After identifying early conflicts between churches and baseball in the late-nineteenth century, Price examines the appropriation of baseball by the House of David, an early twentieth-century millennial Protestant community in southern Michigan. Turning then from historic intersections between baseball and religion, two chapters focus on the ways that baseball reelects religious myths. First, the omphalos myth about the origin and ordering of the world is reflected in the rituals and rules of the game. Then the myth of curses is explored in the culture of superstition that underlies the game. At the heart of the book is a sustained argument about how baseball functions as an American civil religion, affirming and sanctifying American identity, especially during periods of national crises such as wars and terrorist attacks. Building on this analysis of baseball as an America's civil religion, two chapters draw upon novels by W. P. Kinsella and David James Duncan to explore the sacramental potential of baseball and to align baseball with apocalyptic possibilities. The final chapter serves as a full confession, interpreting baseball affiliation stories as conversion narratives. In various ways

FROM EXCITING ROMANCE AUTHOR JAQUELINE SNOWE Book three in the Out of the Park series What happens when a summer fling doesn't end with the season? Sarah Blue has one dream—to open her own pet boarding business. When she receives an offer to spend three months in a penthouse looking after two dogs, she intends to do the best dog-sitting job possible, and focus on her business plan. What she didn't expect was to run into a stranger so handsome that she could barely put two words together at the sight of him. And she certainly didn't expect him to live across the hall and befriend her. Brigham Monaghan's reputation is on the line. After an arrest that went very public, his future as an outfielder with Los Soles isn't guaranteed. With his life a total mess, he welcomes the distraction from the blue-haired girl across the hall who not only doesn't know his name, but hates sports. It's the perfect situation. But things get complicated when what was supposed to be summer fun and flirting turns into something more. Sarah's business takes off, where Brigham's future is barely hanging on by a thread. With the odds stacking up against Brigham, Sarah can't help questioning his motives. Did he fall hard for her, like she did him, or is it just a PR ploy? Either way, he's going to break her heart...

In this YA novel in verse from bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo), which Kirkus called “lively, moving, and heartfelt” in a starred review, Noah and Walt just want to leave their geek days behind and find “cool,” but in the process discover a lot about first loves, friendship, and embracing life . . . as well as why Black Lives Matter is so important for all. Best friends Noah and Walt are far from popular, but Walt is convinced junior year is their year, and he has a plan that includes wooing the girls of their dreams and becoming amazing athletes. Never mind he and Noah failed to make their baseball team yet again, and Noah’s crush since third grade, Sam, has him firmly in the friend zone. While Walt focuses on his program of jazz, podcasts, batting cages, and a “Hug Life” mentality, Noah feels stuck in status quo … until he stumbles on a stash of old love letters. Each one contains words Noah’s always wanted to say to Sam, and he begins secretly creating artwork using the lines that speak his heart. But when his art becomes public, Noah has a decision to make: continue his life in the dugout and possibly lose the girl forever, or take a swing and finally speak out. At the same time, American flags are being left around town. While some think it’s a harmless prank and others see it as a form of protest, Noah can’t shake the feeling something bigger is happening to his community. Especially after he witnesses events that hint divides and prejudices run deeper than he realized. As the personal and social tensions increase around them, Noah and Walt must decide what is really important when it comes to love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate. Swing: is written by New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winner Kwame Alexander Features a diverse array of characters and perspectives tackles the biggest social issues of today, including racial prejudice and Black Lives Matter is perfect reading for the classroom or community-wide discussions is a 2020 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers contains original artwork tied to the story If you enjoy Swing, check out Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess.

An ex–Wall Street trader improved on Moneyball’s famed sabermetrics and beat the Vegas odds with his own betting methods. Here is the story of how Joe Peta turned fantasy baseball into a dream come true. Joe Peta turned his back on his Wall Street trading career to pursue an ingenious—and incredibly risky—dream. He would apply his risk-analysis skills to Major League Baseball, and treat the sport like the S&P 500. In Trading Bases, Peta takes us on his journey from the ballpark in San Francisco to the trading floors and baseball bars of New York and the sportsbooks of Las Vegas, telling the story of how he created a baseball “hedge fund” with an astounding 41 percent return in his first year. And he explains the unique methods he developed. Along the way, Peta provides insight into the Wall Street crisis he managed to escape: the fragility of the midnineties investment model; the disgraced former CEO of Lehman Brothers, who recruited Peta; and the high-adrenaline atmosphere where million-dollar sports-betting pools were common.

What happens when you want more in life than just running the bases? You hang out at home plate and stop playing the field. He's sexy and irresistible. I've done my best to ignore the magnetism that flows between us. I don't need complications in my life. I can't get wrapped up in his world, the last thing I need is to get attached to a professional athlete. I don't have time for heartbreak. Something about her pulls me in. I want to get to know her. I want a chance to show her I'm more than just my career, my paycheck. I'm the man for her. I know I am. No matter how much she resists this connection between us. It doesn't change the fact that she's my grand slam.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Privacy in Statistical Databases, PSD 2018, held in Valencia, Spain, in September 2018 under the sponsorship of the UNESCO Chair in Data Privacy. The 23 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 42 submissions. The papers are organized into the following topics: tabular data protection; synthetic data; microdata and big data masking; record linkage; and spatial and mobility data. Chapter "SwapMob: Swapping Trajectories for Mobility Anonymization" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

American communities face serious challenges when military bases close. But affected municipalities and metro regions are not doomed. Taking a long-term, flexible, and incremental approach, Michael Touchton and Amanda J. Ashley make strong recommendations for collaborative models of governance that can improve defense conversion dramatically and ensure benefits, even for low-resource municipalities. Communities can't control their economic situation or geographic location, but, as Salvaging Community shows, communities can control how they govern conversion processes geared toward redevelopment and reinvention. In Salvaging Community, Touchton and Ashley undertake a comprehensive evaluation of how such communities redevelop former bases following the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. To do so, they developed the first national database on military redevelopment and combine quantitative national analyses with three, in-depth case studies in California. Salvaging Community thus fills the void in knowledge surrounding redevelopment of bases and the disparate outcomes that affect communities after BRAC. The data presented in Salvaging Community points toward effective strategies for collaborative governance that address the present-day needs of municipal officials, economic development agencies, and non-profit organizations working in post-BRAC communities. Defense conversion is not just about jobs or economic rebound, Touchton and Ashley argue. Emphasizing inclusion and sustainability in redevelopment promotes rejuvenated communities and creates places where people want to live. As localities and regions deal with the legacy of the post-Cold War base closings and anticipate new closures in the future, Salvaging Community presents a timely and constructive approach to both economic and community development at the close of the military-industrial era.