“Alcatraz” by Michael Esslinger is meticulously researched and well written, this title definitely meets the criteria of “a definitive history.” Before it became the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934, a place without hope for more than 1,500 inmates for 29 years, it was originally a lighthouse before becoming a military fortification and prison. The author […]
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder “Downtown scientists rejoice! For Thurston Moore has unearthed the missing links, the sacred
The controversy around the case of a former Green Beret’s murder of his wife shows the lengths the government will go to to keep its secrets hidden. It was a dreary winter afternoon in Ayer, Massachusetts, a quintessential New England town, the type that is romanticized in Robert Frost’s poems. But on January 30, 1979,
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What started out as an idea for a regional sports service, blossomed into a sports media giant. ESPN has turned sports fans into addicts, and in fact, caused a woman to file for divorce claiming the network ruined her marriage. Devout ESPN watchers have even named their children ESPN, Travis Vogan offers an academic look
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Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, Negro Leagues Baseball was the only game in town for black athletes. And those leagues owed their existence and success to savvy business people like Effa Manley, the black female co-owner of the Newark Eagles. Effa was the team’s business manager, leading her team
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The first biography of Bill Withers, the most accidental music supernova, who walked away from fame and never looked back. Bill Withers entered the music fray as hardly an afterthought, rewrote the rules for a decade, earned a fortune, then, unable to square himself with the requisites of the music business, took his leave. When
From Triumph superstar Rik Emmett comes the thrilling, inspiring story of a life of rock and roll While describing the impulse driving his life and work, Rik Emmett explains, “I was never in it for the sex and drugs—ah, but the rock and roll. Creativity was, and still is, my it—the truth I bet my
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Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a place without hope, a prison of the mind. From 1934 to 1963, “The Rock” housed the prisoners the system deemed “high risk,” that required extra supervision. The incarcerated studied every square inch of the facility looking for any opportunity to escape what was considered the inescapable. While many may have
Who was the real Evel Knievel? When the daredevil’s bicycle helmet is taken off, and the legend is removed, the man remaining might not be the resemble the character we remember from his heydays. In “Evel,” Leigh Montville separates facts from fiction, and as you learn, that is not only the easiest proposition when it
“The Occasionally Accurate Annals of Football” takes a hard look at the history of NFL, with a twist of comedy and humor. As the book claims, you receive a little education with lots of entertainment. The wonderful sportscaster Dan Patrick is the narrator, and does a fantastic job taking the listener through this journey. You
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