This book examines the animosity towards the New York Yankees among fans of Major League Baseball and what that revilement says about the game, its fans, and America itself. For anyone wondering what exactly fuels Yankee hatred—and for those who think they know quite well, thank you very much—The Team America Loves to Hate: Why Baseball Fans Despise the New York Yankees is a revealing look at the relationship between the guys in pinstripes and the rest of the baseball world. Ranging beyond the legendary New York-Boston feud, The Team America Loves to Hate taps into the world of Yankee-loathing by listening to fans of all other teams—from the Mets to the Mariners, from Anaheim to Baltimore. There are some surprises—judging by the number of Yankee-hating episodes submitted, Pittsburgh seems to be the most aggrieved city, while the Red Sox are now as much hated as their hated rivals. Along the way, the book offers some serious insights into the Yankees themselves, the country's relationship to New York City before and after 9/11, our long-running love affair with sports, and our decidedly fickle feelings about success.

The charge of inauthenticity has trailed Hillary Clinton from the moment she entered the national spotlight and stood in front of television cameras. Hillary Clinton in the News: Gender and Authenticity in American Politics shows how the U.S. news media created their own news frames of Clinton's political authenticity and image-making, from her participation in Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign through her own 2008 presidential bid. Using theories of nationalism, feminism, and authenticity, Parry-Giles tracks the evolving ways the major networks and cable news programs framed Clinton's image as she assumed roles ranging from surrogate campaigner, legislative advocate, and financial investor to international emissary, scorned wife, and political candidate. This study magnifies how the coverage that preceded Clinton's entry into electoral politics was grounded in her earliest presence in the national spotlight, and in long-standing nationalistic beliefs about the boundaries of authentic womanhood and first lady comportment. Once Clinton dared to cross those gender boundaries and vie for office in her own right, the news exuded a rhetoric of sexual violence. These portrayals served as a warning to other women who dared to enter the political arena and violate the protocols of authentic womanhood.

Professional baseball is full of arcane team names. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for instance, owe their nickname to the trolley tracks that honeycombed Brooklyn in the early 1880s. (Residents were "trolley dodgers.") From the Negro Leagues, there were the Pittsburgh Crawfords (sponsored early by the Crawford Bath House and Recreation Center); from the minors, the Tucson Waddies (slang for cowboy) and, later, the Montgomery Biscuits (for the would-be concessions staple); from overseas, the Adelaide, Australia, Bite (a shark reference but also a pun for bight) and the Bussum, Netherlands, Mr. Cocker HCAW (the sponsoring restaurant chain, followed by the acronym for the official team name, Honkbalclub Allan Weerbaar). This comprehensive reference book explains the nicknames of thousands of major and minor league franchises, Negro League and early independent black clubs, and international teams--from 1869 through 2011.

Why? is the simple, impulsive question we ask when confronted by horrible acts of hatred and violence. Why do students shoot fellow students or employees their coworkers? Why do mothers drown their children or husbands stalk and kill their wives? Love to Hate challenges us to turn this question upon ourselves at a deeper level. Why, as a culture, are we so fascinated by these acts? Why do we bestow celebrity on the perpetrators, while allowing the victims to fade into a second death of obscurity? Are we, as Pope John Paul II famously accused, "a culture of death"? And if so, how can we break free of this unacknowledged aspect of the cycle of violence? Unlike those who point solely to media imagery, splintered families, or lax gun control laws in search of the roots of America's endemic violence, Jody M. Roy suggests that we all must be held responsible. She argues that we reveal our love affair with hatred and violence in the ways we think and speak in our daily lives and in our popular culture. The very words we use function as building blocks of callousness and contempt, betraying our immersion in subtexts of violence and hatred. These subtexts are further revealed in our complex attitudes toward street gangs, school shooters, serial killers, and hate groups and the paroxysms of violence they unleash. As spectators, driven by our impulse to watch, we become an integral part of the equation of violence. In the book's final section, "Freeing Ourselves of Our Obsession with Hatred and Violence," Roy offers practical steps we can take—as parents, consumers, and voters—to free ourselves from linguistic and cultural complicity and to help create in America a culture of life.

For David Kirp, a gifted storyteller and journalist, the concept of community stretches beyond a cliched figure of speech to describe what happens when people make decisions that reshape one another's lives. He has collected a fascinating variety of such stories from across America to re-create the immediate experience of community--tales that signify in their particulars, giving meaning to the much bandied-about idea of civic virtue. They paint a rich picture of how, for better and for worse, Americans live together. We meet two San Francisco families, one Nicaraguan and the other black, trying to live peacefully with each other; residents in the fire ravaged Berkeley hills, whose greed and architectural ambitions thwart attempts to build the new Eden of their dreams; parents and teachers fighting against long odds to improve the East Harlem public schools; residents of a small southern town caring for a parentless teenager with AIDS; residents of the New Jersey suburb of Mount Laurel deciding whether poor families will be allowed to live in "our town;" and neighbors choosing sides when a black teenager kills his gay white neighbor. While there are real heroes--Ethel Lawrence, the Rosa Parks of the affordable housing movement; and Deborah Meier, tireless advocate for better schools--the stories are mainly about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. These beautifully written tales reveal individuals in the process of forming new alliances or falling back on familiar ones, "bowling alone" or promoting the common good. They show us, past all self-delusion, who we really are.

A New York Times Notable Book and aSan Jose Mercury News Top 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World.The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A. Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.

Featuring updated information through the 2014 season, including the Cowboys' win in the playoffs over Detroit Every good Dallas Cowboys fan can tell you about the highlights from the franchise's half century of existence—including five Super Bowl victories and 14 players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But how many know all the stories behind the names, games, and traditions of one of the NFL's most popular teams? 100 Things Cowboys Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die was created for everyone who cheers for pro football in Dallas. Both entertaining and enlightening, this must-have guide ranks and explains the essential information and can't-miss experiences every Cowboys fan needs. This book has it all: the star players—from Roger Staubach to Tony Romo; the larger-than-life coaches (Landry, Johnson, Switzer, and more); the biggest games, from the Ice Bowl to the eight Super Bowl appearances; even the landmarks, including the Cotton Bowl and the team's amazing new stadium. This edition has been updated with the 2008–2014 seasons, including the Cowboys' 12–4 2014 season.

With the subhead An NCAA Championship and Two Super Bowl Wins--Now Will You Leave Me Alone Jimmy Johnson's outspoken football autobiography has been revised and updated to include the 1993-94 season. The ultimate insider's look at football--from one of the true masters of the sport. 16-page photo insert.

Omar Vizquel doesn't just make the tough plays look easy. He makes the toughest plays look fun. Widely considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the history of baseball, he is often praised by teammates, opponents, and fans alike for working so hard at his game -- and for obviously enjoying it so much. His hard work has paid off. Omar has won an amazing nine consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and holds the highest career fielding percentage of anyone at the position. He has been selected for two American League All Star teams, has played in two World Series, and has been a key member of six Central Division Championship Cleveland Indians teams. In this, his first book, Omar tells the story of his life in baseball, from the sandlots of Caracas, Venezuela, to Game Seven of the world Series and beyond. Along the way he offers a candid look inside the locker room of those powerhouse Indians teams, shares anecdotes about fellow major league ballplayers, and gives plenty of lively opinions on the game they all play.

The author of the Lambda Literary Award winner Kamikaze Lust delivers “a thrilling tale of espionage, family ties, sex, love, and betrayal” (The Advocate). Jennifer Baron is a failed Olympic speed skater now running her family’s foundation and trying to stay sober, when her billionaire father disappears. She travels to Israel in search of him, becoming recklessly entangled in his illegal dealings and with his enigmatic lover, Gila, a former Mossad agent gone bad. Along the way, she is drawn into the shadow worlds of the Promised Land, where career-jockeying government agents, fake Orthodox Jews, queer Palestinians on the run, and other displaced wanderers scramble to find home amid the endless cycles of war, occupation, and heartbreak. The Book of Love and Hate is an unraveling of white-collar crime and its motivations. It’s a testament to the magnificent oblivion of love and a shattering of inherited trauma, both personal and historical. “A thriller of literary pedigree, unbound by convention . . . If you’re seeking a cathartic resolution in the final pages, you might be disappointed—but you shouldn’t be surprised. Not when you’re talking about Israel and corrupt fortunes, and madness, obsession, and abuse . . . Just don’t expect to find a safe, comforting space in the pages of Lauren Sanders’s discomforting and terrific book.” —The Village Voice “Sanders knows how to craft a story. The storyline is riveting, and the personal development of the characters kept me engaged on a deeper level than even her thrilling plot could. Her prose is beautiful and brings you to an ending that is sure to have you reeling.” —Windy City Times