The Giants of The Polo Grounds is the definitive work on baseball’s New York Giants and their tenure in New York City. An “Editor’s Choice” of The New York Times when it was first published more than 20 years ago, the book was also a Spitball Magazine nominee for the Best Baseball Book of the year. Author Noel Hynd, a former contributor to Sports Illustrated, has now created a new edition that maintains all the previous text, but expands the work to more than 600 pages from the original 375. Included this time are more stories about McGraw, Ott, Durocher and Mays and their opponents, plus more on the men and women from other sports and various fields of entertainment who also were ‘giants’ of the Polo Grounds: from boxers Jack Dempsey and Sugar Ray Robinson to entertainers Annie Oakley and Tallulah Bankhead to football’s Red Grange and soccer’s Béla Guttmann. The Giants of The Polo Grounds is the story of a famous team, a renowned ball park, an invincible spirit and America’s most vibrant city from the 1880’s to the 1950’s. The new edition is packed with remarkable anecdotes about Broadway, New York politics, good guys and bad guys who made the Giants' era in New York unique and memorable. The new edition, practically the equivalent of two volumes, also features more than 100 photos and illustrations, most of them new, some rarely seen. Critical Praise for The Giants of The Polo Grounds “A compelling and comprehensive history of an extraordinary ball club.” -New York Times “Grandly digressive! The owners, stars like Mathewson and Mays, various eccentric players are all here in this vivid history by Sports Illustrated contributor Hynd.” - Publishers’ Weekly “Fans of all ages will treasure the crazy quilt text for its stylish recall of the game’s summer roots.” -Kirkus Library Journal “Just plain enjoyable as baseball is supposed to be.” - The Pennsylvania Gazette Think of it as a grand slam into the center field bleachers in the bottom of the 9th!

    As a memoir The Jan and Dean Story has elements of humor, tragedy and redemption. It tells their story from the early high school friendship struck up between Jan Berry and Dean Torrence and their ascent to the dizzying heights of stardom riding the crest of the “surf” craze. The Jan and Dean Story is as much about the culture of the 1960s as it is about music. Dean has lived an incredible life and continues to promote a lifestyle and surf culture that is now universally admired and followed throughout the world.The story also recounts Jan’s tragic car accident and his ability to recover enough to continue to perform will be inspiring to many readers even those not familiar with surf music. For pop culture addicts and music buffs alike this book is indispensable. As early teen icons, Jan and Dean left an indelible mark on the music of the 60’s and the American psyche.Dean Torrence is still touring and creating music and often appears with the Beach Boys and other groups from the heyday of surf music.

    In Dream Like a Champion Cook shares the coaching and leadership philosophy that has enabled him to become one of the game’s winningest coaches. Growing up in San Diego, Cook acquired his coaching philosophy from his experiences first as a football coach, then as a student of the sport of volleyball on the beaches of Southern California. After a stint as an assistant volleyball coach at Nebraska, he returned to Nebraska as head coach in 2000 and won the national championship in his first season. Even with a bar set so high, Cook saw at Nebraska’s tradition-rich program the potential for even greater growth and success. He decided to focus on higher expectations, training, motivation, goal setting, and other ways to build the strongest teams possible.  In Dream Like a Champion Cook shares the philosophy behind Nebraska’s culture of success and reveals how he’s had to learn, evolve, and be coached himself, even in his fifth decade as a coach. With openness and candor he delivers insights about his methods and passes along lessons that can be used by leaders in any field. Cook also shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Nebraska volleyball moments and players—and how he coaches and teaches his players about life beyond the court.

    In her courageous memoir, she breaks the chains of silence and reveals an incredible story of evading the Nazis, escaping the threat of annihilation, surviving in strange worlds, and finding love and a new life. This book is a testament to the human spirit.Yvonne Carson-Cardozo was twelve years old when she and her family escaped the German occupation of Belgium. She lost her brother and fifty relatives to the death camps. As a refugee, she traveled to France, Spain, Jamaica, and West Indies. She joined the Dutch Indonesian Army and served in Australia and Indonesia, where she worked in the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service, deciphering and encoding secret military telegrams. After the war, she eventually settled in the United States, her home for the past fifty-five years. She has two children and lives in California. On Veteran’s Day 2013, Yvonne was honored as Veteran of the Year for the city of Mission Viejo, California.

    Churchill, 1948: World War II was the defining event of our age—the climactic clash between liberty and tyranny. It led to revolutions, the demise of empires, a protracted Cold War, and religious strife still not ended. Yet Churchill maintained that it was all avoidable. Here is a transformative view of Churchill’s theories, prescriptions, actions, and the degree to which he pursued them in the decade before the war. It shows that he was both right and wrong: right that Hitler could have been stopped; wrong that he did all he could to stop him. It is based on what really happened—evidence that has been “hiding in public” for many years, thoroughly referenced in Churchill’s words and those of his contemporaries. Richard M. Langworth began his Churchill work in 1968 when he organized the Churchill Study Unit, which later became the Churchill Centre. He served as its president and board chairman and was editor of its journal Finest Hour from 1982 to 2014. In November 2014, he was appointed senior fellow for Hillsdale College’s Churchill Project. Mr. Langworth published the first American edition of Churchill’s India, is the author of A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, and is the editor of Churchill by Himself, The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill, The Patriot’s Churchill, All Will Be Well: Good Advice from Winston Churchill, and Churchill in His Own Words. His next book is Winston Churchill, Urban Myths and Reality. In 1998, Richard Langworth was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by HM The Queen “for services to Anglo-American understanding and the memory of Sir Winston Churchill.”

    government—an usher in the White House. For more than 200 years, a small office has operated on the State Floor of the White House Executive Residence. Known as the Usher's Office, whose mission is to accommodate the personal needs of the first family, and to make the White House feel like a home. The Usher's Office is the managing office of the Executive Residence and its staff of 90-plus. The staff consists of butlers, carpenters, grounds personnel, electricians, painters, plumbers, florists, maids, housemen, cooks, chefs, storekeepers, curators, calligraphers, doormen, and administrative support. Ushers work closely with the first family, senior staff, Social Office, Press Office, Secret Service Agency, and military leaders to carry out White House functions: luncheons, dinners, teas, receptions, meetings, conferences, and more. Chris Emery was only the 18th White House Usher since 1891, and had the honor and privilege to serve presidential families for three years during the Reagan administration, four years for President H. W. Bush, and 14 months under President Clinton. His vignettes recreate intimate White House happenings from an insider’s viewpoint. Chris Emery was the only White House Usher to be terminated in the 20th century. Turn the pages to find out which first lady fired him... “With his book, White House Usher: Stories from the Inside, former usher Chris Emery gives his readers a peek inside what happens upstairs at the White House. Chris’ anecdotes tell a rich story of how America’s house really is the First Families’ home. I loved my trip down memory lane.” - Former First Lady Barbara Bush (October 2017)

    Tudor histories are rife with "facts" about Henry VIII's life and health, but as a medical anthropologist, Kyra Kramer, author of Blood Will Tell, has learned one should never take those "facts" at face value. In Henry VIII's Health in a Nutshell, Kramer highlights the various health issues that Henry suffered throughout his life and proposes a few new theories for their causes, based on modern medical findings. Known for her readability and excellent grasp of the intricacies of modern medical diagnostics, Kyra Kramer gives the reader a new understanding of Henry VIII's health difficulties, and provides new insights into their possible causes.

    Eyes fixed on a mysterious point in the air, they were mesmerized by something which was invisible to everyone else. What the girls said they saw--and heard--sent shock waves that are still reverberating today. The messages the four girls claimed to receive revealed a picture of a Catholic church in crisis and a world that faced an earth-shattering future that would unfold in their lifetime. The girls’ pronouncements about coming trouble in the church and world were met with fierce skepticism from the first. Some charged the girls with being possessed by demons (based on the girls’ strange physical poses and apparent levitation), and others claimed the girls were putting on an act (revealing their true colors when they chose ordinary married lives instead of the convent). There was also a third body of critics: those who believed that a group of girls on the cusp of adolescence in a remote and insular society conjured up a psychodrama which, fueled by the spotlight and mounting frenzy, gained a frightening life of its own. There was one other possibility--that the strange events in Garabandal, Spain actually did occur, and the girls received an apocalyptic warning for both the church and the modern world. The warning to the world included a prediction that a newly militant Russia would rise again. The prophecies of Garabandal also foretell a World-Wide Warning and a Global Miracle, whose purpose is to convince a world reeling from one catastrophe to the next that God exists. But the Warning and Miracle, dramatic as they sound, are not even the most unsettling of the messages. One night, the young girls dissolved into screams. During this so-called “Night of the Screams,” the girls say they were shown a tragic chastisement that would befall the entire world if the Warning and Miracle failed to trigger global change. As disquieting as those messages were, the most shocking message at Garabandal was for the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Why were the messages of Garabandal so effectively suppressed? Did it have to do with the fact that the messages presciently warned of coming scandal and turmoil in the Roman Catholic Church itself? Did a portal open between worlds on a Spanish mountaintop in that summer of 1961? And if so, who opened the door--an angel of God or an angel of darkness? Did a young girl's flight of fancy one summer night spin wildly out of control? Or was it a visitation from God? Now that the “girls” at the center of this drama are 60-year-old women, should their claims be discredited or re-examined? Are the apparitions bogus or fast-approaching their fulfillment? If the events are false, Garabandal is a fascinating and perhaps tragic human interest story with several explanations. If the events and warnings are true--then what do we do? By the end of this book, readers can judge whether the visions of four young seers on a mountaintop in Spain were historical fact, a devilish fraud, or the creative confusion of four girls who would spend the rest of their lives trying to escape a human tragicomedy that they themselves had produced.

    Is the dream of equality Dr. King envisioned still alive today? Can our historic national hurts still be healed? How can we rise above the racial tension threatening the nation? The Dream King is the astonishing true story of two men whose lives are woven together by history and the hidden hand of God. It reveals an inspiring narrative that exposes systemic injustice and delivers new keys for understanding the nation’s past, present, and future. • Learn about the nation’s hidden history and the unknown heroes who overcame injustice. • Discover how your life is an important part of a much bigger story. • Be equipped to be a countercultural dreamer and change the world around you.

    Developments in practical ethics, social attitudes, philosophical speculation, & religious & esthetic contemplation are represented by selected excerpts from basic writings with succinct introductions & commentary. From these one may observe not only the remarkable vitality of Buddhism in its spread through Asia, but also the essential links between widely diverse forms, showing how the spiritual message of the Buddha found expression in different historical & cultural circumstances. Thus both its continuity in time & its wide range of influence mark Buddhism as a major spiritual force in the world. Buddha, as the Awakened One, has exemplified to millions throughout the ages a living Truth, a dynamic wisdom & an active compassion. It's these qualities that have inspired hope & courage in those who were asked to face to the stark reality of their condition: the inevitable involvement in suffering which arises from his persistent egoism & refusal to recognize finitude.

    Here is the dramatic story of that climatic battle and the men who planned and fought in it. The Normandy invasion altered the course of World War II and led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the Third Reich. It is a story of courage and fear, tragedy and determination.

    Now recognized as a classic work, this incisive portrait of Japanese society investigates a nation whose deeper proclivities remain veiled behind cliches cherished in the West.

    First, visit Kyoto, where you will discover 1,000 years of history from the ancient love story the Tale of Genji to the traditional tea ceremony. Then head to Tokyo to experience Japan’s cutting-edge capital, where the 21st-century kawaii culture collides with landmarks like the Kabuki-za Theater and the ImperialPalace. For a different perspective, venture outside the city to the serene towns of Tohoku, the region largely affected by the 2011 tsunami disaster. Informative, entertaining, and useful, this book is an ideal introduction for any traveler looking for a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, past and present.

    The Tokyo Look Book takes us on a dazzling journey through the streets, clubs, and boutiques of this trendsetting city to introduce us to the people who wear the latest fashions and the people who make them. Crammed with cool, full-color photographs of Tokyo's trendy teens and twenty-somethings captured candidly as they work and play, this is a comprehensive look at the richly varied fashion scenes that thrive in Japan's capital city—from the "gal" mecca of Shibuya, to the goths and cosplayers who hang out on Jingubashi bridge on Sundays, through the cutting-edge kids on the Harajuku backstreets, to the stylish young professional men and women on Omotesando Boulevard.Yuri Manabe's distinctive photographic portraits are complemented by insightful text from British anthropologist and fashion expert Philomena Keet, who offers witty and informative background information on each of the fashion scenes introduced, and a plethora of soundbites and quotes from the featured fashionistas. In addition, there are interviews and spotlights on Tokyos hottest fashion designers, magazines and boutiques, including:SHIBUYA 109: Shibuyas iconic shopping mallGLAD NEWS: One of 109s leading boutiquesREIKO NAKANE: A former trendsetting charisma109 shop girl, now producer of her own fashion labelMANA: Japanese pop star and designer of Elegant Gothic Lolita brand, Moi-meme-MoiteH.NAOTO: Creator of the popular goth/punk brandTAKUYA ANGEL: Creator of the cult cyber-kimono brandTEAM MESSAGE: Designer of skate/streetwear brandsDOG: Owner of a cult street-fashion boutiqueSHOICHI AOKI: Creator of the influential street-fashion magazine FRUiTSGARCIA MARQUEZ GAUCHE: The husband-and-wife team behind this stylish brand for young women5351 POUR LES HOMMES: A fashionable mens brandTOKYO FASHION WEEK: A peek behind the scenesMANNENYA: Purveyor of traditional Japanese workmens outfits

    For over 70 years, Aokigahara, Japan has been a source of mystery for both investigators and paranormal researchers. This beautiful stretch of unkempt woodland, while maintaining the illusion of beauty, harbours a secret which few people are willing to acknowledge. Aokigahara, known to many as the Sea of Trees, is the suicide capital of Japan. Every year, hundreds of people visit the forest with no intention of ever leaving. People who no longer wish to be a part of this world find solace in the isolation of Aokigahara, and willingly take their own lives against its backdrop of chaotic forestry. However, the legend of Aokigahara goes a lot further that simply being alluring scenery for suicide. Its lore is rooted in ancient legend, literature and a historical association with death. Its impact on Japanese culture has been so prominent that Japanese officials rarely acknowledge the forest’s existence in an effort to disassociate it from its macabre infamy. But despite this, Aokigahara’s prominence in not just Japanese culture, but world over, cannot be understated.