Other books that might interest you

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  My $50000 Year at the Races

  Andrew Beyer

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  A Harvard dropout’s memoir of playing the horses—a great read for handicappers or those who enjoyed Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House. In 1977, before he was known as the creator of “The Beyer Speed Figure,” Andrew Beyer set out on a gambling odyssey, determined to prove himself as a horseplayer. He would marshal all his handicapping skills for assaults on four racetracks: Gulfstream Park, Pimlico, Saratoga, and the Barrington Fair.   The then thirty-three-year-old Harvard dropout had the credentials for this undertaking: two years earlier, his book Picking Winners had won a claim from bettors and critics alike. But the theory of handicapping and the practice of it are two very different things, and Beyer did all he could to prepare himself for this new challenge. He consulted with other professional horseplayers. He undertook detailed analyses of trainers and their methods. He refined his speed-handicapping techniques. He developed a revolutionary method for evaluating horses shipped from one track to another. He formulated a bold betting strategy. During the year, he experienced the dizzying thrill of winning more than $10,000 in an afternoon, and agonizing frustration that drove him to bash a hole in the wall of the Gulfstream Park press box. When it was over, Beyer had amassed a profit of $50,664.   His account of the year offers a rare, unromanticized look at the world of professional gambling. For horseplayers who have dreamed of beating the races, he proves that the dream is, sometimes, attainable. And he explains, in specific detail, how it can be done. There are no gimmicks in My $50,000 Year at the Races. Instead, there is a proven method of beating the races—and Andrew Beyer’s marvelously entertaining story of how he put it in practice.

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  The Nation Holds its Breath - My...

  George Hamilton

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  ‘David O'Leary is entrusted with the responsibility of taking the penalty that could send Ireland to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. This kick can decide it all. The nation holds its breath … Yes, we're there!'Written with his trademark warmth and candour, The Nation Holds Its Breath is George Hamilton's eagerly awaited and wonderfully told journey through a rich and varied career in broadcasting.As the undisputed voice of Irish football, George's evocative and celebrated commentary is familiar to millions. He has captured the highs and lows of Irish sport for generations of fans, ever since he first took up the microphone in the mid-seventies, and he has been enthralling his audiences ever since.The listener will be captivated as George takes us on an affectionate journey from the Cregagh Road in East Belfast to an emotional farewell salute from Big Jack Charlton on the hallowed Anfield turf in 1995. The destinations – Stuttgart, Genoa, New Jersey – will be familiar, the journeys in between, anything but. A must-listen memoir from one of Ireland's truly undeniable national treasures.

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  An Emotional Gauntlet - From...

  Stuart J. Wright

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  A moving account of the lives of one diverse WWII American aircrew, “filled with humor, chaos, horror, and tragedy” (The Freeport Journal-Standard).   In this book, Stuart J Wright tells the gripping story of a World War II American aircrew flying missions from Old Buckenham, England in a B-24 Liberator bomber they nicknamed Corky, based on years of research and correspondence with crew members and their families.   Wright adds a dimension rarely explored in other World War II memoirs and narratives, beginning the chronicle during peacetime when the men of the aircrew are introduced as civilians—kids during the 1920s. As they mature through the years of the Great Depression to face a world at war, questions are raised about “just” and “unjust” wars, imperialism and patriotism. Jingoistic sentimentality is resisted in favor of objectivity, as the feelings and motivations of the crew members are explored: the Chinese American air gunner had hoped to serve in the U.S. Army Air Force to fight against the Japanese invaders of his homeland; the Jewish navigator felt compelled to join the battle against Nazi Germany. In recounting the harrowing conditions and horrors of bombing missions over Europe, An Emotional Gauntlet emphasizes the interpersonal relationships within the crew and the spirit these men shared. As pilot Jack Nortridge regularly assured his crew, “If you fly with me, I'm going to bring you home.” This book is a testament to their strength and determination.  Includes photographs   “Compelling…stands out for its integration of pre-war civilian life with wartime experiences. To me, this is the essence of America's story in the war, and I am glad to find a book that comprehends this and tells the story from this perspective.”—Jerome Klinkowitz, author of Yanks Over Europe: American Flyers in World War II

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  Abraham Lincoln and the American...

  Dan Monroe

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  Abraham Lincoln was arguably the greatest American president. Now, you can take a deeper look at his powerful presidency and the war that shook America 150 years ago in this insightful course.
  
   
  Raised in Kentucky and Indiana by a father who did not value education, Lincoln had only a year of formal education. Rented out for day labor by his father, Lincoln gained insight into the injustices of slavery and would go on to become a self-educated lawyer.
  
   
  After meeting the young Lincoln and examining his colorful legal adventures and improbably ascendency to the U.S. presidency, you will gain an historian’s insight into the causes of the Civil War. You will explore the war’s surprising first year, the chaos of the first battle at Bull Run, the emergence of the plodding George McClellan, and the dramatic success of Confederate arms under Robert E. Lee. With fresh insight, you will probe Lincoln’s decision to embrace emancipation and explore the reasons behind this game-changing policy change. Examine Lincoln’s unforgettable speech at Gettysburg in 1863, wherein he upheld the Declaration of Independence as the key founding document of the United States of America.
  
   
  Finally, you will explore civil liberties in both the Union and the Confederacy during the war, the emergence of Ulysses S. Grant, and Lincoln’s memorable reflections on the conflict in his Second Inaugural Address followed soon after by his tragic martyrdom.
  
   
  You will relish each lecture as you gain a deeper understanding of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War.

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  Here We Are Now - The Lasting...

  Charles R. Cross

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  Kurt Cobain was the voice of a generation. Twenty years after his death, why does he still matter? 
  On April 5, 1994, twenty-seven-year-old Kurt Cobain took his own life. His desperation to kick drugs, his complicated relationship with fame, his tortured soul-all these elements came together in one terrible moment in Seattle, and the landscapes of music and pop culture were forever changed. Two decades have passed since Cross, a Seattle-based editor and writer and early supporter of Nirvana, lived the horror of that day on the front lines, fielding the phone calls as the media descended upon his city, desperately searching for an exclusive on the death of yet another young rock icon. 
  While the impact of a person's life is difficult to see fully on the day he dies, the long view provides a wider, and usually more accurate, vista. For the first time ever, Cross, author of the definitive Cobain biography, Heavier Than Heaven, explores how the haunting memory of Cobain-the life he led, the music he played, and the people he touched-lives on in innumerable, and sometimes surprising, ways. Here We Are Now attempts to answer where we-the fans, the music business and fashion industry, the addiction and recovery communities, Kurt's family-are, two decades later. 
  Cobain's life and work can be seen everywhere, from his indelible marks on music to his more subtle influence on gender and gay rights, the way we view suicide and drug addiction, and the very idea of Seattle as a cultural hub. Nirvana's music has touched multiple generations, and while the world has changed considerably since Nevermind was first released in 1991, the status of that album only grows as years pass. Cobain and Nirvana are now part of a rite of passage through adolescence, and while "teen spirit" may have changed and evolved since the early nineties, the music remains authentic all the same. Simply stated, Kurt Cobain changed the cultural conversation, in his all too brief life, and even after his shattering death. With interviews and commentary from all corners of the pop culture universe, from the people who knew Cobain to those who continue to help his legend grow, Here We Are Now explores what a singular life meant, and how that meaning can be measured, when and if it can be.

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  The Little Ghost Girl - Abused...

  Maggie Hartley

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  Ruth was a ghost of a girl when she arrived into foster mother Maggie Hartley's care. Pale, frail, and withdrawn, it was clear to Maggie that Ruth had seen and experienced things that no eleven-year-old should have to, that she's been conditioned to "see no evil, speak no evil." Ruth is in desperate need of help, but can Maggie get through to her and unlock the harrowing secret she carries? 
  Through love, reassurance, and patience, Maggie starts to unravel Ruth's painful past—a past defined by cruelty and abuse by the very people who should have protected her. Raised by a cruel stepmother and her father after her own mum abandoned her, Ruth was abused, underfed, and ignored, while her half-siblings lived a life of luxury. 
  It's up to Maggie to help Ruth find her voice; to be a ghost no more, and bring those who've harmed her to justice.

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