Publisher: Little Brown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/19/2013
ISBN-13: 9780316196796
ISBN-10: 0316196797

Like journalists Stephan Fatsis (A Few Seconds of Panic), John Feinstein (Next Man Up), and George Plimpton (Paper Lion) before him, professional writer Nicholas Dawidoff somehow managed to join an NFL team, gaining the kind of access to players, coaches, and other staff that fans can only dream of. Unlike Fatsis and Plimpton, however, Dawidoff wasn't on the field. Rather, he got to examine "operations," including the scouting season and the trials and tribulations of the coaches, especially Jets head coach Rex Ryan. If you're a Jets fan, a football fan, or just need a crash course in football, you won't want to miss this "superlative insider's portrait" (Booklist).

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Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/05/2013
ISBN-13: 9781616200787
ISBN-10: 1616200782

By the time he died in 2005, Richard Pryor had won an Emmy, five Grammys, and several other awards. He is still Number 1 on Comedy Central's list of greatest comedians. But he was also addicted to drugs, had married seven times (to six different women), and spent time in an Army prison. Though acknowledged as a comic genius and known for his uncompromising and outspoken work, Pryor had difficulty maintaining emotional connections with others: both were likely outcomes of a difficult childhood marked by abuse. In Furious Cool, his biographers (both fans) have created a "beautifully written account of the troubled life of a manic genius" (Booklist).

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Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9780316200936
ISBN-10: 031620093X

If baseball ephemera and the arcane history of the sport are all part of the game for you, then you won't want to miss this unique history of America's favorite pastime. Here you'll learn about the first batting "helmet" (it was inflatable), the invention of the athletic cup, and early opinions of men who wore baseball gloves (dismissive). You'll read about spring training sites, memorabilia, and stadium layouts, and how things have changed over the years (such as pre-recorded rock music replacing organ music). Trivia fanatics can also try Zack Hample's The Baseball, an in-depth history of, you guessed it, the ball itself.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/05/2013
ISBN-13: 9780547553290
ISBN-10: 0547553293

Bob Fosse, the legendary dancer, choreographer, screenwriter, and director, died in 1987, but his innovations live on in his work, such as the film Cabaret, for which he won an Oscar (the same year, he also won a Tony and an Emmy). Providing full context for his professional career and showing us his relationships with others -- his wives, his dancers, and his friends -- author Sam Wasson presents a "scintillating biography" (Publishers Weekly) that, even at 750 pages, "ends too soon" (Booklist).

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Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/15/2013
ISBN-13: 9780399161759
ISBN-10: 0399161759

A personal account by the record-breaking NHL defenseman traces his rise from a small-town youth to one of the most acclaimed names in hockey, providing coverage of such topics as the events that inspired his career, the financially ruinous betrayal by his agent and his views on the game today.

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/28/2010
ISBN-13: 9781400066919
ISBN-10: 1400066913

Gypsy Rose Lee survived an appalling childhood in vaudeville to become a star known far beyond the burlesque stage. In this "fast-paced, funny, flavorful reckoning with a unique American icon" (Kirkus Reviews), author Karen Abbott offers far more than "just" a biography -- she provides context for Gypsy's life and brings the people of the era to life, including the Tammany Hall politicians, gangsters, and theater promoters who surrounded Gypsy, and the Minsky brothers, who popularized burlesque in the 1930s.

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Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/02/2013
ISBN-13: 9780802119049
ISBN-10: 0802119042

In addition to the tale of an elephant named Topsy, this is also a history of two distinct rivalries. One was between P.T. Barnum and competing circus owner Adam Forepaugh (each had an enormous elephant headliner). The second was between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, who were vying over whether direct or alternating current should be used to electrify the U.S. The stories come together in Forepaugh's elephant Topsy, who after a difficult life as a circus performer was electrocuted. Between tales of the 19th-century mania for elephants and the early days of electricity, author Michael Daly also offers a history of traveling circuses; you can try Paul Chamber's Jumbo for more on the pachyderm prized by Forepaugh's rival, P.T. Barnum.

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Publisher: Candlewick Pr
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/23/2013
ISBN-13: 9780763650797
ISBN-10: 076365079X

A Scott O'Dell Award-winning graphic artist visualizes the story of young Henry, who in 1908 Muskegon, Michigan, bonds with a young Buster Keaton over games of baseball while the latter summers locally with a troupe of vaudeville performers.