When it comes to Britain, most Americans don’t know (Union) Jack. Fortunately, now an Anglo-American husband-and-wife team are here to help with a smart, funny, and handy guide that minds the gap between fact and fiction. From Whigs and Windsors to wankers and Wales, this spit-spot-on reference covers all manner of British history, society, culture, language, and everyday life, including• the class system, title envy, and a thumbnail sketch of British dynasties• highlights o...

Becoming Big League is the story of Seattle's relationship with major league baseball from the 1962 World's Fair to the completion of the Kingdome in 1976 and beyond. Bill Mullins focuses on the acquisition and loss, after only one year, of the Seattle Pilots and documents their on-the-field exploits in lively play-by-play sections.The Pilots' underfunded ownership, led by Seattle's Dewey and Max Soriano and William Daley of Cleveland, struggled to make the team a success....

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the YearNCAA football is big business. Every Saturday millions of people file into massive stadiums or tune in on television as "athlete-students" give everything they've got to make their team a success. Billions of dollars now flow into the game. But what is the true cost? The players have no share in the oceans of money. And once the lights go down, the glitter doesn't shine so brightly. Filled with mind-blowing details of major NCAA football scand...

It would be hard to invent a group of personalities more extraordinary than the British Royal Family – known as 'The Firm' by Prince Philip. With an eye on the past, present and future, this book takes a look at how the family really operates and reveals how they behave behind closed doors.This ebook is made from the 2009 edition.With showbiz stars and sporting celebrities now attracting the adulation once afforded to royalty, The Firm questions what monarchy is for.

If baseball is America's national religion, then the Hall of Fame is its High Church. Being named among its 286 inductees makes you the closest thing our country has to an undisputed hero - even a secular saint. But the men in the Hall of Fame are no angels. Among their number are gamblers, drunks, race-baiters, at least one murderer, and perhaps the greatest collection of bona fide characters ever to be dignified by an honor of any kind.This is the book the Hall of Fame deserves. ...

In the 1950s, in Las Vegas, a businessmen’s conglomerate dominating a $25 million-a-year sports industry hid their illegal practices from the U.S. Department of Justice until they were caught. The sport that privileged cold hard cash over honest competition was professional wrestling, and the conspirators were members of the famed National Wrestling Alliance.National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling examines the NWA promote...

'A terrific account of a great nation cursed by ordinary leaders' - George Megalogenis'There's sharpness and insight in Bryant's book' - Sydney Morning HeraldNever before has Australia enjoyed such economic, commercial, diplomatic and cultural clout. Its recession-proof economy is the envy of the world. It’s the planet’s great lifestyle superpower. But its politics have never been so brutal, narrow and facile, as well as such a glob...

'Retiring in 1975, Fred Daly liked to tell the story of the new Member who sat next to him in the House. Turning to Fred, he said, 'I like to sit here and look across at the enemy.''Son,' said Fred, 'you are looking at the Opposition. The enemy is behind you.' 'Phillip Adams has been close to governments of various persuasions for over fifty years. Having been a confidant – or a fierce opponent – of many of Australia's most influential figure...

It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television ...

From New York Times bestselling author and Michigan football expert John Back, an analysis of the state of college football: Why we love the game, what is at risk, and the fight to save it.In search of the sport’s old ideals amid the roaring flood of hypocrisy and greed, bestselling author John U. Bacon embedded himself in four college football programs—Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Northwestern—and captured the oldest, biggest, most stori...

News, views and hilarious stories from the legend of Newsnight and long-standing quiz master of University Challenge.‘Bursting with good things’ Daily TelegraphDuring 25 years as BBC Newsnight’s supreme inquisitor, Jeremy Paxman proved himself as the master of the political intervview. From John Major to Theresa May and Tony Blair to Ed Miliband, he has them quaking in their boots. But it wasn’t just politicians. Paxman’s interview...

Professional sports in America: it’s all about fair play and the goal of winning championships. At least that’s the spin. But could it be a massive showbiz operation filled with greedy owners, crooked referees, and coddled players, all with the unstated goal of grabbing as much money as possible?Author Brian Tuohy provides a full-sourced saga of the corruption that has infected the storied histories of the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and NASCAR.With reality obscured by a complacent...