Following an epic American League Championship Series win over the California Angels and just one out from winning their first World Series in sixty-eight years, the 1986 Boston Red Sox lost Game Six to the New York Mets in unforgettable and devastating fashion. Then they lost Game Seven and the Series itself. Two Sides of Glory portrays the losing side of the story about one of baseball's most riveting World Series match-ups. With the benefit of years of reflection from the men who made up the '86 Sox, this will be the definitive book on this iconic yet most Shakespearian of Boston teams for years to come. After telling the Mets' side of the story, Erik Sherman turns here to the Red Sox's version, with recollections from players that are both insightful and surprisingly emotional. Bill Buckner, whose name became synonymous with a muffed grounder, speaks openly about the cruel aftermath. Pitcher Bruce Hurst broke down three times while being interviewed. Dwight Evans confesses in his interview that he had never before talked at length about the '86 team. And Roger Clemens talks candidly not only about the '86 squad but also accusations of alleged steroid abuse later in his career and the toll it has taken on his family. In each player's retelling, there is the excitement of history never told and old mysteries answered. The story of the '86 Red Sox is well known, but now, after thirty years, the players have opened up to Sherman like never before. It's an in-depth, first-person account with the intriguing key players who made up this once-in-a-generation Boston team, and also a look at how the extremes of tantalizing victory and heart-wrenching failure shaped and influenced their lives--both on the field and off.

"People often forget the road to greatness is rarely a smooth ride. The Other Side of Glory reminds us of the enormous power of persistence and what can be achieved when a group of young athletes takes the journey and finds that a 'team-first attitude' can navigate the rocky road that leads to the ultimate prize." —Tim Miles, head men's basketball coach, San Jose State University. A compelling story of teamwork and commitment in the competitive world of girls' high school basketball When the Waconia Wildcats embarked on the 2019 season, their motto was simple: FINISH. It was a mandate to follow through on every play at the basket and a promise to address unfinished business from the previous season, when a one-point loss was all that kept them from reaching the state tournament for the first time in school history. The Other Side of Glory is a sensitive and riveting portrait of youth basketball in small-town Minnesota, a world familiar to many but brimming with its own characters, quirks, and challenges. Readers will get to know the players—girls with nicknames like Sauce, Salsa, Raptor, and Snake—as they navigate high school life, struggle to accept their roles on the team, wrestle with self-doubt, and ultimately band together with the goal of vanquishing a 45-year legacy of coming up short. Inspirational and relatable, this is a must-read for athletes, coaches, and parents everywhere.

High school junior Jessica uses the arrival of a new boy to further her schemes of winning her ex-boyfriend back and becoming the next big Hollywood movie star. Reprint.

“Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book Review A twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the 1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases, they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the false--are truly made.

The Long Journey to Glory My Side of the Jacksons' Story seeks to finally set the record straight as to who discovered Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. The book describes the truth about the real beginning of the Jackson singing group and Michael and their climb to fame. It will include the story of the Jacksons, from the family's very meager beginning in Gary, Indiana, like it has never before been told. We learn more about Joe, the father, and also the neighborhood he chose to live in. There are details surrounding the neighborhood, the little community's Little League baseball teams, the long days of practicing their music in the basement of a neighbor's home, the deceptive maneuvers used by Tito Jackson to develop his guitar-playing skills, and finally, the events surrounding the talent show at Gary's Roosevelt High School that introduced the Jacksons. The story is told by the original unknown member and leader of the group. The Jacksons continue to perform to this day. Although refined by experience and technology, the act has not essentially changed from its inception. In the early days, no one except their families knew about their rehearsals. They couldn't practice together at Joe's house, but they did practice at Reynaud's house. Since they were using his basement and he was the oldest, he automatically made himself the leader. They decided they would surprise Joe with their progress. Before then, the Jackson family wasn't charismatic to the neighbors. The neighborhood was booming with children, and the majority of them laughed teasingly at the Jacksons. There were nine Jackson children at the time living in a two-bedroom basement less house with their parents.

Take a front row seat at "the Run for the Roses" with the first comprehensive history of the Kentucky Derby. From mint juleps to the garland of roses, to weeping men and women in the Winner's Circle, Two Minutes to Glory is the official story of the world's greatest horse race—the Kentucky Derby. This book is chockablock with facts, figures, and statistics on all 132 years of this incredible race. It also contains a capsuled yet detailed history of the race and of Churchill Downs, focusing on all the larger-than-life personalities from Col. M. Lewis Clark, who founded the Derby in 1875, to Col. Matt Winn, who saved it when it was in the stretch, out of breath, about to break down, and in need of a miracle—and beyond that to the present day. But perhaps the best parts of this lavishly illustrated book are the stories of the races, from 1875 to 2006. It is not a mere recitation of what happened—though there is that—but the human (and horse) stories behind the races, like that of Conn McCreary, who, astride Count Turf in 1951, looked down the track before the gates opened and knew that he was riding not just to win the Derby, but for his life. Or the 2005 race where a seventy-nine-year-old woman named Alice Chandler burst into tears as she watched her 50-1 shot Giacomo roar down the stretch to win—but also cried because she knew that when just a foal, he had previously beaten an opponent called death. This book looks at all the people and horses who made the Derby what it is over the years: trainer Ben A. Jones with six Derby winners; Eddie "Banana Nose" Arcaro and Secretariat, who broke the two-minute barrier and ran the fastest Derby in history; the great owners, the grooms—and all the rest. It is history, yes, but history with heart and soul. As horsemen say, have a good ride.

Gina Townsend is trying to be a mother to her six-year-old niece, Amanda Jane, but the girl's biological father isn't helping matters. Reed Hollingsworth has returned to Glory, no longer the scruffy, gangly boy Gina remembers, but a sexy and successful man. Reed feels betrayed that neither Townsend sister bothered to tell him he was a father until he had money, but he's not about to shirk his responsibilities. So when he demands Gina move in with him as part of Amanda Jane's custody agreement, he tries not to notice pretty much everything about her--especially the way his solemn-faced daughter laughs when they play together. Raising a child together, Reed and Gina learn that some dreams come and go, but some are a spark that burns eternal.