Martin Brady

Making a splash in the world of competitive swimming

Review by Martin Brady

In some ways, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps represents the difficulties of contemporary American life. A child of divorce (his parents split when he was 9), Phelps was victimized by bullying as a kid. He was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and later prescribed Ritalin for the condition.

Now, 14 Olympic gold medals later—16 overall, with six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and a record-setting eight gold at Beijing in 2008 – Phelps has become the poster boy for focus, determination and achievement in the face of tough odds.

Phelps' new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed, co-authored with Alan Abrahamson, offers insights into the world-class swimmer's early struggles, but it also reveals the secrets to his remarkable athletic success, with Phelps discussing his training regimen, his approach to mental preparation and how it all comes together when he hits the water. The book includes insights about the Beijing Games and the U.S. team, plus plenty of anecdotes about Phelps' family, especially mom Debbie, and his longtime coach Bob Bowman.

Influenced by athletic older sisters, Phelps first swam competitively at age 7, and by age 10 held a record in his age group. He won national swimming awards by the age of 16, and he grabbed international attention in Athens. Beijing, in fact, was only the fulfillment of huge expectations. That he completed his mission with grace and humility under pressure was yet another mark of a champion.

Phelps now receives multimillion-dollar product endorsement contracts and life is good as he continues to promote swimming and ponder his next move at the ripe old age of 23. "So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done," Phelps writes. "But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits."

 

In some ways, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps represents the difficulties of contemporary American life. A child of divorce (his parents split when he was 9), Phelps was victimized by bullying as a kid. He was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and later prescribed Ritalin for the condition.

Media mogul tells all

Review by Martin Brady

Ted Turner is the best – known maverick media mogul in the world. He's also a pretty elusive guy when it comes to revealing things about himself. We may think we know a lot about him – a colorful, energetic Southern entrepreneur who founded cable powerhouses TBN and CNN, a serious land baron, a champion sailor and winner of the America's Cup, a high – profile baseball owner, a movie producer, a noted philanthropist and the other half of an oft – publicized marriage to Jane Fonda. But despite Turner's reputation as an outspoken nonconformist, in fact precious little has been published that reveals the man behind the curtain.

There have been attempts to capture the real Turner, mainly veteran journalist Ken Auletta's Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire (2004), which expanded on the author's 2001 New Yorker profile. Auletta offered plenty in the way of incidental details but, alas, not enough in the realm of keen firsthand understanding. Also previously, there was Ted Turner Speaks: Insights from the World's Greatest Maverick (1999) by Janet Lowe, which gathered the wit and wisdom of the man in quotable chunks ("Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise"). Fun, but not incisive.

So the announcement of the publication of

 

Ted Turner is the best - known maverick media mogul in the world. He's also a pretty elusive guy when it comes to revealing things about himself. We may think we know a lot about him - a colorful, energetic Southern entrepreneur who founded cable…

History

America’s ‘Era of Good Feelings’

Review by Martin Brady

A really good volume of history provides the reader with a keen sense of perspective and a genuine appreciation for the past. This is exactly what David S. Reynolds does in Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson, which authoritatively describes the early to middle part of the American 19th century and makes clear how important this period was to the nation's growth in sociocultural, industrial and political terms. The first third of Reynolds' book is compellingly crafted, offering an incisive examination of the so-called Era of Good Feelings (early 1800s, post-Founding Fathers), leading into the administration of Andrew Jackson (1829 – 1837).

Reynolds delivers a fascinating profile of John Quincy Adams, Jackson's predecessor, who was a genius but didn't play politics very well. Other important statesmen of the time – Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun – get their due, but best of all are the author's insights into Old Hickory, exchanging the stereotyped perception of a rough – hewn rube for an admiring respect. Jackson, his obvious administrative blunders aside, was unafraid to wield power, showed what a president could do with a veto and oversaw the foundational development of a burgeoning empire. Jackson's reign had warts – including his ruthless pragmatism in relocating Native American populations – but his impact on infrastructure (never underestimate the importance of a paved road in a frontier land), westward migration, commerce, banking and the general assertion of the U.S. into the international sphere was huge.

Reynolds grapples with art, literature, religion, philosophy, even the theater of the day in subsequent chapters, which help to characterize the distinctively emerging individualist and outspoken American spirit. Reynolds pushes his narrative forward past the Jackson years in an effort to provide some continuity and context to key national trends and events. His coverage stops short of the Civil War, when the long-overdue and critical encounters with festering sectionalism and the slavery question are finally met head-on. The marvel here is how Reynolds tackles textbook material with a great deal of stylish and involving writing.

Martin Brady is a Nashville-based writer.

A really good volume of history provides the reader with a keen sense of perspective and a genuine appreciation for the past. This is exactly what David S. Reynolds does in Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson, which authoritatively describes the early to…

HistoryBlack History

Soldiers’ stories

Review by Martin Brady

Joseph T. Glatthaar's General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse offers a cradle-to-grave recounting of the Army of Northern Virginia, the South's main battle force for the duration of the Civil War. Glatthaar provides everything we might come to expect from such a serious tome: authoritative background on the army's founding, its key generals (especially Robert E. Lee, who took command in 1862) and its major campaigns and time-honored engagements (Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, etc.) But Glatthaar also does something that distinguishes, and should well establish, his volume as a new, major one-stop source on the ANV: he profiles the everyday soldier. The author's research is exhaustive, and he quotes extensively from contemporary accounts (diaries, letters, etc.) that tell us where the rank-and-file Johnny Reb may have hailed from, his family status (generally not from the moneyed class), his attitudes on the war (usually enthusiastic, at the beginning anyway), the ammunition he used, his religious beliefs and the rigors of his daily camp life (generally tough going, especially as the fortunes of war turned downward). On a broader level, Glatthaar does what every Civil War historian must, offering appropriately detailed discussions of battles within a strategic and political context, with good maps and archival photos of division and corps commanders rounding out the coverage.

BEFORE IT ALL BEGAN
A war begun for spurious reasons, initiated at the behest of a U.S. president whose term in office amounted to little more than the flexing of American might. As familiar as that might sound, we're actually talking about the Mexican War and President James K. Polk. Odds are the territory gained in that conflict – including California and New Mexico – may very well have accrued to the U.S. anyway. Yet besides its land-grab aspects, the Mexican War also proved important in later years because it was there that many commanders in the Civil War got their first real battle experience. Martin Dugard's The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 does a wonderful job of explaining the war's origins and political ramifications in the aftermath of the fight for Texas independence. Thereafter, the author follows the lives and careers of the later-to-be-famous military men – including Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, Joseph Hooker, eventual Confederate president Jefferson Davis and many others – leading up to and including their performance on the other side of the Rio Grande. American forces in Mexico were commanded by Gen. Zachary Taylor, himself elected U.S. president shortly after the war's end. Dugard gives us a full strategic and tactical history of the war, with the coverage of the noted individuals folded neatly within, including the roles they played at battles whose names – Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Buena Vista – are rarely ever mentioned in common contemporary discourse.

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
University of Tennessee history professor Stephen V. Ash is noted for his rigorous research and his capable, almost novelistic, way of telling a historical tale. He brings those gifts to Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments That Changed the Course of the Civil War, which, unsurprisingly, will evoke memories of the story told in the 1989 film Glory. The key player here is Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, an educated, moralistic New Englander with a very public abolitionist streak. In March 1863, Higginson gathered 900 African-American soldiers in South Carolina and led them, by land and sea, to Jacksonville, Florida, where their efforts helped to assert territorial control over the Confederate Army, while also sending a message to Southerners (both black and white) about freedom. This mission was relatively short-lived and its strategic importance has never been emphasized in general accounts of the Civil War. Yet it was the first instance where black troops faced live bullets and served effectively alongside white troops. The 1st and 2nd South Carolina's professional deportment also alerted President Lincoln to a new reality – that recruitment of black troops for the Union war effort could begin in earnest.

If there is one area of recollection on the Civil War not yet exhausted, it's certainly the voice of the slave. The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves is a remarkable volume, which, in its singular way, provides the reader with a fresh perspective on the conflict. Author/compiler Andrew Ward has "sifted from literally thousands of interviews, obituaries, squibs, diaries, letters, memoirs, and depositions" to capture a slave's-eye view of events, arranged in a chronological narrative from antebellum 1850 through war's end and Reconstruction. This "civilian history" is told with unflinching honesty in a deeply affecting vernacular, the quoted material offering valuable insights not only into the slaves' personal plights, but also into the defeated lives of their former masters. There's humor, irony and wisdom in these pages, and the mix of Ward's astutely rendered factual setups with the testimonies of the blacks who lived the history truly explores new historical ground.

FATHER OF A GUN
Chicago Tribune writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller travels interesting historical and sociological roads in Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel, her account of the development and marketing of the Gatling Gun. The Gatling is associated with the Civil War mainly because inventor and businessman Richard Jordan Gatling tried mightily to get the Union army to adopt his innovative, crank-operated "machine gun." In fact, the Gatling was used very little during the war, but was found valuable later in the U.S. Army's hostilities against Indian tribes, not to mention as a curiosity item in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Keller draws an interesting parallel between Gatling and atomic bomb mastermind J. Robert Oppenheimer, both of whose weapons were designed with the ultimate goal of saving more lives than they claimed.

Joseph T. Glatthaar's General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse offers a cradle-to-grave recounting of the Army of Northern Virginia, the South's main battle force for the duration of the Civil War. Glatthaar provides everything we might come to expect from such a serious tome:…

Sports

The boy of spring

Review by Martin Brady

Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey grew up in Florida, where his father drove a Greyhound bus and often ferried around major league teams during spring training. That connection led to the young Garvey scoring a gig as a Grapefruit League batboy, which brought him into memorable associations with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the mid-1950s. My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer is Garvey's tribute to the heroes of his youth. The book is framed by chapters in which Garvey reminisces about his special experience as a youngster in the dugout, but the bulk of the book comprises chapters that run down the lives and careers of the greats he encountered: Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Carl Erskine, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline. There's nothing particularly new or revelatory in the text – the quotes seem to be taken from old magazine articles and other available sources – but Garvey and his two co-writers nicely summarize the players' achievements and their historical importance.

Memorable moments

100 Baseball Icons: From the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Archives is a choice little gift item that features the photography of Terry Heffernan, whose shots of memorabilia from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, include the obvious (Willie Mays' shoes, Hank Aaron's bats, Ted Williams' uniform) but also focus on more arcane items. The latter include a vintage umpire's ball-strike indicator, a 1925 contract signing pitching great Walter Johnson for the handsome sum of $20,000, commemorative patches and rings, tobacco pins (from back when players endorsed the evil weed), bobblehead dolls and various artifacts from the Negro Leagues. Famous baseballs, baseball cards and team pennants are also part of the coverage. Maybe the most evocative photo is the double-spread of a gorgeous, perfectly cooked hot dog getting slathered with mustard. Like Bogey said, "A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz."

Everyone knows that baseball's historical charm derives from its legend and lore: those many on- and off-the-field stories that bemuse and often enthrall committed fans. Yet in Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else, the author sets out to either confirm or debunk some of those tall tales. Neyer collects dozens of accounts of incidents—some very famous, some less so—as reported in books or newspapers or magazines, then digs into the readily available modern-day statistical sources, especially on the Internet (e.g., Retrosheet), to cross-check the facts. Unsurprisingly, Neyer's detective work sets the record straight most of the time, his correctives flying in the face of all that well-worn anecdotal whimsy. Hence, we get the truer stories, but not necessarily the better ones. Statistical guru Bill James provides the thoughtful foreword, and he actually seems to express some mixed emotions about Neyer's project. It's great reading, though, and it's fun to revisit the mythical baseball events of the past and then get the factual dope.

Fantasy league

Bob Mitchell's Once Upon a Fastball is a baseball novel that mixes magic with a devotional fondness for the game's days gone by. Hip Harvard history prof Seth Stein is kind of a touchy-feely guy: He's a somewhat guiltily divorced father (who also has a new serious girlfriend), drinks designer coffee and beer, strums his Martin guitar and has a strong streak of cultural literacy. But also, his revered grandfather has been missing for two years. Then one day, Seth opens a box and finds an old, major league-issue baseball inside, which has strange properties that whisk him away to the playing fields of the past. These time-warp journeys all connect to the fate of Grandpa Sol, who was the original inspiration for Seth's baseball fanaticism. Author Mitchell obviously knows and loves the game, its history and the players, and when he's talking baseball, even within his tale's mystical context, that's when things are most interesting. His prose never rises to the level of, say, Bernard Malamud or W.P. Kinsella, but he certainly offers a fanciful and engaging story for fans who might like to read something more challenging than a box score.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey grew up in Florida, where his father drove a Greyhound bus and often ferried around major league teams during spring training. That connection led to the young Garvey scoring a gig as a Grapefruit League batboy, which…

SportsLifestylesFilmArts & Culture

Killer gifts for guys

Review by Martin Brady

Real men the ones who like to read will welcome the arrival of The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. Film historian Jenny M. Jones takes control of this project in marvelous fashion. We get the entire shooting script of the original film, plus deleted scenes, cool sidebars on how the film was adapted from the book, behind-the-scenes tidbits on cast and crew, continuity goofs and obvious bloopers, and a series of introductory essays that consider the enormous production undertaking. There are tons of screenshots and production stills here as well, which, along with the text, combine to make readers feel like they're almost experiencing the actual film. But what emerges most is the genius of Francis Ford Coppola, who comprehensively used both right- and left-brain functions to brilliantly bring the novel to life through a mix of canny screenwriting, zealous attention to endless details and a courageous approach to dealing with his bottom-line-conscious financial bosses and the powerful ensemble of players and creative talent under his reins.

GIMME THE BALL
This one was overdue. After their previous (and fabulous) showcases for football and baseball, Sports Illustrated now gives us The Basketball Book. The format is gloriously similar: hundreds of astonishingly good color and black-and-white photos from the SI archive, interlaced with informative essays and profiles by topnotch journalists. The focus here, however, is a tad skewed, and up for criticism. Unlike the prior series entries, which focused only on the men's pro game, the coverage here includes the college game and also the WNBA. Nothing wrong with that in theory, but certainly the college game (both male and female) is deserving of its own volume, and here it gets overwhelmed by the imposing shadow of the NBA. Plus, the WNBA coverage smacks of tokenism, with only a handful of its major players represented.

On the plus side, there is something about basketball photography that seems even more dynamic than its sporting counterparts, possibly because the photographers can get so close to the action. The results are often breathtaking, both in style and historical importance: an overhead view of Shaquille O'Neal jamming one through the hoop; a coral-tinged portrait of a brooding Wilt Chamberlain (c. 1965); a dramatic shot of an outstretched Dennis Rodman lunging desperately for a loose ball; a delightful photo of basketball twins Tom and Dick Van Arsdale during their college playing days at Indiana; and movingly meditative facing-page glimpses of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen looking like African gods. There's trick photography here as well for example, a multiple exposure of John Stockton all over the court at once, and a fascinatingly fun bi-fold center insert that lines up 29 of the great ones by height in descending order (ladies included), from Manute Bol (7'7 ) to Muggsy Bogues (5'3 ). The browsing extras are endless: decade-by-decade rundowns of the best players, college and pro; a declension of famous on-court strategies as devised by coaches from Nat Holman to Bobby Knight; and satisfying visual sidebars.

DETAILS MAKE THE MAN
Some of us guys may not dress as sharply as we'd like to, yet there's something to be learned by all in Details Men's Style Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You. Daniel Peres and the editors of the award-winning Details magazine first offer some handy reminders about the rules of style, then run down a list of the classic items each guy should have (a classy overcoat, two white shirts, a simple black belt, etc.). The remainder of the coverage offers descriptions and attractive photos of contemporary clothing items, from shirts, pants and blazers to shoes, accessories and (yes) underwear. Thrown in along the way are tidbits of menswear history, regional considerations and tips on how to pack smartly. There's even a how-to on tying a bowtie, something most of us guys are clueless about.

Real men the ones who like to read will welcome the arrival of The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. Film historian Jenny M. Jones takes control of this project in marvelous fashion. We get the entire shooting script of the original film, plus deleted scenes,…

Sports

Personal portrayals

Review by Martin Brady

Only one man has ever won 30 or more games in a season since Dean did it in 1934. That was Detroit Tigers ace Denny McLain, who achieved a 31-6 record in 1968 while leading his team to a World Series title. After one more terrific year in 1969, McLain's career went south fast. His arm troubles had something to do with his demise, but McLain also made bad personal decisions that alienated the baseball establishment. Poor judgment and consorting with unsavory characters eventually landed McLain in prison on two separate occasions. I Told You I Wasn't Perfect, co-authored with Eli Zaret, is McLain's autobiography, and it is as brash as McLain was in his playing days. He tells his tale frankly, sparing no feelings where his former teammates and managers are concerned, and he forthrightly describes his involvement in the drug, racketeering and embezzlement schemes that caused his downfall. Despite also losing his eldest child, Kristin, to a tragic car accident in 1992, McLain has battled to regain respectability and keep his family intact. It's an interesting story, and Zaret helps McLain tell it in an unpretentious first-person style. Baseball fans will appreciate McLain's honest-to-a-fault take on the game during his era.

Only one man has ever won 30 or more games in a season since Dean did it in 1934. That was Detroit Tigers ace Denny McLain, who achieved a 31-6 record in 1968 while leading his team to a World Series title. After one more…

Nonfiction

The many wrongs of Mr. Wright

Review by Martin Brady

Sometimes, with great artists, it might be better not to know about their personal lives, their idiosyncratic beliefs, about their sanctimonious self-perception. Though much is already known about Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright &andamp; the Taliesin Fellowship offers an insider's view of the architect's world that will probably surprise, if not shock, some readers. This massive, well-researched volume written in fully collaborative style by Roger Friedland, a cultural sociologist at UC-Santa Barbara, and architect Harold Zellman is not a biography, per se, but instead probes the philosophical underpinnings and cultism of the Taliesin Fellowship, Wright's communal enterprise based in his home state of Wisconsin (with a later satellite location in Arizona, where the master died).

Taliesin was ostensibly set up to promote Wright's so-called organic architectural design ethic, and was inspired in part by the Greek-Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff, one of whose ardent disciples was Wright's third wife, Olgivanna. The mix of Wright's egomania and Olgivanna's controlling attitude toward members of the Taliesin community comprising by and large young male apprentices (many of them homosexual), along with sundry family members and motley hangers-on made for a decidedly strange social situation. (For all their artistic idealism, the Taliesins certainly indulged in incredibly messy, less than idealistic personal relationships, much of it outlined here in bizarre detail.) Meanwhile, Wright, believing that the world should bow at his feet despite the fact that he was in constant financial hot water and was bailed out time and again by committed and sometimes self-sacrificing supporters courted potential clients, most critically as regards his design of New York City's Guggenheim Museum (a project that spanned 13 years from initial conception to official approval of the building plans).

Wright also boldly promoted sociopolitical ideas encompassing pro-Germany sentiment and isolationism on the eve of World War II; childish skepticism about university training (he'd never obtained a degree himself); and his plans for perfect living (Broadacre City) and geopolitical restructuring of the U.S. (aka Usonia). Wright held sway over influential persons such as House Beautiful editor Elizabeth Gordon, who did all she could to publicize the Wright architectural agenda and his supposedly iconic image. He also freely nurtured relationships that were usually only self-serving, made some critical enemies (J. Edgar Hoover, among them), steadfastly maintained his self-importance as a world figure of the ultimate artistic magnitude, and, by and by, seemed content to watch others (including family members) twist slowly in the emotionally confused winds that constantly swirled around his circle.

It's a strange tale to be sure, and Friedland and Zellman tell it in utterly exhausting detail, the minutiae of daily events involving lesser personalities cataloged as readily as the bigger moments where Wright is in the forefront. For all his brilliance, Wright led a careless, narrow-minded and (as expressed here) often unkind life, and the long, latter Taliesin chapter finds him at his personal worst. And, while the Fellowship existed ostensibly to maintain his architectural spirit, Wright characteristically soiled those waters by deliberately impeding his students' ability to spread their own professional wings in order to do just that. Less about architecture, and more about genius run amok and the bodies left in its wake, The Fellowship fills an important historical gap in the discussion of American arts while reading like high-toned soap opera.

 

Sometimes, with great artists, it might be better not to know about their personal lives, their idiosyncratic beliefs, about their sanctimonious self-perception. Though much is already known about Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright &andamp; the Taliesin Fellowship…

Sports

A charismatic hero

Review by Martin Brady

Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente is a player whose undisputed talent, personal charisma and symbolic role as the major leagues' first Latin-American superstar have raised him to almost reverential regard. Washington Post associate editor David Maraniss' Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero is a detailed, well-researched testament to Clemente's intense, all-too-brief life, with focus on his humble Puerto Rican beginnings and his gradual rise to baseball prominence.

Despite extraordinary skills as a hitter and fielder, Clemente was not an immediate star. Originally signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was somewhat buried in their minor league system, a shy, sensitive man struggling to communicate in a new language, before making his National League debut with the Pirates in 1955, for whom he would play his entire career. Often enduring the criticisms of reporters who misunderstood his taciturn moods and, unfairly, made light of his halting English, Clemente persevered to forge Hall of Fame numbers with four batting titles, 3,000 career hits, 12 Gold Glove awards, one National League MVP (1966) and two World Series championships.

Drawing upon previously published material, fresh interviews with teammates and even transcribed excerpts from radio broadcasts, Maraniss exposes us to a generally clean-living, family-centered individual, who retained fierce pride in his Puerto Rican ancestry, helped pave the way for the eventual huge influx of Latin ballplayers into the U.S. and earned respect through quiet example. The Clemente story is capped by his dramatic death at age 38 in a 1972 cargo plane crash, while en route to Nicaragua to assist the victims of a horrendous earthquake.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente is a player whose undisputed talent, personal charisma and symbolic role as the major leagues' first Latin-American superstar have raised him to almost reverential regard. Washington Post associate editor David Maraniss' Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero…

Nonfiction

Facts and stats

Review by Martin Brady

Ben Schott has enjoyed success with two previous books, Schott's Original Miscellany and Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany. Now the London-based photographer, designer and all-around trifler offers us Schott's Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany, an ever-so-readable and information-packed compendium devoted to the trivia of all manner of sports, games and time-passing activities. Schott compiles fascinating, seemingly endless lists (Super Bowl champs, Stanley Cup winners, bowling and gambling terms, golf nomenclature, Evel Knievel's fractured body parts, etc.); intriguing quotes, from the diverse likes of George Orwell, Knute Rockne, Ian Fleming, Richard Nixon and Jean-Paul Sartre; and the rules for engaging in various parlor games and more uncommon sporting events and pastimes such as caber tossing, backgammon, croquet and hopscotch. He even offers a schema for making a paper airplane. There's arcane history here (e.g., the first crossword puzzle is reproduced), amazing facts, literary excerpts, superstitions and under-the-radar oddities such as an explanation of how a pair of dice are loaded. This is a browsing gem that should supply any idle reader with plenty of entertainment and amusement.

Martin Brady is making out his Christmas list at home in Nashville.

Ben Schott has enjoyed success with two previous books, Schott's Original Miscellany and Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany. Now the London-based photographer, designer and all-around trifler offers us Schott's Sporting, Gaming, & Idling Miscellany, an ever-so-readable and information-packed compendium devoted to the trivia of all…
NonfictionHumor

One more for the road

Review by Martin Brady

Zack and Larry Arnstein's The Bad Driver's Handbook: Hundreds of Simple Maneuvers to Frustrate, Annoy, and Endanger Those Around You takes a common, everyday bugaboo and turns it on its ear. Their premise: that "good" driving is only a matter of perspective, that in fact there is liberation in intimidating pedestrians, eschewing use of turn signals, and even tailgating ("How Close Is Not Close Enough?"). The authors also take aim at typical entries in the DMV handbook, discuss ways to talk a police officer out of issuing a ticket, suggest dos and don'ts for successfully sleeping at the wheel, describe the many ways one might stop at a STOP sign, and much more. The book's last chapter provides a tongue-in-cheek "final exam." The humor here is in the recognition of our own challenges behind the wheel and the amazing folly we sometimes observe in others.

Martin Brady is a writer in Nashville.

Zack and Larry Arnstein's The Bad Driver's Handbook: Hundreds of Simple Maneuvers to Frustrate, Annoy, and Endanger Those Around You takes a common, everyday bugaboo and turns it on its ear. Their premise: that "good" driving is only a matter of perspective, that in fact…

SportsPop CultureHistoryArts & Culture

Winning selections for the sporting male

Review by Martin Brady

Those of you struggling to please a fella with the right Christmas gift can step up to the plate with confidence this holiday season, because the bases are loaded with great books for guys. Whether you're planning purchases for dad, husband or son, consider the following selections they're guaranteed to score big with the average American male. Though they fell a bit short of the World Series this past baseball season, the New York Yankees, founded in 1903, remain baseball's most storied franchise. In commemoration of the team's 100-year anniversary comes Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball, a glorious chronological history featuring a comprehensive text by veteran sports editor Glenn Stout, who covers the on- and off-field exploits of the Bronx Bombers. The book also features essays by all-time-great sportswriters and Yankee aficionados such as Ring Lardner, David Halberstam and Ira Berkow. Selected by co-editor Richard A. Johnson, the photos in Yankees Century show the greats in action or in repose, in celebration or in reflection, including some wonderful archival shots from the era pre-dating the construction of Yankee Stadium. Informative and browsable sidebars and appendices offer statistical data on individual and team achievements, as well as thumbnail portraits of the most important Yankee players, managers and front-office executives through the years.

A book with a much broader sports subject is The Gospel According to ESPN: Saints, Saviors & Sinners, edited by former Life magazine managing editor Jay Lovinger. The concept here is a tad esoteric, yet within the volume's general theme equating American sports fanaticism with religious fervor Lovinger pulls together wonderful writing and skads of color and black-and-white photos that illustrate not only the U.S. sporting life but elements of our popular culture, too. After an interesting and typically quirky introduction by notable (and so-called "gonzo") journalist Hunter S. Thompson, the text fans out into five basic sections "Prophets," "Fallen Angels," "Saints," "Saviors," and "Gods" written by superior journalists including Robert Lipsyte, Peter Carlson, Le Anne Schreiber, Ralph Wiley and George Plimpton.

Among the some 30 various athletes falling into appropriate categories are Muhammad Ali, Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson, Tiger Woods, Ted Williams, Larry Bird and Billie Jean King. There's also coverage of two world-class racehorses, Ruffian and Secretariat. The pictorial material is simply a diverse delight, including action shots of the athletes, excerpts from pertinent cartoons (e.g., "Doonesbury"), Time and Life magazine covers, old baseball cards, reproductions of classical art, childhood Polaroids, and many priceless candid photos of the subjects in both somber and silly moments. Scattered throughout the text are fun lists of sports-related trivia.

So OK, maybe a lot of guys are driving European- and Japanese-made imported automobiles these days, but that shouldn't stop any car buff from wanting to partake of Russ Banham's The Ford Century: Ford Motor Company and the Innovations That Shaped the World. Banham, a business writer for magazines such as Forbes and Time, offers a readable and consistently interesting text that charts the history of the industry giant, from Henry Ford's first Quadricycle, constructed in a brick shed in the rear of his Detroit home, to the company's more recent advancements in SUV and truck design. But Banham doesn't merely describe the Ford product here. We also learn all about the generations of the Ford family and their recurring role in the business; the development of assembly-line manufacturing; labor issues; safety and environmental modifications; high-profile management figures such as Lee Iacocca; Ford's presence on the racing-car scene; and the company's role as a vital cog in military production during wartime. The accompanying photographs wonderfully illustrate Banham's corporate history. Many of these images, drawn from private collections and the Ford Archives, have never been published, and they are remarkable in their variety and their scope, including advertising art, pertinent views of items of pop culture and rare photos of Henry I hanging out with his buddy Thomas Edison. Of course, the car photos are purely captivating, especially a center section featuring a color cavalcade of models ranging from the 1914 Model T, to the 1941 Lincoln Continental, to the 1955 Thunderbird, to the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (James Bond's favorite mode of transport), on up to the 1991 Ford Explorer. In many ways, the history of Ford Motor Company is the history of modern American business. This rare volume's conscious attempt to place Ford and its products within the American sociocultural context is hugely successful.

Finally, for the more free-spirited motorist male, there's 100 Years of Harley-Davidson, written by Willie G. Davidson, grandson of one of the company's co-founders. Believe it or not, the famous motorcycle manufacturer's story is similar to Ford's. Run by a tight-knit family, the Harley-Davidson enterprise has been characterized by dedication to quality and a vested interest in its much smaller but incredibly loyal customer base. Davidson relates the company history with pride and clarity, discussing mechanical and styling innovations, marketing successes and failures, the rise of H-D dealerships, H-D's production of vehicles for military use, and the motorcycle's growing image as one of rebelliousness (which he primarily discounts as the by-product of exaggerated media hype). With candor, Davidson also revisits a decade-long period in the 60s and 70s when the company was sold to a multinational conglomerate, a relationship that didn't work out (the family has since regained ownership). But with all due respect to Davidson's narrative, the approximately 500 color and black-and-white photos tell the story a bit more vividly. All the pictures are stunning, especially a series of double-page spreads featuring popular cycle models, along with descriptions of stylistic innovations and a rundown of powertrain and chassis specifications. A beautiful book, as singular as Marlon Brando in The Wild One, the film that made motorcycles famous.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

Those of you struggling to please a fella with the right Christmas gift can step up to the plate with confidence this holiday season, because the bases are loaded with great books for guys. Whether you're planning purchases for dad, husband or son, consider the…

Sports

Great gifts for guys, from macho to genteel

Review by Martin Brady

Well, OK I’ll admit that not all men make a habit out of reading books. But for every guy who enjoys a novel now and then, there are dozens more who just might like an enlightening browse, an interesting bit of nonfiction, a useful how-to guide or, of course, cool pictures of cool guy-type things. Furthermore, if you can lay a neat gift book on a guy, he will be flattered that you pegged him for the literary type (even if you know better). These recent releases will make solid gift selections for that special guy, whether he be a sports nut, the manly fix-it type or even the rare genteel thinker.

Slam dunk

Certainly one of the finest gift sports books of recent years has to be At the Buzzer! The Greatest Moments in NBA History. A hip, knowing text by sports journalist Bryan Burwell accompanies hundreds of dramatic color photographs that chart the exploits of basketball’s greats Chamberlain, Russell, Havlicek, West, Bird, Dr. J., Magic and Michael from the league’s formative years to the present day. Important playoff game performances, heroic single-game scoring feats, great match-ups and eventful isolated moments are all captured in words and pictures. In addition, the book is accompanied by two audio CDs that present excerpts from pertinent original radio and television broadcasts. Ex-basketball star and TV commentator Bill Walton handles the narration on the discs, which feature the voices of Marv Albert, Brent Musberger, Dick Enberg and a host of other national and local play-by-play announcers.

Good bet

Another terrific volume for those hard-to-shop-for men on your list is A. Alvarez’s Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats. Alvarez, a poet, novelist and frequent New Yorker contributor, is also an inveterate poker player. After tracing poker’s development from various early Persian and French variations, he describes its rise as a uniquely American game that took hold in New Orleans, made its way up the Mississippi on riverboats and eventually became a big part of Las Vegas gaming culture. Drawing on his years of experience, including his participation in the World Series of Poker, Alvarez also offers fascinating anecdotes revolving around game play and the singular characters that inhabit professional poker tables. The author explodes poker myths it’s not about luck, for example discusses poker’s colorful contributions to the English language and even includes lore about poker-playing U.S. presidents (Nixon was one). Evocative color and black-and-white photos capture shuffle, deal, play and players in both fact and fiction.

Tool time

Without question, Tools: A Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia is the volume for that handyman guy we all know and love. Rich photography captures the broad array of tools found in the busy home workshop, ranging from measuring and cutting tools to assembly and finishing tools. Good historical background is provided on tool development, and there are a few interesting archival reproductions showing craftsmen at work in bygone eras. But mostly, the comprehensive coverage handsaws, planes, chisels, lathes, power drills, pliers, vises stresses selecting the right tools for the right jobs and using them with efficiency and artfulness. Helpful appended material (including a micropedia, a glossary and a directory of sources) rounds out this attractive addition to any do-it-yourselfer’s bookshelf. Comedian Tim Allen would drool.

Fast lane

Not everyone idolized Dale Earnhardt, but the void left in NASCAR racing with his untimely demise at the Daytona 500 earlier this year can’t be underestimated. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville does a super job of explaining the Earnhardt charisma and legacy in At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt. Where Earnhardt’s devoted and fanatical blue-collar following is concerned, Montville shows the appropriate reverence, quoting a representative sampling of those who idolized the Michael Jordan of his sport. We learn of Dale’s humble North Carolina origins, his rise to NASCAR greatness as "The Intimidator," his marital missteps and eventual success as husband and family man, and his emergence as racing’s most respected elder statesman. Montville also covers that tragic day in February with dramatic restraint. But perhaps most interesting is his profile of the car-racing culture, its rise as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., and the way Earnhardt managed to maintain his common-man appeal while amassing lifetime earnings in excess of $40 million.

Car talk

Yeah, guys dig cars. They stand for status, speed and sex appeal, don’t they? They’re also awesome to look at, and Cars: A Celebration just might be the ultimate coffee-table gift book on the subject. It’s thick (almost 600 pages), and packed with nearly 2,000 color photos of 146 different cars their interiors, exteriors, engines and distinctive design elements. Coverage is international, including automobile makes such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Daimler, Lambhorgini, Fiat, Renault, Volvo, Mercedes, Volkswagen and MG. But the view of U.S. cars through the years offers not only an automotive charge but also some definite American sociocultural nostalgia. Thunderbird, Mustang, Galaxie, Edsel, Falcon, Bel Air, Corvair, Corvette, Impala, Cougar, Riviera, GTO, Eldorado these and many more vintage U.S. car models are displayed in all their kitschy glory. The coverage here dates from about the late 1940s, and also includes such infamous pipedream failures as the DeLorean and the Tucker. Quentin Willson’s accompanying text is smartly written, informative about the cars’ appeal (or lack thereof) and includes occasional brief profiles of car designers and company executives. Gorgeous photography makes this a must purchase for that favorite car buff. (And considering the size of this lush volume, it’s actually a good value at $50.)

Say what?

Finally, any sensitive guy will admit his manners could use a refresher course. As a Gentleman Would Say: Responses to Life’s Important (and Sometimes Awkward) Situations is the latest entry in a series of Gentlemanners books designed to remind us of the most thoughtful and decent ways to cope with potentially tough social situations. Co-written by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis, the book posits dozens of scenarios at parties, dining out, at work, in love and friendship, making a toast and gives some possible responses, both the taboo, humorous types and the well-considered gentlemanly ones. A witty and useful book, appropriate for maybe more men than we would like to think about.

 

Well, OK I'll admit that not all men make a habit out of reading books. But for every guy who enjoys a novel now and then, there are dozens more who just might like an enlightening browse, an interesting bit of nonfiction, a useful how-to…

Sign Up

Stay on top of new releases: Sign up for our newsletter to receive reading recommendations in your favorite genres.

Sign up now

Trending Features

All Features