In 1995, Cal Ripken, Jr. succeeded in toppling baseball’s most unbreakable streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. He has also won the 1982 Rookie of the Year Award, two American League MVP awards, an All-Star Game MVP award, two Gold Gloves, and a World Series title.
This is the story of Junior’s ascent to superstardom. What was it like playing baseball with a father as manager and a brother as a double-play combination? How did his father’s firing and his brother’s trade affect him? What made him choose the strike over the Streak? His story captures the grit and determination it took to become one of the greatest shortstops ever to play the game of baseball.
“A solid biography that will be in great demand.”—Booklist
Their crimes span the globe, but one thing unites them: they are sixteen of the twentieth century's most notorious serial killers.
In this well-researched volume, discover their motives and what made them tick. Walk the path of the investigators who broke their cases and listen to the killers' own words.
All of them made their communities tremble in fear. They include:
Johann Otto Hoch, who moved to America from Germany in the 1890s and married a string of women. Instead of being the man of their dreams, he became their worst nightmare.
Fritz Haarmann, "The Vampire of Hanover," who killed dozens of young male vagrants and prostitutes from 1919 to 1924 in Germany.
Béla Kiss, a Hungarian serial killer, who killed young women and tried pickling them in giant metal drums.
Robert Hansen, who began killing prostitutes in Alaska around 1980. He let them flee in the wilderness before hunting them down with a knife and rifle.
Learn about these and other serial killers. See what motivated them to lead such horrible lives and how they were finally brought to justice in Depravity: A Narrative of 16 Serial Killers.
Their crimes span the globe, but one thing unites them: they are sixteen of the twentieth century's most notorious serial killers.
In this well-researched volume, discover their motives and what made them tick. Walk the path of the investigators who broke their cases and listen to the killers' own words.
All of them made their communities tremble in fear. They include:
–Johann Otto Hoch, who moved to America from Germany in the 1890s and married a string of women. Instead of being the man of their dreams, he became their worst nightmare.
–Fritz Haarmann, 'The Vampire of Hanover,' who killed dozens of young male vagrants and prostitutes from 1919 to 1924 in Germany.
–B├®la Kiss, a Hungarian serial killer, who killed young women and tried pickling them in giant metal drums.
–Robert Hansen, who began killing prostitutes in Alaska around 1980. He let them flee in the wilderness before hunting them down with a knife and rifle.
Learn about these and other serial killers. See what motivated them to lead such horrible lives and how they were finally brought to justice in Depravity: A Narrative of 16 Serial Killers.
From its beginnings, America has acted out much of its history on the battlefront. Yet for the average American, little is known of the Spanish-American War. The reasons for our entry never seemed compelling-at times, yellow fever seemed more the enemy than did Spanish troops-and the United States was ill prepared for the venture. Nevertheless, this conflict served to unify a country that only thirty years before had been hopelessly divided by civil strife.
This colorful account reveals how every aspect of American life was ultimately touched by the war. War heroes abounded in the Spanish-American war: George Dewey, Richmond Pearson Hobson, Joe Wheeler, William T. Sampson, and of course, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. Rosenfeld strikes a balance between scholarly and popular writing, bringing to life a war that has often been overlooked.
"Rosenfeld brings in an impressive worldwide scope. What unfolds is a living history enthusiast's dream, a cornucopia of the way things really were at a specific time in a particular place!"-Reviewers Consortium
This book recounts the slugger Roger Maris's life before, during, and after his headline season of 1961, when the taciturn North Dakota native topped Babe Ruth's all-time record by hitting sixty-one homers. From his youth as a star high-school athlete and American Legion baseball player, Maris went on to big-time sports with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals.
Author Rosenfeld argues that Roger's treatment by the press was both shabby and tragic and that Maris's midwestern modesty and his strength, his need for privacy, and his straightforward bluntness were often wrongly interpreted as arrogance and sullenness, a factor that led many to downplay his claim on the record books.
This book recounts the slugger Roger Maris' life before, during, and after his headline season of 1961, when the taciturn North Dakota native topped Babe Ruth's all-time record by hitting sixty-one home runs. From his youth as a star high-school athlete and American Legion baseball player, Maris's went on to play for the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Athletics, the New York Yankees, and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Author Rosenfeld argues that Maris's treatment by the press was both shabby and tragic, and that the famous player's Mid-western modesty, need for privacy, and straightforward nature were often wrongly interpreted as arrogance and sullenness—a factor that led many to downplay his claim on the record books. Rosenfeld makes a forceful case for awarding Maris a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame, three decades after his record-breaking 1961 season with the New York Yankees.
In 1898, when the Spanish- American War was not going well for the United States, Richmond Pearson Hobson survived a "suicide mission" in a failed attempt to block Santiago Harbor in Cuba and was instantly a hero. But unlike a stereotypical hero, he was a complicated man with controversial political beliefs, and he attracted as much criticism as praise.
In wartime Hungary, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg issued countless "false" visas and documents which saved approximately 100,000 Jews from the Nazis. After Wallenberg's arrest by Russian military police, he disappeared in 1945. His fate remains unknown. This is a fascinating biography of a great man who refused to be a bystander.
The Great Chase is an exciting day-by-day report of the miracle run of the 1951 Giants, baseball's most exciting pennant race, including a fascinating examination of the strategy of the final game.
The Dodgers-Giants rivalry is the longest-standing rivalry in baseball history—a feud that began in the late nineteenth century when both clubs were based in New York City. Then, on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson's 'shot heard around the world' ended their pennant race—one of the most dramatic ever. Interviews, contemporary newspaper articles, and memoirs of participants are used to describe the intense rivalry and provide a day-by-day look at the Giants' pennant run, including a fascinating examination of the strategy of the final game.
