I was five years of age when I first fell in love with the sea, which is the subject of the first story in my book All At Sea.I was a 'natural' at it, often performing a task on a boat before being told when or how to do it. I believe this knowledge came from a previous life spent on the water, and from the genes of two grandfathers who had been seafarers, and my father who had also spent some time at sea. Even my adventures in boatbuilding came without much formal training, but ra...

Most baseball fans want to hear about stellar players and spectacular plays, statistics and storied franchises. Level Playing Fields sheds light on a usually unnoticed facet of the game, introducing fans and historians alike to the real fundamentals of baseball: dirt and grass. In this lively history, Peter Morris demonstrates that many of the game’s rules and customs actually arose as concessions to the daunting practical difficulties of creating a baseball diamond.Recove...

William Morris—the great 19th-century craftsman, designer, poet and writer—remains a monumental figure whose influence resonates powerfully today. As an intellectual (and author of the seminal utopian News from Nowhere), his concern with artistic and human values led him to cross what he called the “river of fire” and become a committed socialist—committed not to some theoretical formula but to the day by day struggle of working women and men in Britain and to the evolution of his...

This is the first biography in over 100 years of the great Tom Morris of St Andrews, who presided over one of the most illustrious periods in the history of golf, who - more than anyone before or since in any game - stamped his individual character upon his sport and how, in large measure, made golf what it is today.Born in a humble weaver's cottage in St Andrews in 1821, by the time of his death in 1908, he had become a figure of international renown. When he was buried with all t...

How were the polymers which have transformed our world created? How has our understanding of polymers changed since the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius coined the word ‘polymer’ in 1832? Who were the people who wrought the polymer revolution? This book answers these questions by presenting a compelling narrative that weaves together the history of polymer science, the development of new plastics and rubbers and biographies of the leading actors in this revolution.A key feature...

A tribute to the golden age of radio from veteran producer Joe Bevilacqua and comic strip artist Donnie Pitchford, The 2nd New & Old Time Radio Collection is a series of new stories and parodies featuring beloved radio characters and shows.A Joe Bev Audio Theater Sampler, Volume 1This half-hour anthology represents more than forty years of storytelling by Joe Bevilacqua, a.k.a Joe Bev, the award-winning actor, writer, producer, and director. Each half-hour...

Mai 1953: Edmund Hillary und Tenzing Norgay bezwingen den höchsten Berg der Welt, den Mount Everest. Ihren erfolgreichen Gipfelsturm verdanken sie nicht zuletzt der aufopferungsvollen Vorarbeit ihrer Expeditionskameraden – darunter George Lowe. Täglich schrieb der neuseeländische Bergsteiger-Pionier für seine Freunde und Verwandten Briefe über die Vorbereitungen der Himalaya-Expedition und den dramatischen Verlauf der historischen Besteigung. Seine Berichte katapultieren d...

As befits a game traditionally passed from one generation to the next, baseball has always had a special reverence for origins. Claims of being first with any element of the game are disputed with fervor and passion. When the octogenarian Fred Goldsmith died in 1939, a headline proclaimed, 'Goldsmith Dies Insisting He Invented Curve Ball'; Fred Goldsmith understood the secret of immortality. Yet while countless thousands of words have been spilled on the subject of baseball “firsts,” there...

Written by eminent sociologists, this book introduces and assesses some of the most influential, recent sociological theories. Each chapter explains the theory and describes a related program of empirical research. Chapters are authored by the actual founders (and/or leading exponents) of these theoretical programs; many chapters contain a description of the inception, growth, and present status of the theoretical program. The book covers a broad range of sociological concerns, from the in...

Neither Fish nor Fowl: A Mercantile Jewish Family on the Rio Grande is the memoir of Morris Riskind, who was born and lived most of his life in the small Texas border town of Eagle Pass. Riskind’s parents, Michael and Rachel, were Russian Jewish immigrants who arrived in Eagle Pass in 1910, where Michael founded a clothing store that three generations of his family operated for nearly a century.After Michael’s retirement in the 1950s, Morris took over management of the sto...

From white coats to Bunsen burners the laboratory is a controlled space of experimentation, research and invention. But how have the desired functions of the laboratory influenced the way that the laboratory was constructed, laid out, equipped and operated? And how have developments in chemical practice or theory changed the laboratory and the way it is used? The Matter Factory offers a novel approach to the history of chemistry, showing how the development of the laboratory also ...

Continuing a three-decade tradition, The State of the Parties 7th edition brings together leading experts to evaluate change and continuity in American electoral politics. Political parties in America have never been more contentious and divided than they are right now. Even splits within the parties themselves have the power to elevate relatively unknown candidates to power and topple established incumbents. With sections devoted to polarization and the electorate, polarization and politi...