He was The Kid. The Splendid Splinter. Teddy Ballgame. One ofthe greatest figures of his generation, and arguably the greatestbaseball hitter of all time. But what made Ted Williams a legend –and a lightning rod for controversy in life and in death? Whatmotivated him to interrupt his Hall of Fame career twice to servehis country as a fighter pilot; to embrace his fans while tanglingwith the media; to retreat from the limelight whenever possibleinto his solitary love of fishing; and to become the most famousman ever to have his body cryogenically frozen after his death? NewYork Times bestselling author Leigh Montville, who wrote thecelebrated Sports Illustrated obituary of Ted Williams, nowdelivers an intimate, riveting account of this extraordinarylife. Still a gangly teenager when he stepped into a Boston Red Soxuniform in 1939, Williams’s boisterous personality and penchant fortowering home runs earned him adoring admirers--the fans--andvenomous critics--the sportswriters. In 1941, the enti
A dual portrait of the leader of the Oglala Sioux and thegeneral of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry in 1876 cites the battle ofJune 25 and chronicles the sometimes striking similarities in thelives of both men. Reprint. LJ.
The epic life and times of one of the most important politicalfigures in our history. He was the Great Compromiser, a canny and colorful legislator andleader whose life mirrors the story of America from its foundinguntil the eve of the Civil War. Speaker of the House, senator,secretary of state, five-time presidential candidate, and idol tothe young Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay is captured in full at lastin this rich and sweeping biography that vividly portrays all thedrama of his times. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler present Clay in his earlyyears as a precocious, witty, and optimistic Virginia boy, raisedon a farm, who at the age of twenty transformed himself frombumpkin to attorney—a shrewd and sincere defender of the ordinaryman who would be his eventual political base. The authors revealClay’s tumultuous career in Washington, one that transformed thecapital and the country. Nicknamed “the Western Star,” Clay becamethe youngest Speaker of the House shortly before the War of 1812and tran
Originally a New Deal liberal and aggressive anticommunist,Senator Eugene McCarthy famously lost faith with the Democraticparty over Vietnam. His stunning challenge to Lyndon Johnson in the1968 New Hampshire primary inspired young liberals and was one ofthe greatest electoral upsets in American history. But the 1968election ultimately brought Richard Nixon and the Republican Partyto power, irrevocably shifting the country’s political landscape tothe right for decades to come. Dominic Sandbrook traces one of the most remarkable andsignificant lives in postwar politics, a career marked by bothcourage and arrogance. Sandbrook draws on extensive new research –including interviews with McCarthy himself – to show convincinglyhow Eugene McCarthy’s political experience embodies the largerdecline of American liberalism after World War II. These weretumultuous times in American politics, and Sandbrook vividlycaptures the drama and historical significance through his intimateportrait of a singularly
He had a number one hit at eighteen. He was a millionaire withhis own record label at twenty-two. He was, according to Tom Wolfe,“the first tycoon of teen.” Phil Spector owned pop music. From theCrystals, the Ronettes (whose lead singer, Ronnie, would become hissecond wife), and the Righteous Brothers to the Beatles (togetherand singly) and finally the seventies punk icons The Ramones,Spector produced hit after hit. But then he became pop music's mostfamous recluse. Until one day in the spring of 2007, when his namehit the tabloids, connected to a horrible crime. In Tearing Downthe Wall of Sound , Mick Brown, who was the last journalist tointerview Spector before his arrest , tells the full story ofthe troubled musical genius.
