A picture of life in the boxing ring“Few novelists captured the contradictions of his country so simply or so honestly in the metaphor of the pure, fatalistic, and merciless community of bruising.”—from the ForewordWhen The Bruiser was first published in 1936, almost every reviewer praised Jim Tully’s gritty boxing novel for its authenticity—a hard-earned attribute. Twenty-eight years before the appearance of The Bruiser, Tully began a car...

“A vital and gripping” (The Washington Post) exploration of how Black Americans have shaped baseball from its emergence after the Civil War to the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, up to today’s game—by award-winning author Gerald Early in collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.FINALIST: CASEY AWARD FOR THE BEST BASEBALL BOOK OF THE YEARNo sport has been more associated with America’s...

While humans have used their hands to engage in combat since the dawn of man, boxing originated in Ancient Greece as an Olympic event. It is one of the most popular, controversial and misunderstood sports in the world. For its advocates, it is a heroic expression of unfettered individualism. For its critics, it is a depraved and ruthless physical and commercial exploitation of mostly poor young men. This Companion offers engaging and informative essays about the social impact and historica...

First performed in 1964, Amiri Baraka's play about a charged encounter between a black man and a white woman still has the power to shock. The play, steeped in the racial issues of its time, continues to speak to racial violence and inequality today.This volume offers strategies for guiding students through this short but challenging text. Part 1, "Materials," provides resources for biographical information, critical and literary backgrounds, and the play's early production history...

An authoritative exploration of how Black Americans have shaped baseball from its emergence after the Civil War to the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, up to today’s game—by award-winning author Gerald Early in collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.No sport has been more associated with America’s sense of itself, with its identity, than baseball. No sport has been so inextricably bound with America’s traditions—with...

"Dirk Hayhurst has done it again. . .Turns out he's a starter and a closer." —Tim Kurkjian, ESPNAs a major and not-so-major league pitcher, Dirk Hayhurst has learned to master more than striking out batters. While waiting for his name to be called in the bullpen, he honed his gifts as a storyteller, one the New York Times calls the "best writer in a baseball uniform." In this often hilarious collection of adventures on and off the diamond, Dirk details the intricacies of pulling of...

CPA Kevin "Rocky" Collins needs his formidable sense of humor more than ever. He's still reeling from the sudden death of his charismatic but demanding and disappointed father, and his caustic wit and quirky Boston Irish personality have cost him his job. They've also sparked dangerous run-ins with a huge Mafia hit man and a biker strongman, and fostered a decided lack of way with women.Fortunately, Rocky's old friends from the neighborhood-a power-lifting bouncer, an alcoholic Vie...

He was born, wild and free, in the vast mountainous scrublands of Nevada. Until he was a year old, no human hand touched him, though he knew something of the danger people represented to the herd. But one fateful day, the herd was chased by a huge black creature in the sky, and the yearling was separated from his mother. In blind panic he ran, but he could not outdistance the terrifying, whirling thing above him, or the humans on horseback that surrounded him.Before long, JB Andrew...

Gates Hunt is a compulsive felon, serving a stiff penitentiary sentence for selling cocaine. His brother, Mason, however, has escaped their bitter, impoverished upbringing to become the commonwealth's attorney for their rural hometown in Virginia, where he enjoys a contented life with his wife and spitfire daughter. But Mason's idyll is abruptly pierced by a wicked tragedy, and soon afterward trouble finds him again when he is forced to confront a brutal secret he and his brother had both ...

A "compelling" novel based on the life of Irish American gangster Owen Madden, from a New York Times–bestselling author ( Booklist).Winner of the American Book Award for FictionHis life of crime began at the age of ten, after he crossed the Atlantic with his family and landed in America. Starting as the leader of the most violent Irish street gang in Hell's Kitchen, the young immigrant rose to prominence as the leading brewer and ...

"Dan Jenkins is a comic genius." -- Don ImusMade into a hilarious and timeless film starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, and Jill Clayburgh, and recently named number seven on Sports Illustrated's Top 100 Sports Books of All Time, Semi-Tough is Dan Jenkins's masterpiece and considered by many to be the funniest sports book ever written.The novel follows the outsize adventures of Billy Clyde Puckett, star halfback for the New York Giants, whose team ha...