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"Here is that rare thing: an untold chapter in the Kennedy saga. .
.Compelling and illuminating."-Jon Meacham Based on genealogical
breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first
book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee
couple who escaped famine; created a life together in a city
hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics; and launched the
Kennedy dynasty in America. Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of
the Kennedys' initial political profile, as JFK leveraged his
working-class roots to connect with blue-collar voters. Today, we
remember this iconic American family as the vanguard of wealth,
power, and style rather than as the descendants of poor immigrants.
Here at last, we meet the first American Kennedys, Patrick and
Bridget, who arrived as many thousands of others did following the
Great Famine-penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their
marriage in Boston, Patrick's sudden death left Bridget to raise
their children single-handedly. Her rise from housemaid to shop
owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her
family intact, allowing her only son P.J. to become a successful
saloon owner and businessman. P.J. went on to become the first
American Kennedy elected to public office-the first of many.
Written by the grandson of an Irish immigrant couple and based on
first-ever access to P.J. Kennedy's private papers, The First
Kennedys is a story of sacrifice and survival, resistance and
reinvention: an American story.
"Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of
being the father of adolescent boys." --Michael Chabon "What a
riveting, touching, and painful read!" --Maria Semple "Fun, moving,
raw, and relatable." --Tony Hawk What makes a good father, and what
makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire
independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and
trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father's struggle to
understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority
and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable "skate dad," and
to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an
unconventional and potentially fraught future. With searing
honesty, Neal Thompson traces his sons' progression through all the
stages of skateboarding: splurging on skate shoes and boards,
having run-ins with security guards, skipping classes and defying
teachers, painting graffiti, drinking and smoking, and more. As the
story veers from funny to treacherous and back, from skateparks to
the streets, Thompson must confront his complicity and fallibility.
He also reflects on his upbringing in rural New Jersey, and his own
adventures with skateboards, drugs, danger, and defiance. A story
of thrill-seeking teens, of hope and love, freedom and failure,
Kickflip Boys reveals a sport and a community that have become a
refuge for adolescent boys who don't fit in. Ultimately, it's the
survival story of a loving modern American family, of acceptance,
forgiveness, and letting go.
"There's always a point in the season when you're faced with a
challenge and you see what you're capable of. And you grow up." --
J.T. Curtis, head coach, John Curtis Christian School Patriots On
Saturday, August 27, 2005, the John Curtis Patriots met for a
grueling practice in the late summer New Orleans sun, the air a
visible fog of humidity. They had pulled off a 19-0 shutout in
their pre-season game the night before, but it was a game full of
dumb mistakes. Head coach J.T. Curtis was determined to drill those
mistakes out of them before their highly anticipated next game,
which sportswriters had dubbed "the Battle of the Bayou" against a
big team coming in all the way from Utah. As fate played out, that
afternoon was the last time the Patriots would see one another for
weeks; some teammates they'd never see again. Hurricane Katrina was
about to tear their lives apart. The Patriots are a most unlikely
football dynasty. There is a small, nondescript, family-run school,
the buildings constructed by hand by the school's founding
patriarch, John Curtis Sr. In this era of high school football as
big business with 20,000 seat stadiums, John Curtis has no stadium
of its own. The team plays an old-school offense, and Coach Curtis
insists on a no-cut policy, giving every kid who wants to play a
chance. As of 2005, they'd won nineteen state championships in
Curtis's thirty-five years of coaching, making him the second most
winning high school coach ever. Curtis has honed to a fine art the
skill of teaching players how to transcend their natural talents.
No screamer, he strives to teach kids about playing with purpose,
the power of respect, dignity, poise, patience, trust in teamwork,
and the payoff of perseverance, showing them how to be winners not
only on the gridiron, but in life, and making boys into men.
Hurricane Katrina would put those lessons to the test of a
lifetime. "Hurricane Season" is the story of a great coach, his
team, his family, and their school -- and a remarkable fight back
from shocking tragedy. It is a story of football and faith, and of
the transformative power of a team that rises above adversity, and
above its own abilities, to come together again and prove what
they're made of. It is the gripping story of how, as one player put
it, "football became my place of peace."
Alan Shepard was the brashest, cockiest, and most flamboyant of
America's original Mercury Seven, but he was also regarded as the
best. Intense, colorful, and dramatic, he was among the most
private of America's public figures and, until his death in 1998,
he guarded the story of his life zealously.
"Light This Candle," based on Neal Thompson's exclusive access to
private papers and interviews with Shepard's family and closest
friends--including John Glenn, Wally Schirra, and Gordon
Cooper--offers a riveting, action-packed account of Shepard's life.
"Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and love into their
cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and you go home.
Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail." --Junior Johnson,
NASCAR legend and one-time whiskey runner
Today's NASCAR is a family sport with 75 million loyal fans, which
is growing bigger and more mainstream by the day. Part Disney, part
Vegas, part Barnum & Bailey, NASCAR is also a
multibillion-dollar business and a cultural phenomenon that
transcends geography, class, and gender. But dark secrets lurk in
NASCAR's past.
"Driving with the Devil" uncovers for the first time the true story
behind NASCAR's distant, moonshine-fueled origins and paints a rich
portrait of the colorful men who created it. Long before the sport
of stock-car racing even existed, young men in the rural,
Depression-wracked South had figured out that cars and speed were
tickets to a better life. With few options beyond the farm or
factory, the best chance of escape was running moonshine.
Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash--if the
drivers survived. "Driving with the Devil" is the story of
bootleggers whose empires grew during Prohibition and continued to
thrive well after Repeal, and of drivers who thundered down dusty
back roads with moonshine deliveries, deftly outrunning federal
agents. The car of choice was the Ford V-8, the hottest car of the
1930s, and ace mechanics tinkered with them until they could fly
across mountain roads at 100 miles an hour.
After fighting in World War II, moonshiners transferred their
skills to the rough, red-dirt racetracks of Dixie, and a national
sport was born. In this dynamic era (1930s and '40s), three men
with a passion for Ford V-8s--convicted criminal Ray Parks,
foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and crippled war veteran Red Byron,
NASCAR's first champion--emerged as the first stock car "team."
Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fast
cars merged to create a new sport for the South to call its own.
"Driving with the Devil" is a fascinating look at the well-hidden
historical connection between whiskey running and stock-car racing.
NASCAR histories will tell you who led every lap of every race
since the first official race in 1948. "Driving with the Devil"
goes deeper to bring you the excitement, passion, crime, and
death-defying feats of the wild, early days that NASCAR has
carefully hidden from public view. In the tradition of Laura
Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit," this tale not only reveals a bygone era
of a beloved sport, but also the character of the country at a
moment in time.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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