Other books that might interest you

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  Taking The Mickey

  Neil Manthorp, Mickey Arthur

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  Mickey Arthur was one of SA's longest-serving and most successful coaches. In 2008, along with the national team, he created history when the Proteas beat both England and Australia on their own turf. Beating Pakistan away from home the year before, set in motion an unprecedented journey to the number one ranking in both ODI and Test cricket. Since the world ranking system was introduced to international cricket, Australia has been the only other team to achieve this feat. In 12 tours 'down under' spanning almost a century, South Africa has never managed to win a Test series in Australia. But Arthur, captain Graeme Smith and the rest of the team overcame incredible odds to chase a toal over 400 in the first Test in Perth. They faced what seemed certain defeat in Melbourne to win again and take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead. South Africa became the top ranked team in Test cricket, finally unseating the mighty Australians who dominated for years. Soon after, they repeated this feat when they became the top ranked ODI team. But behind the scenes, things weren't always progressing smoothly. Whereas Arthur would do anything for the team, his umcompromising approach to administrators and refusal to be dictated to by men he believed were 'out of touch', was beginning to count against him. Not surprisingly, the Proteas failed to live up to the heights of 2008. They suffered the ignominy of a first rount exit from the Champions Trophy at the beginning of the 2009 season. Soon after, they had to win the final Test of a four-match series against England to salvage a draw. But there was nothing ominous about the players' collective form and spirits were high as the squad prepared for a tour to India. The tour was to all intents and purposes a Test match 'world championship' between the two nations ranked first and second in the world. A week before the team's departure, Arthur 'resigned'. He was given no choice. A press conference was hastily called in his home town of East London and Smith flew from Cape Town to appear alongside him and quash rumours of deterioration in their personal relationship. Arthur never elaborated on the reasons for his untimely dismissal. Until now...

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  Born to Shine - Practical Tools...

  Ashley LeMieux

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  This powerful memoir and inspirational guide shares a story of loss, resilience, and life-changing lessons found in the darkest seasons of life.   When Ashley LeMieux and her husband lost their children in an adoption battle, it sent her into a tailspin that, ultimately, taught Ashley how to soar. Most people live with constant fears, burdens, and pains that they try to hide from themselves or others. In Born to Shine, Ashley shares a message of hope for women brave enough to admit that everything is not okay. Because the truth is that even when life is in ruins, people can still shine.    LeMieux tells her story in alternating chapters, interspersed with lessons readers can apply in their own lives. It combines personal reflections and practical tools to help women shine despite the darkness, to press forward one day at a time, and to turn their most painful moments into their greatest teachers and signposts to true, deep, unassailable joy.

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  The Game from Where I Stand -...

  Doug Glanville

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  Doug Glanville, a former major league outfielder and Ivy League graduate, draws on his nine seasons in the big leagues to reveal the human side of the game and of the men who play it. "Filled with sharp insights, keen observations, and great stories, his book is championship caliber." —The Philadelphia InquirerIn The Game from Where I Stand, Glanville shows us how players prepare for games, deal with race and family issues, cope with streaks and slumps, respond to trades and injuries, and learn the joyful and painful lessons the game imparts. We see the flashpoints that cause misunderstandings and friction between players, and the imaginative ways they work to find common ground. And Glanville tells us with insight and humor what he learned from Jimmy Rollins, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, and other legendary and controversial stars.In his professional career, Glanville experienced every aspect of being a player—the first-round pick, the prospect, the disappointment, the can't-miss, the cornerstone, the veteran, the traded, the injured, the comeback kid. His eye-opening book gives fans a new level of understanding of day-to-day life in the big leagues.

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  The Autobiography of Davy...

  David Crockett

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  "In the following pages I have endeavoured to give the reader a plain, honest, homespun account of my state in life, and some few of the difficulties which have attended me along its journey, down to this time. I am perfectly aware, that I have related many small and, as I fear, uninteresting circumstances; but if so, my apology is, that it was rendered necessary by a desire to link the different periods of my life together, as they have passed, from my childhood onward, and thereby to enable the reader to select such parts of it as he may relish most, if, indeed, there is any thing in it which may suit his palate."

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  Dolley and James Madison - An...

  Rodney Smith

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  Power couples aren't a modern phenomenon. The greatest American couple ever to have served America in a public capacity was the country's fourth president, James Madison, and his wife, who is considered to be our "first, First Lady," Dolley Madison. 
  In his heartwarming, lively, and accessible book Dolley and James Madison: An Unlikely Love Story that Saved America, Rodney K. Smith, who directs the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University, chronicles two remarkable and inspiring lives of service, a story that remains as relevant today as it was two centuries ago. Of note is Smith's emphasis on the significance of Dolley's role in the founding of the United States. Without her efforts to build civility in a time more tumultuous than our own, it is unlikely that we would have survived our first generation as a nation conceived in liberty, secured by the constitutional rule of law and liberty.

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  A Life for Freedom - The Mission...

  Denis Goldberg

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  In this fascinating memoir, the anti-apartheid activist recounts his lifelong fight for emancipation and the years he endured in a South African prison. 
   
  From June 1963 to October 1964, ten antiapartheid activists were tried at South Africa's Pretoria Supreme Court. Standing among the accused were Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, was Denis Goldberg. Charged under the Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts for “campaigning to overthrow the government by violent revolution,” Goldberg was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The only white man convicted during the infamous Rivonia trial, he played a historic role in the struggle for justice in South Africa. 
   
  Goldberg grew up acutely aware of the injustice permeating his homeland. He joined the South African Communist Party and helped found the Congress of Democrats. But it was his role as an officer in the armed underground wing of the African National Congress that led to his life sentence—which left him behind bars for twenty-two years. While in prison, the dogma of apartheid imposed complete separation from his black comrades, a segregation that denied him both the companionship and the counsel of his fellow accused. 
   
  Recounted with humor and humility, Goldberg's story provides a sweeping overview of life in South Africa during and after apartheid. It also illuminates the experiences of the activists and oppressors whose fates were bound together.

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