing. Five percent of the time, he could cover up whatever idiotic thing Ryan had done. But the final five percent? Whiskeytown was screwed.Twenty-plus years later, accounts of Ryan's legendary antics are still passed around in music circles. But only three people on the planet witnessed every Whiskeytown show from the release of Strangers Almanac to the band's eventual breakup: Ryan, fiddle player Caitlin Cary, and Thomas O'Keefe.

    Aravamudan narrates the gripping story of the people who built India s space research programme and how they did it from the rocket engineers who laid the foundation to the savvy young engineers who keep Indian spaceships flying today. It is the tale of an Indian organisation that defied international bans and embargos, worked with laughably meagre resources, evolved its own technology and grew into a major space power. Today, ISRO creates, builds and launches gigantic rockets which carry the complex spacecraft that form the neural network not just of our own country but those of other countries too.This is a made-in-India story like no other.

    After they were jailed in 1969 for thirty years for murder, Pearson's biography The Profession of Violence enjoyed a cult following among the young and was said to be the most popular book in H.M.'s prisons, after the Bible. Ron died in 1995. Reg followed him five years later, and both of their funerals drew crowds on a scale unknown for film stars, let alone for two departed murderers. Since then, far from fading with their death, public fascination with the twins has never flagged. Their clothes and memorabilia are sold at auction like religious relics. Ron's childlike prison paintings fetch more money than those of many well-known artists. And people still refer to them like popular celebrities. Why? This is the question Pearson asked himself, and over the past three years he has been re-examining their history, unearthing much previously unknown material, and has come to some fascinating conclusions. The Immortal Murderers reveals new facts about the Krays' tortured relationship as identical twins; a relationship which helped predestine them to a life of crime; a relationship that made them utterly unlike any other major criminals. Pearson has discovered two new and unsuspected murders, along with fresh light on the killings of George Cornell and Jack 'the Hat' McVitie. There are facts about the twins' obsession with publicity, and how far this made them 'actor criminals' murdering for notoriety. Most riveting of all are the chapters which reveal how Ron Kray caused a major sexual scandal in which a prime minister, together with other leading politicians, condoned the most outrageous establishment cover-up in British politics since the war. The Immortal Murderers contains many more surprises, but the one thing that emerges is that the Kray twins were not only stranger but also far more important than anyone ever suspected. Fascination with them will forever remain; they will never lose their role as the immortal murderers.

    But his unit's mission stayed the same: act as the eyes and ears of the 101st deep in the dreaded A Shau Valley--where the NVA ruled.Relentless thick fog frequently made fighter bombers useless in the A Shau, and the enemy had furnished the nearby mountaintops with antiaircraft machine guns to protect the massive trail network that snaked through it. So, outgunned, outmanned, and unsupported, the teams of L Company executed hundreds of courageous missions. Now, in this powerful personal record, Larry Chambers recaptures the experience of the war's most brutal on-the-job training, where the slightest noise or smallest error could bring sudden--and certain--death. . . .

    Turning The Tables is the first published history of the company which grew from a run-down bingo hall to become a national pay-per-view competitor... then crashed in a sea of debt. John Lister (author of Slamthology) gives an independent, objective and informative account that reveals hidden secrets and shatters common myths. From a little-known truth about ECW's most famous feud to a blow-by-blow account of what really happened in Revere, this book will give you the true story behind America's most controversial wrestling group.

    but you can just call him MR. NEW ORLEANS. Mr. New Orleans tells the incredible story of Frenchy Brouillette, a redneck Cajun teenager who stole his big brother's motorcycle and embarked on a 60-year vacation to New Orleans, where he became a legendary gangster and the underworld political fixer for his cousin, Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Written by Crescent City native Matthew Randazzo V, the wickedly funny Mr. New Orleans is the first book to ever break the code of secrecy of the New Orleans Mafia Family, the oldest and most mysterious criminal secret society in America. "Mr. New Orleans is a rollicking, disturbing ride through the underbelly of a bygone New Orleans, lined with moments of dark, side-splitting hilarity. If you're a fan of James Lee Burke, drop what you're reading and pick this one up. In an era when popular wisdom tells us T.V. has stolen all depth from the literary true-crime narrative, Matthew Randazzo has found a way to beat that trend mightily; he's gone straight to the source and captured the singular, confounding voice of the New Orleans' mafia's top political fixer with fast-paced, riveting prose and a fine journalist's eye for detail." Chris Rice, New York Times Bestselling Author "Mr. New Orleans is a total knockout: Take everything you ever imagined about the sleazy good times to be had in New Orleans -- the sleazy good times capital of America -- and quadruple it, and you have a hint of what's inside these sticky pages." Bill Tonelli, Author of The Italian American Reader and Editor for Esquire and Rolling Stone

    Now, ten years after the original film’s release, the full story of this seemingly cursed production can finally be told...  In The Crow’s last days of filming, its star Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee) was killed in a strange on-set accident, while filming his character’s death scene. Bridget Baiss describes the chain of events which led from O’Barr’s creation of the graphic novel, up to this fateful day, and beyond, to the film’s final, triumphant release. The definitive account of The Crow’s production and the phenomenon it became, packed with scores of interviews with the film’s cast and crew.

    Like his teammates and rivals, he trained for countless hours, sacrificing his body and potential career for a chance at fleeting glory without fortune or fame. His only goal: to win Nationals and go down in Ultimate history as one of the greatest athletes no one has ever heard of.With humor and raw honesty, Gessner explores what it means to devote one's life to something that many consider ridiculous. Today, Ultimate is played by millions, but in the 1980s, it was an obscure sport with a (mostly) undeserved stoner reputation. Its early heroes were as scrappy as the sport they loved, driven by fierce competition, intense rivalries, epic parties, and the noble ideals of the Spirit of the Game. Ultimate Glory is a portrait of the artist as a young ruffian. Gessner shares the field and his seemingly insane obsession with a cast of closely knit, larger-than-life characters. As his sport grows up, so does he, and eventually he gives up chasing flying discs to pursue a career as a writer. But he never forgets his love for this misunderstood sport and the rare sense of purpose he attained as a member of its priesthood.

    Buck first flew in the 1920s, inspired by the exploits of Charles Lindbergh. In 1930, at age sixteen, he flew solo from coast to coast, breaking the junior transcontinental speed record. In 1936 he flew nonstop from Burbank, California, to Columbus, Ohio, in a 90-horsepower Monocoupe to establish a world distance record for light airplanes. He joined Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA) as a copilot in 1937; when he retired thirty-seven years later, he had made more than 2,000 Atlantic crossings -- and his role had progressed from such tasks as retracting a DC-2's landing gear with a cockpit-based hand pump to command of a wide-body 747. Buck's experiences go back to a time when flying was something glamorous. He flew with and learned from some true pioneers of aviation -- the courageous pilots who created the airmail service during flying's infancy. At the behest of his employer Howard Hughes, Buck spent three months flying with Tyrone Power on a trip to South America, Africa, and Europe. He flew the New York-Paris-Cairo route in the days when flight plans called for lengthy stopovers, and enjoyed all that those romantic places had to offer. He took part in a flight that circled the globe "sideways" (from pole to pole). He advised TWA's president on the shift to jet planes; a world expert on weather and flight, Buck used a B-17G to chase thunderstorms worldwide as part of a TWA-Air Force research project during World War II, for which he was awarded the Air Medal (as a civilian) by President Truman.In "North Starover My Shoulder," Bob Buck tells of a life spent up and over the clouds, and of the wonderful places and marvelous people who have been a part of that life. He captures the feel, taste, and smell of flying's greatest era -- how the people lived, what they did and felt, and what it was really like to be a part of the world as it grew smaller and smaller. He relates stories from his innumerable visits to Paris, the city he loves more than any other -- echoing Gertrude Stein's view that "America is my country, and Paris is my home town" -- and from his trips to the Middle East, including flights to Israel before and after it became a state. A terrific storyteller and a fascinating man, Bob Buck has turned his well-lived life into a delightful memoir for anyone who remembers when there really was something special in the air.

    Hugh was born in Oxford, and his father, WGRM "Ran" Laurie, was a doctor who won a gold medal in the coxless pairs at the 1948 Olympics. Hugh followed in his father's footsteps as a rower at Cambridge, but when he was forced to hang up his oars through illness, he joined the famous Cambridge Footlights and there began a career in comedy. It was at university that he met Stephen Fry, and the pair forged a hilarious partnership that continued through the 1980s and 1990s, as they appeared together in the Blackadder series, sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster. Hugh has also enjoyed great success on the big screen, starring in Sense and Sensibility, 101 Dalmatians, Monsters vs Aliens, and the three Stuart Little films. But it is the character of irascible doctor Gregory House, in the US TV drama House, that has brought Hugh Laurie global fame. He has won two Golden Globes for the role and received a prestigious Emmy nomination in 2005, and continues to receive critical acclaim for his performances in the show—especially for his near-perfect American accent. With worldwide stardom and an OBE to his name, Hugh Laurie is undoubtedly one of Britain's best-loved actors. This is the incredible story of his rise to stardom.