| Introduction |
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1 | |
| CHAPTER ONE PEOPLE |
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The Fun of William E Buckley |
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9 | |
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Buckley: A Life Athwart History |
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11 | |
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David Brinkley: Proud Anachronism |
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13 | |
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Barry Goldwater: "Cheerful Malcontent" |
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15 | |
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John F. Kennedy's Thoughts on Death |
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23 | |
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Eugene McCarthy: The Tamarack Tree of American Politics |
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25 | |
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What George McGovern Made |
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28 | |
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Daniel Patrick Moynihan: The Senate's Sisyphus |
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30 | |
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John Kenneth Galbraith's Liberalism as Condescension |
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32 | |
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Milton Friedman: Ebullient Master of the Dismal Science |
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35 | |
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Alan Greenspan: High-Achieving Minimalist |
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37 | |
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The Not-at-All Dull George Washington |
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40 | |
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George Washington's Long Journey Home |
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42 | |
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John Marshall: The Most Important American Never to Have Been President |
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44 | |
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James Madison: Well, Yes, of Course |
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46 | |
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Longfellow: A Forgotten Founder |
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49 | |
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Ronald Reagan: The Steel Behind the Smile |
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52 | |
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Reagan and the Vicissitudes of Historical Judgments |
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54 | |
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John Paul II: "A Flame Rescued from Dry Wood" |
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57 | |
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali: An Enlightenment Fundamentalist |
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59 | |
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Hugh Hefner: Tuning Fork of American Fantasies |
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61 | |
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti: The Emeritus Beat as Tourist Attraction |
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63 | |
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Buck Owens's Bakersfield Sound |
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65 | |
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Andrew Nesbitt: Seventy-nine-Pound Master of Tourette Syndrome |
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68 | |
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70 | |
| CHAPTER TWO PATHS TO THE PRESENT |
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The Most Important American War You Know Next-to-Nothing About |
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75 | |
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The Amazing Banality of Flight |
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77 | |
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The Price of Misreading the Prairie Sky |
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79 | |
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"A Range of Mountains on the Move" |
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81 | |
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The Emblematic Novel of the 1930's (No, It Is Not About the Joads) |
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84 | |
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All Quiet at the Overpass |
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86 | |
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FDR's Transformation of Liberalism |
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88 | |
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Retailers Give Thanks for Thanksgiving (and FDR) |
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91 | |
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FDR's Christmas Guest from Hell |
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93 | |
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"My Place Is with My Shipmates" |
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95 | |
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An Anthem of American Optimism—in 1943 |
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97 | |
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100 | |
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Catching Up to Captain Philip |
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102 | |
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The Most Fateful Heart Attack in American History |
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104 | |
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How Ike's Highways Helped Heal Civil War Wounds |
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107 | |
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The Short, Unhappy Life of the Edsel |
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109 | |
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The Fifties in Our Rearview Mirror |
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111 | |
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2002: Superstitions Are Bad Luck |
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114 | |
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2003: Lingerie and Duct Tape |
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116 | |
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2004: The Passion of the Christ and The Passions of the Faculty Clubs |
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118 | |
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2005: "In Lieu of Flowers, Please Send Acerbic Letters to Republicans" |
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121 | |
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2006: "Go Ahead, We Will Get into One of the Other Boats" |
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123 | |
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126 | |
| CHAPTER THREE GOVERNING |
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The Two Americas: Hard and Soft |
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131 | |
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133 | |
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Conservatism's Infrastructure |
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135 | |
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Against "National Greatness Conservatism" |
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138 | |
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Summa Contra Reagan Nostalgia |
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140 | |
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The Left's Plea for Materialistic Politics |
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142 | |
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145 | |
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Judicial Activism, Wise and Not |
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147 | |
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The Hard Truth About "Soft Rights" |
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149 | |
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Oologah's—and America's—Slide |
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151 | |
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154 | |
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Policing Speech in Oakland |
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156 | |
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Liberalism's Itch in Minneapolis |
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159 | |
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Chicago: From the White City to the Green City |
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261 | |
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164 | |
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"Electronic Morphine" on the Ohio River |
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166 | |
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Prohibition II: Interestingly Selective |
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168 | |
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Being Green at Ben & Jerry's |
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171 | |
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The Tyranny of the Small Picture |
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174 | |
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Draining the Reservoir of Reverence |
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176 | |
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United 93: "We've Got to Do It Ourselves" |
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178 | |
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Nothing Changes Everything |
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181 | |
| CHAPTER FOUR SENSIBILITIES AND SENSITIVITIES |
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187 | |
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The Speciesism of Featherless Bipeds |
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189 | |
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What We Owe to What We Eat |
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191 | |
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The Holocaust: Handcrafted |
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194 | |
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The "Daring" of the Avant-Garde Yet Again |
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196 | |
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Anti-Semitism Across the Political Spectrum |
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199 | |
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201 | |
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203 | |
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Hog Heaven: Happy One Hundredth, Harley |
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206 | |
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Restoration at 346 Madison |
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208 | |
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Starbucks, Nail Salons, and the Aesthetic Imperative |
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210 | |
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Manners vs. Social Autism |
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213 | |
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215 | |
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America's Literature of Regret |
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217 | |
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Chief Illiniwek and the Indignation Industry |
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220 | |
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222 | |
| CHAPTER FIVE LEARNING |
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National Amnesia and Planting Cut Flowers |
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227 | |
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A Sensory Blitzkrieg of Surfaces |
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229 | |
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"Philosophy Teaching by Examples" |
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231 | |
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Fascinating Contingencies |
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233 | |
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235 | |
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This just In from the Professors: Conservatism Is a Mental Illness |
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238 | |
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The Law of Group Polarization in Academia |
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240 | |
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Antioch College's Epitaph |
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243 | |
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A Scholar's Malfeasance Gunned Down |
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245 | |
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Juggling Scarves in the Therapeutic Nation |
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247 | |
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Nature, Nurture, and Larry Summers's Sin |
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250 | |
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AP Harry Applies to College |
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252 | |
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Teaching Minnows the Pleasure of Precision |
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255 | |
| CHAPTER SIX GAMES |
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261 | |
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266 | |
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"Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer!" |
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268 | |
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270 | |
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the NFL: An Intensification of Reality |
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272 | |
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Speaking Sports Centerese |
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275 | |
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The Movie, and the Truth, About Texas Western |
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277 | |
| CHAPTER SEVEN THE GAME |
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283 | |
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Jackie Robinson: The Possible and the Inevitable |
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286 | |
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Ted Williams: "I Can't Stand It, I'm So Good" |
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288 | |
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Roberto Clemente: "We Think He Can Hit" |
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291 | |
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Greg Maddux: "Watch This—the First-Base Coach May Be Going to the Hospital" |
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294 | |
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Take Me Out to the Metric |
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296 | |
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299 | |
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The Game's Gifted Eccentrics |
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301 | |
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Don't Beat a Dead Horse in the Mouth |
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305 | |
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307 | |
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Pete Rose, Always Hustling |
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310 | |
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The Precious, Precarious Equipoise |
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312 | |
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Barry Bonds: Enhanced and Devalued |
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314 | |
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319 | |
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Realism Among the RiverDogs |
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321 | |
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323 | |
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Seeking Anonymous Perfection |
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326 | |
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328 | |
| CHAPTER EIGHT WONDERING |
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Incest at "a Genetically Discreet Remove" |
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333 | |
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An Intellectual Hijacking |
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335 | |
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From Dayton, Tennessee, to Rhode Island's Committee on Fish and Game |
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339 | |
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Earth: Not Altogether Intelligently Designed |
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341 | |
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Intelligent Design and Unintelligent Movies |
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344 | |
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The Pope, the Neurosurgeon, and the Ghost in the Machine |
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346 | |
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How Biology Buttresses Morality, Which Conforms to...Biology |
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348 | |
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The Space Program's Search for Us |
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351 | |
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353 | |
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The Loudest Sound in Human Experience |
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355 | |
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358 | |
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Wonder What We Are For? Wondering |
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360 | |
| CHAPTER NINE MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH |
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365 | |
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The Long Dying of Louise Will |
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367 | |
| Acknowledgments |
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370 | |
| Permissions |
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371 | |
| Index |
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373 | |