Transforms the arguments about why women are not found in more and higher positions of political power from their lack of self-confidence or a biased political sphere by expanding the definition of political sphere beyond elective office.

A few months have passed since Zeke Archer saved basketball from extinction after the 7th Dimension--the otherworldly entity that brought the game to Earth in 1891--tried to take it away for good. Now Zeke is settling into life after high school leading his team and running the point at Jefferson Community College. And there on his home court is where this strange tale begins ... Tragedy strikes close to Zeke's heart and his world slowly begins to crumble around him. But when he receives a mysterious message that could only have originated from another realm Zeke begins a journey like no other. Flanked by his trusted friend Lawrence--a math whiz who might have just discovered a top-secret inter-dimensional portal--Zeke crosses paths with a drop-kicking rugby aficionado a sage and telepathic sea creature and the possible inventor of basketball all in the quest to find the true meaning of love loss and friendship on and off the court.

Speaking of cabinet appointments he’d made as governor, presidential candidate Mitt Romney famously spoke of having “whole binders full of women” to consider. The line was much mocked; and yet, Kaitlin Sidorsky suggests, it raises a point long overlooked in discussions of the gender gap in politics: many more women are appointed, rather than elected, to political office. Analyzing an original survey of political appointments at all levels of state government, All Roads Lead to Power offers an expanded, more nuanced view of women in politics. This book also questions the manner in which political ambition, particularly among women, is typically studied and understood. In a deep comparative analysis of appointed and elected state positions, All Roads Lead to Power highlights how the differences between being appointed or elected explain why so many more women serve in appointed offices. These women, Sidorsky finds, are not always victims of a much-cited lack of self-confidence or ambition, or of a biased political sphere. More often, they make a conscious decision to enter politics through what they believe is a far less partisan and negative entry point. Furthermore, Sidorsky’s research reveals that many women end up in political appointments—at all levels—not because they are ambitious to hold public office, but because the work connects with their personal lives or careers. With its groundbreaking research and insights into the ambitions, recruitment, and motivations of appointed officials, Sidorsky’s work broadens our conception of political representation and alters our understanding of how and why women pursue and achieve political power.

In this coming-of-age novel seventeen-year-old high school basketball star Ezekiel "Zeke" Archer has it all: a sweet jump shot a full-ride scholarship to a Midwestern basketball powerhouse and the brightest future. But when Zeke's temper gets the better of him in the city championship he is expelled from school has to forfeit his scholarship and is left to ponder his once-hopeful future... While finishing his final high school days in the California educational system's version of purgatory Zeke makes a stunning discovery. With the help of a young autistic classmate Zeke befriends he learns that the mysterious 7th Dimension which brought basketball to Earth more than a century ago has decided to take the game away for good -- all because of the ugly event Zeke set into motion in his final game! As he embarks on the ultimate cross-country road trip to save basketball Zeke must confront his unsettled past -- including a father he's not heard from in years and a brother fighting in a war half a world away -- in order to set his life on the right path and rescue the game he loves.

All Roads Lead to October presents an up close and personal look at the New York Yankees under legendary owner George Steinbrenner. George Herman Ruth was the Babe. Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse. Joe DiMaggio was the Yankee Clipper. George Steinbrenner is the Boss. On a rainy January morning, 1973, a press conference is called that will change the face of the Yankees forever. A young Cleveland Industrialist by the name of Steinbrenner stands at New York's famed 21 Club and announces his new ownership of the Yankees. And so begins the Steinbrenner era, the era of the Boss. Now with five World Championships to his name, Steinbrenner is not only the owner of one of the past century's winningest baseball teams, but a legendary figure in his own right. Both eccentric and egocentric, Steinbrenner's unique approach to the game turned a not-so-good 1973 Yankees squad into World Champions just five years later. As integral to the history of the Yankees as DiMaggio or Ruth, All Road Lead to October examines the team under Steinbrenner's reign. Having covered the Yankees since Steinbrenner came aboard, acclaimed sports journalist and noted author Maury Allen examines the complex and often fiery relationships the owner had with the likes of Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra, Joe Torre, Darryl Strawberry and many others. Here are the first hand, insider's accounts of the pivotal events in the Yankees rise to power. Covering both off the field and on the field controversies like Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich's wife swapping, the angry tirades, fights and often brilliant coaching moves of the misunderstood Billy Martin, the inside story of the signing of Reggie Jackson whose ego was as big as his bat, and the Yankees rise to baseball dominance with the likes of Jeter, Williams, El Duque, Clemens, Rivera and Torre, Maury Allen give an exclusive look at all the action. Allen was there through it all, from Steinbrenner's first press conference, through the death of Catfish Hunter, the World Series wins, the controversial trades and firings, and even when a drunk Billy Martin banged on his hotel room door one night madder than hell. This is the definitive look at not only the Boss, the but the New York Yankees, the most celebrated team of the twentieth century.

All Roads Lead to Hockey reflects Bill Boyd's lengthy odyssey across the North American continent in search of hockey's roots. From Barrie, Ontario, where he reflects on one of the best junior hockey teams, all the way to Laredo, Texas, where he investigates a thriving Hispanic hockey program, Boyd vividly portrays a transnational pastime. (Texas, it turns out, has more professional hockey teams than any other U.S. state or Canadian province.) All Roads Lead to Hockey features interviews with fans, current players, retired champions, and coaches, including hockey legend Jim Brophy. Through their words, Boyd captures hockey?s timeless magic.

All Roads Lead to the American City provides an original view of the urban culture in America seen through its irrevocable ties with the cities and roads. Examining the history, cinema, literature, cultural myths and social geography of the United States, the book puts some of the greatest as well as the "baddest" American cities under the microscope. Taking the role of the roads that crisscross and connect the cities as their shared point of reference, these essays explore ways to understand the people who live, commute, work, create, govern, commit crime and conduct business in them.Cities, for the most part, are America. Their values and problems define not only what the United States is, but what other nations perceive the United States to be. Roads and transportation, on the other hand, and their impact on the American culture and lifestyle, form not only the integral part of the historical rise-and-shine of the modern city, but a physical release from and a cultural antidote to its pressure-cooker stresses. Tracing the boundless variety and complexity of these twin themes, All Roads Lead to the American City is built around an interlinked series of essays on the urban culture in America. Juxtaposing the city and the road, it looks alternatively at cities as historical, geographical, social and cultural centres of life in the land, and at roads as physical as well as metaphorical arteries that lead in and out of the city.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11” (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. In gripping narrative that spans five decades, Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is a sweeping, unprecedented history of the long road to September 11.