"American Ramble is a dazzling mixture of travelogue, memoir, and history. At times profound, funny, and heartbreaking, this is the story of a traveler intoxicated by life. I couldn't put it down." -- Nathaniel Philbrick A stunning, revelatory memoir about a 330-mile walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City--an unforgettable pilgrimage to the heart of America across some of our oldest common ground. Neil King Jr.'s desire to walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City began as a whim and soon became an obsession. By the spring of 2021, events had intervened that gave his desire greater urgency. His neighborhood still reeled from the January 6th insurrection. Covid lockdowns and a rancorous election had deepened America's divides. Neil himself bore the imprints of a long battle with cancer. Determined to rediscover what matters in life and to see our national story with new eyes, Neil turned north with a small satchel on his back and one mission in mind: To pay close attention to the land he crossed and the people he met. What followed is an extraordinary 26-day journey through historic battlefields and cemeteries, over the Mason-Dixon line, past Quaker and Amish farms, along Valley Forge stream beds, atop a New Jersey trash mound, across New York Harbor, and finally, to his ultimate destination: the Ramble, where a tangle of pathways converges in Central Park. The journey travels deep into America's past and present, uncovering forgotten pockets and overlooked people. At a time of mounting disunity, the trip reveals the profound power of our shared ground. By turns amusing, inspiring, and sublime, American Ramble offers an exquisite account of personal and national renewal--an indelible study of our country as we've never seen it before.

Austerity is perhaps the major challenge of our times, given the speed at which it arrived and the consequences of its impact upon society. The global financial crash and economic downturn was the catalyst for change and, against a backdrop of advice from experts adverse to Keynesian economics, the ideology of austerity grew and became the dominant thinking to steer economies out of recession. This comprehensive volume draws upon both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to provide a varied and contextually rich insight into sport, policy, and politics in an era of austerity. The authors cover a wide range of issues in a variety of organisational contexts and geographies, including sports participation across different socio-demographic groups; the impact of austerity on the provision of community sports; disability sport; public management of sport facilities; the performance of public sport facilities with respect to access, finance, utilisation, and customer satisfaction; the potential impact of austerity on sport for development; elite sport; and social inclusion and poverty. This book makes a significant contribution to the current academic debate, while raising important considerations for policymakers and managers. It was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

Sport Policy and Governance: Local Perspectives is the first detailed study of the politics of sport policy at the local authority level of governance. In focusing on the local level, the book recognises that the extent to which we benefit from public policy is a result of where we live. Taking the city of Liverpool as its core case study, the author investigates the changing contours of sport policy from the inception of the service area in the 1970s through the economic and political turbulence of the 1980s to the year of European Capital of Culture 2008. As the book gives centre stage to the period since 1997, the changing parameters of local sport policy are located within New Labour priorities around elite sport development and the instrumental uses of sport to deliver social policy goals. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book: Traces the evolution of the relationship between central government policy priorities and local sport policy and practice. Provides a political analysis of sport policy that foregrounds competition between differing interests in a context of scarce resources. Explores relationships between local authority policy for sport and policy relating to education, health, land-use planning and community regeneration. Investigates the organisational and funding contexts in which sport policy actors formulate and implement policy Assesses the strategies utilised by sport policy actors in pursuing their interests. Theorises contemporary sport policy processes and establishes parameters for future research. Sport Policy and Governance: Local Perspectives is essential reading for anyone who is studying or teaching sport-related degree programmes, researching public policy, or who is a practitioner or policy-maker in the sport sector.

Sport governance has become an increasingly widespread subject for research and teaching in sports studies. This engaging and accessible textbook examines the governance of sport organisations in a changing political, legal, financial and socio-cultural context. It explains how sport organisations are governed, explores the issues and challenges faced by those governing sport today, and looks ahead to how sport can be governed better in the future. Covering sport at all levels, from community organisations and national governing bodies to international organisations such as the IOC and FIFA, this text examines key components of governance, such as legal and regulatory frameworks, stakeholding, performance, compliance and the reform of the non-profit sector in line with corporate governance. This text is also timely given that recent corruption scandals in sport have served to highlight the central importance of good governance in sport. Its nine chapters draw upon more than thirty international case examples across a range of sports including athletics, football, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, rugby, badminton and tennis. With extensive lists of learning activities and resources, original empirical research and insights into the politics of policymaking and implementation, this textbook is essential reading for any course on sport governance, policy, management or development.

Sport Policy and Governance: Local Perspectives is the first detailed study of the politics of sport policy at the local authority level of governance. In focusing on the local level, the book recognises that the extent to which we benefit from public policy is a result of where we live. Taking the city of Liverpool as its core case study, the author investigates the changing contours of sport policy from the inception of the service area in the 1970s through the economic and political turbulence of the 1980s to the year of European Capital of Culture 2008. As the book gives centre stage to the period since 1997, the changing parameters of local sport policy are located within New Labour priorities around elite sport development and the instrumental uses of sport to deliver social policy goals.
Written in a clear and accessible style, this book:
? Traces the evolution of the relationship between central government policy priorities and local sport policy and practice.
? Provides a political analysis of sport policy that foregrounds competition between differing interests in a context of scarce resources.
? Explores relationships between local authority policy for sport and policy relating to education, health, land-use planning and community regeneration.
? Investigates the organisational and funding contexts in which sport policy actors formulate and implement policy
? Assesses the strategies utilised by sport policy actors in pursuing their interests.
? Theorises contemporary sport policy processes and establishes parameters for future research.
Sport Policy and Governance: Local Perspectives is essential reading for anyone who is studying or teaching sport-related degree programmes, researching public policy, or who is a practitioner or policy-maker in the sport sector.
Dr. Neil King is Senior Lecturer in Sport Development at Edge Hill University, UK. His research, teaching and curriculum development largely centres on public policy, governance and development for sport, recreation and physical activity. His other research interests include policy for education, health, land-use planning and the environment, youth justice, culture, and urban regeneration.

Austerity is perhaps the major challenge of our times, given the speed at which it arrived and the consequences of its impact upon society. The global financial crash and economic downturn was the catalyst for change and, against a backdrop of advice from experts adverse to Keynesian economics, the ideology of austerity grew and became the dominant thinking to steer economies out of recession. This comprehensive volume draws upon both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to provide a varied and contextually rich insight into sport, policy, and politics in an era of austerity. The authors cover a wide range of issues in a variety of organisational contexts and geographies, including sports participation across different socio-demographic groups; the impact of austerity on the provision of community sports; disability sport; public management of sport facilities; the performance of public sport facilities with respect to access, finance, utilisation, and customer satisfaction; the potential impact of austerity on sport for development; elite sport; and social inclusion and poverty. This book makes a significant contribution to the current academic debate, while raising important considerations for policymakers and managers. It was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

Sport governance has become an increasingly widespread subject for research and teaching in sports studies. This engaging and accessible textbook examines the governance of sport organisations in a changing political, legal, financial and socio-cultural context. It explains how sport organisations are governed, explores the issues and challenges faced by those governing sport today, and looks ahead to how sport can be governed better in the future. Covering sport at all levels, from community organisations and national governing bodies to international organisations such as the IOC and FIFA, this text examines key components of governance, such as legal and regulatory frameworks, stakeholding, performance, compliance and the reform of the non-profit sector in line with corporate governance. This text is also timely given that recent corruption scandals in sport have served to highlight the central importance of good governance in sport. Its nine chapters draw upon more than thirty international case examples across a range of sports including athletics, football, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, rugby, badminton and tennis. With extensive lists of learning activities and resources, original empirical research and insights into the politics of policymaking and implementation, this textbook is essential reading for any course on sport governance, policy, management or development.

The Photos were a young punk band from Evesham, Worcestershire, originally called Satan's Rats featuring Steve Eagles on guitar, Dave Sparrow on bass, and Olly Harrison on drums, but when they recruited a good-looking female vocalist going by the name of Wendy Wu in 1979, they changed their name to the media-friendly Photos and recorded and released just one album of new wave pop that unfortunately, despite the band's denial, sounded almost identical to the music of Blondie from the era of their first two albums, Blondie and Plastic Letters. Prior to the debut album, a four-track EP was released featuring the tracks "Irene," which was later to become the band's only hit single, albeit peaking at a miserable number 56, and "Barbarellas," about the closing of a local nightclub. The original vinyl and cassette album was just 12 tracks, but when finally transferred to CD in the late '90s, they added an additional 11 tracks from the Blackmail Tapes sessions that were never originally released. The Photos included the single "Irene" and "Do You Have Fun," which they were due to perform on Top of the Pops before an industrial dispute took the show off the air. Most of the tracks were bouncy new wave pop, although the pace slowed down on the track "Friends," which, unusually, was over four minutes long, and they attempt a reggae beat similar to many Police tracks on "Loss of Contact" and "She's Artistic." The album ended with the soulful Dusty Springfield classic "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself." The album hit number four in 1980, and for a brief while, Wu's face was regularly in the music press, but Blondie had already moved on, away from the new wave scene, having conquered the world with Parallel Lines, while the Photos' second album, Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice, was recorded but never released. Incidentally, this Wendy Wu had absolutely nothing to do with the actress Brenda Song playing a character of the same name in the Disney TV movie Homecoming Warrior. ~ Sharon Mawer