Other books that might interest you

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  World in Their Hands - The Story...

  Martyn Thomas

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  Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Rugby Book of the Year 2023  World in their Hands recounts the remarkable events that led to a group of friends from south-west London staging the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991. The tournament was held just 13 years after teams from University College London and King’s contested a match that catalysed the growth of the women’s game in the UK, and the organisers overcame myriad obstacles before, during and after the World Cup. Those challenges, which included ingrained misogyny, motherhood, a recession, the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, provide a fitting framing device for a book that celebrates female achievement in the face of adversity.  Although ostensibly a story about women’s rugby, this is a tale that has rare crossover appeal. It is not only the account of a group of inspirational women who took on the institutional misogyny that existed in rugby clubs across the globe to put on a first ever Women’s Rugby World Cup. It is also the compelling and relatable tale of how those women, their peers and others in the generations before them, reshaped the idea of what it means to be a woman, finding acceptance and friendship on boggy rugby pitches. At the time, with the men’s game tying itself up in knots about professionalism and apartheid, these women were a breath of fresh air. Three decades on, their achievements deserve to be highlighted to a wider audience.

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  Flat Out Flat Broke

  Perry McCarthy

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  Perry McCarthy is simply unique; he is an ex-Formula One racing driver and was 'The Stig’ from the world-wide BBC Top Gear TV show. Highly popular in the world of motor racing, The Telegraph headlined him as ‘a new cult hero’, The Times called him ‘the world’s unluckiest racing driver and America’s Sunday Express described him as a ‘comedian locked inside a racing driver's body’.Flat Out Flat Broke, with an amusing and poignant Foreword by 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill, is his hilarious and internationally acclaimed autobiography which takes you on Perry’s roller-coaster adventure as he battled on and off the racetracks of the world to fulfil his dream of Grand Prix stardom. Receiving fantastic reviews as one of the bestselling motor racing books of all time, Perry’s story will have you on the edge of your seat, either on the verge of tears or howling with laughter at both his bizarre misfortune and his triumphs against the odds. Don't miss it, it's the life story of a battler, a maestro in so many disciplines. But overall, Perry McCarthy knows how to recover from failure and create success. From working on oil rigs to fame as The Stig, Flat Out Flat Broke is an utterly fascinating read and you will see why even other racing drivers affectionately call him ‘Mad Dog’!

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  Down Memory Lane - A Spurs Fan's...

  Harry Harris

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  Fleet Street legend Harry Harris, who has written some 78 best-selling football books, gives a fan's eye view of life as a Spurs supporter for 65 years with unique insights into the players, managers and personalities who have shaped the club's history.

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  Going the Other Way - An...

  Billy Bean, Chris Bull

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  From major league baseball’s only openly gay former player—and now its first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion—the intimate chronicle of a man who, in the prime of his career, had to make a terrible choice between his love of the game and the love of his lifeMore than ten years after its original publication, Going the Other Way remains deeply moving, and more timely than ever. By virtue of a relentless work ethic, exceptional multi-sport talent, and a quick left-handed swing, Billy Bean made it to the majors, where he played from 1987 to 1995—an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres. But as a gay man in the brutally anti-gay world of baseball, closeted to teammates and family, Bean found himself unable to reconcile two worlds that he felt to be mutually exclusive. At the young age of 31, in the prime of his career, even as he solidified his role as a major-league utility player, Bean walked away from the game that was both his calling and his livelihood. At once heartbreaking and farcical, ruminative and uncensored, this unprecedented memoir points the way toward a more perfect game, one in which all players can pursue their athletic dreams free of prejudice and discrimination.

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  The Feeling of Greatness - The...

  Tim O'Connor

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  From the award-winning journalist and coach: a biography of “the ‘Rain Man’ of golf. It’s a character drama. It’s an underdog story” (Barry Morrow, Academy Award–winning screenwriter). 
   
  Documentary now in production! 
   
  In The Feeling of Greatness, second edition, golf coach Tim O’Connor updates his previous biography of the late great, Canadian golfer Moe Norman, who was famous for introducing the single plane golf swing. This edition includes new anecdotes about Moe both on and off the course by golfers, journalists, friends, and family, and offers a more in-depth portrait of the man and golfer, especially in the last years of his life. O’Connor shares with readers his personal and professional friendships with Moe along the way. Some twenty years later, from a distanced perspective, O’Connor sets the record straight about Norman, promotes his legacy as the legendary golfer he was, and reflects on life lessons learned from their association over the years. 
   
  Praise for Moe Norman and The Feeling of Greatness 
   
  “Only two players have ever owned their swings: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan.” —Tiger Woods 
   
  “Well-written and meticulously researched.” —James McCarten, PGATour.com 
   
  “Tim O’Connor has helped us better understand one of golf’s most intriguing and disturbing members.” —Hal Quinn, The Financial Post

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  The Farmers' Game - Baseball in...

  David Vaught

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  A journey through the national pastime’s roots in America’s small towns and wide-open spaces: “An absorbing read.” —The Tampa Tribune 
   
  In the film Field of Dreams, the lead character gives his struggling farming community a magical place where the smell of roasted peanuts gently wafts over the crowded grandstand on a warm summer evening, just as the star pitcher takes the mound. In The Farmers’ Game, David Vaught examines the history and character of baseball through a series of essay-vignettes—presenting the sport as essentially rural, reflecting the nature of farm and small-town life. 
   
  Vaught does not deny or devalue the lively stickball games played in the streets of Brooklyn, but he sees the history of the game and the rural United States as related and mutually revealing. His subjects include nineteenth-century Cooperstown, the playing fields of Texas and Minnesota, the rural communities of California, the great farmer-pitcher Bob Feller, and the notorious Gaylord Perry. 
   
  Although—contrary to legend—Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball in a cow pasture in upstate New York, many fans enjoy the game for its nostalgic qualities. Vaught’s deeply researched exploration of baseball’s rural roots helps explain its enduring popularity.

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