A burned out basketball coach takes a job in Ireland and is surprised by what he finds.

A burned out basketball coach takes a job in Ireland and is surprised by what he finds.

Shawn Harrington returned to Marshall High School as an assistant coach years after appearing as a player in the iconic basketball documentary film Hoop Dreams. In January of 2014, Marshall's struggling team was about to improve after the addition of a charismatic but troubled player. Everything changed, however, when two young men opened fire on Harrington's car as he drove his daughter to school. Using his body to shield her, Harrington was struck and paralyzed. The mistaken-identity shooting was followed by a series of events that had a devastating impact on Harrington and Marshall's basketball family. Over the next three years it became obvious that the dream of the game providing a better life had nearly dissolved. Author Rus Bradburd tells Shawn's story with empathy and care, exploring the intertwined tragedies of gun violence, health care failure, racial assumptions, struggling educational systems, corruption in athletics—and the hope that can survive them all.

Paddy Hopkirk, winner of the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally, is one of Britain's best-known rally drivers and made the motorsport big time in Mini Coopers. A disarmingly modest man, Paddy originally approached BMC with the plea, I do want to drive cars which are capable of winning rallies outright, even if I'm not. From winning at a1955 St Patrick's Day Trial in a VW Beetle to the 1990 Pirelli Classic Marathon won in a Mini Cooper S, his glittering career is described in all its glory, with lots of tales of amusing escapades along the way.

Historians have portrayed British participation in World War I as a series of tragic debacles, with lines of men mown down by machine guns, with untried new military technology, and incompetent generals who threw their troops into improvised and unsuccessful attacks. In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, the army gradually improved its technique, technology, and, eventually, its' self-assurance. By the time of its successful sustained offensive in the fall of 1918, says Paddy Griffith, the British army was demonstrating a battlefield skill and mobility that would rarely be surpassed even during World War II. Evaluating the great gap that exists between theory and practice, between textbook and bullet-swept mudfield, Griffith argues that many battles were carefully planned to exploit advanced tactics and to avoid casualties, but that breakthrough was simply impossible under the conditions of the time. According to Griffith, the British were already masters of "storm troop tactics" by the end of 1916, and in several important respects were further ahead than the Germans would be even in 1918. In fields such as the timing and orchestration of all-arms assaults, predicted artillery fire, "Commando-style" trench raiding, the use of light machine guns, or the barrage fire of heavy machine guns, the British led the world. Although British generals were not military geniuses, says Griffith, they should at least be credited for effectively inventing much of the twentieth-century's art of war.

This book is a provocative approach to ethnicity and national identity in the United States before the Civil War. By careful study of how Irish immigrants were described and talked about in the common everyday language of the period, it shows how ethnic stereotypes were formed and how they shaped popular attitudes.

"This book was previously published in 2004 under the title The apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty, by Insomniac Press, Toronto"--T.p. verso.

Paddy Macklin, a self-taught sailor, decided to sail around the world in the smallest boat possible, single-handed, and hopefully, without stopping. He survived, sailing the Southern Oceans in winter and rounding both southernmost capes in the world, but by the skin of his teeth. His extraordinary little craft, "Tessa" was knocked down several times in the Southern Ocean and completely rolled twice. "In the space of about 40 seconds I was thrown out of my bunk onto the ceiling (deckhead) then back to my bunk again...throughout the time I spent upside down, the most noticeable thing was the complete silence". It was the damage done by these two 360 degree knockdowns that forced Paddy and Tessa to break their journey in New Zealand, pulling into Timaru where sailing friends towed them into port, and helped piece together the shattered sailor and his little craft. As Paddy noted, "It's not the huge seas that damage a strong, well-found yacht; it's the breaking tops of the seas - several tons of very fast-moving water - that present the greatest danger. Throughout his sojourn, Paddy was able to communicate twice a week with family back in England and this has been diarised and interspersed with the Captain's log thus giving a more personal insight into the character of Tessa's captain, how terrorised he was by the gigantic seas, how pleased he was to make friends with dolphins, birds, and whales, how wonderful it was to sight land, and how he managed to remain sane during an odyssey that few of us would ever dream of undertaking. It's a brave - or perhaps mad - person who would pit his strength against the might of nature. Paddy is one of the few.

A “thoroughly researched, stranger-than-fiction” history of the world’s tiniest rebel nation, filled with intrigue, armed battles, and radio pirates (Robert Jobson, author of Prince Philip’s Century). In 1967, a retired army major and self-made millionaire named Paddy Roy Bates cemented his family’s place in history when he inaugurated himself ruler of the Principality of Sealand, a tiny dominion of the high seas. And so began the peculiar story of the world’s most stubborn micronation on a World War II anti-aircraft gun platform off the British coast. Sealand is the raucous tale of how a rogue adventurer seized the disused Maunsell Sea Fort from pirate radio broadcasters, settled his eccentric family on it, and defended their tiny kingdom from UK government officials and armed mercenaries for half a century. Incorporating original interviews with surviving Sealand royals, Dylan Taylor-Lehman recounts the battles and schemes as Roy and his crew engaged with diplomats, entertained purveyors of pirate radio and TV, and even thwarted an attempted coup that saw the Prince Regent taken hostage. Incredibly, more than fifty years later, the self-proclaimed independent nation still stands—replete with its own constitution, national flag and anthem, currency, and passports. Featuring rare vintage photographs of the Bates clan and their unusual enterprises, this account of a dissident family and their outrageous attempt to build a sovereign kingdom on an isolated platform in shark-infested waters is the stuff of legend. “Memorable . . . This idiosyncratic history entertains.” ―Publishers Weekly “Endlessly captivating, like a thriller, and filled with crisp, evocative writing. Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m visiting the principality to become an official ‘Lord of Sealand.’” ―Bob Batchelor, author of The Bourbon King

An award-winning and bestselling Pete the Cat hardcover picture book! Count down with Pete in this rocking story that makes counting fun! Pete the Cat is wearing his favorite shirt—the one with the four totally groovy buttons. But when one falls off, does Pete cry? Goodness, no! He just keeps on singing his song—after all, what could be groovier than three groovy buttons? This book is a winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. Plus the fun never stops—download the free groovin’ song! Don't miss Pete's other adventures, including Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, Pete the Cat Saves Christmas, Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses, Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues, Pete the Cat and the New Guy, Pete the Cat and the Cool Cat Boogie, Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes, Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party, and Pete the Cat: Crayons Rock!