Publisher: PGW
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/02/2013
ISBN-13: 9780802120120
ISBN-10: 0802120121

Independent, semi-pro, and municipal baseball leagues dotted the countryside during the Great Depression. Eager to defeat local rivals and show their civic pride, team owners often signed "ringers" -- and in tiny Bismarck, North Dakota, local car dealer and squad founder Neil Bismarck resolved to sign the best players he could, regardless of color. Including Negro League greats like Satchel Paige, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, and Quincy Troup, the Bismarck Churchills trounced all comers to win the first National Semipro Tournament in 1935. Color Blind recounts an almost-forgotten moment of baseball history "as fantastic as it is true" (Boston Globe) with warmth and verve.

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Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/30/2013
ISBN-13: 9780062269911
ISBN-10: 0062269917

Drawing upon letters and diaries from Queen Victoria's household staff (many previously unpublished), Serving Victoria reveals not only the complex ins and outs of running the royal household but also intimate glimpses of the Queen herself. In the eyes of her servants (including her personal chaplain, physician, maid of honor, and a governess to the royal children), we see her as a woman -- prone to the giggles, a hearty eater, and occasionally selfish -- and as a wife who endured terrific grief at the death of her spouse. Fans of Downton Abbey won't want to miss Kate Hubbard's delightful upstairs/downstairs domestic history of life with Queen Victoria herself.

Publisher: Basic Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/09/2013
ISBN-13: 9780465031450
ISBN-10: 0465031455

While many World War I histories blame the war's inevitability on Austro-Hungarian and German militarism, July 1914 presents new archival evidence implicating Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov, French president Raymond Poincaré, and other European and American leaders of the time. Acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin describes how an ambitious cabal of world statesmen capitalized on Archduke Franz Ferdinand's murder to further their own agendas. This tautly focused, crisply written, and impeccably researched look at the bloody summer of 1914 will wow fans of Barbara Tuchman and Robert Massie's iconic study of WWI's outbreak, The Guns of August.

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Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/09/2013
ISBN-13: 9780465065745
ISBN-10: 0465065740

Radical 18th-century intellectual Thomas Day opposed slavery and advocated for workers' rights and education reform; however, suffocating misogyny infused his intellectual principles when it came to the fairer sex. Day elaborates his expectations of perfect femininity very clearly: pretty, virginal, hardy enough to live frugally, and willing to be subservient to his every whim. After numerous ladies reject his "generous" offer, Day adopts two orphaned women whom he tries to school to wifely perfection. How to Create the Perfect Wife delivers "a darkly enlightening study" (Kirkus Reviews) of education, liberty, and the role of women during the so-called Age of Enlightenment.

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Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2010
ISBN-13: 9781556527968
ISBN-10: 1556527969

As their best players gained admission to the majors, Negro League teams sought ways to keep fans interested. In 1953, the Indianapolis Clowns hired Marcenia Lyle "Toni" Stone to replace Hank Aaron at second base. Her talent, passion for the game, and ambition to go pro more than matched that of her male peers. In a sparkling narrative supported by archival research and personal interviews with those who knew Stone personally, Curveball captures the spirit of a pioneering African-American female athlete who persevered despite not only racism at large, but also the prejudices of her own teammates.

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Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/12/2011
ISBN-13: 9780062014481
ISBN-10: 006201448X

Thanks to a rule-book glitch, a 1981 minor-league match-up between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings turned into an epic 8-hour game, with the last of its 33 innings being postponed for two more months. In this "charming, meditative portrait" (Publishers Weekly), former New York Times columnist Dan Barry profiles key players (including a then-unknown Cal Ripken), the team owners, fans and workers, and even the role of the stadium in the depressed industrial town of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He also tracks the decades since the game, making this rich, solid read sure to please general pop culture fans as well as baseball buffs.

Publisher: Sports Illustrated Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/08/2011
ISBN-13: 9781603201773
ISBN-10: 1603201777

"Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio earned his nickname thanks to a 56-game hitting streak that started on May 15, 1941, and continued until July that same year when DiMaggio went hitless in Cleveland. Sports Illustrated editor and author Kostya Kennedy brilliantly recounts those 56 games, and recounts how "the streak" created a unifying national excitement that drew Americans together as the threat of the Axis powers loomed ever larger. Kennedy's meticulous research and accessible writing puts readers on the field with Joltin' Joe, by the radio with breathless fans as each game aired, and deep into the tensions of America's identity on the eve of World War II.

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Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9781596915459
ISBN-10: 1596915455

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is the holiest institution in American sports. It’s not just a place to honor great athletes. It’s where America’s pastime announces to the world what it is and what it wants to be. For the first time, this book shows the inner workings of the Hall: the politics, the players, and the people who own and preserve it. From the history of the founding Clark family to a day on the town with the newly inducted Goose Gossage, from the battle over steroids to the economics of induction and secret campaigns by aspiring players, this is a highly irreverent and highly entertaining tour through the life of an American institution. For anyone who cares about baseball, this is essential reading.

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