Baseball, the sport that helped reunify the country in the years after the Civil War, remains the national pastime. The Library of Congress houses the world's largest baseball collection, documenting the history of the game and providing a unique look at America since the late 1700s. Now Baseball Americana presents the best of the best from that treasure trove. From baseball's biggest stars to its street urchins, from its most newsworthy stories to sandlot and Little League games, the book examines baseball's hardscrabble origins, rich cultural heritage, and uniquely American character. The more than three hundred and fifty fabulous illustrations feature first-generation photographic and chromolithographic baseball cards; photographs of famous players and ballparks; and newspaper clippings, cartoons, New Deal photographs, and baseball advertisements. Packed with images that will surprise and thrill even the most expert collector, Baseball Americana is a gift for every baseball fan.

PLAYING DETECTIVE A Self-Improvement Approach to Becoming a More Mindful Thinker, Reader, and Writer By Solving Mysteries By Robert Eidelberg The intentionally long subtitle to PLAYING DETECTIVE comes close to saying it all about this unique two-in-one book but not quite. PLAYING DETECTIVE is both a book to read for the fun of it and a book to read for self-improvement if you are looking to become a better thinker, reader, and writer. The for-the-fun-of-it part comes from reading and wondering about the mystery-solving approaches and skills of the contemporary and classic detectives showcased in these 17 remarkable mystery stories. The self-improvement part comes from the books four special interactive features: Suspicions?, How Clever?, DetectWrite, and Dont Peek! Multiple Suspicions? intermissions in the margins of each mystery are strategically placed to help you to think like a detective and like a good reader. Their provocative questions prompt you, as you read, to note and track clues and to make predictions while immersed in the mystery. How Clever? questions and activities, located immediately after each mysterys conclusion, give practice in the skills of detection and reflection so vital to the self-improvement goal of becoming a more observant reader and more mindful thinker. How Clever? sections enable you to review the now-solved mystery, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your own Suspicions? speculations, and evaluate just how capable both you and the storys fictional sleuth were in arriving at a solution. DetectWrite writing prompts following all the How Clever? sections of each mystery help you to establish your own voice as a more effective writer in a variety of writing forms while also giving you many opportunities to write like a detective story author. At the very end of the book (but dont jump to any conclusions!), the more than thirty pages of the Dont Peek! section provide one readers commentary: mindful explanations and a best reading of the solutions (not necessarily the answers) to the 17 case studies in PLAYING DETECTIVE.