Now Available:

Spies on the Sidelines: The High-Stakes World of NFL Espionage

by Kevin Bryant

Rowman & Littlefield

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Spies disguised as priests. Secret surveillance of targets’ movements. Radio frequency jamming. Tapped telephones. These might sound like acts of espionage right out of the Cold War or a spy movie—but in fact came straight from the National Football League. 

In Spies on the Sidelines: The High-Stakes World of NFL Espionage, Kevin Bryant provides the first in-depth investigation of spying in professional football, as well as the countermeasures utilized to defend against these threats. Spanning across all teams and eras, Bryant shines a light on the shady world of NFL reconnaissance—from clandestine photography and hidden draft prospects to listening devices and stolen documents—along with the permissible, if sometimes questionable, spy techniques teams utilize day in and day out to gain an advantage over their opponents. 

Written by a former Special Agent with decades of experience collecting and safeguarding information for the Department of Defense, Spies on the Sidelines reveals that, behind the game-day action, professional football can be as cloak-and-dagger as American intelligence agencies. This fascinating and expansive compilation of NFL spy anecdotes exposes the extraordinary measures teams are willing to take in order to win.

On My Radar:

The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America

by Ira Shapiro

Rowman & Littlefield

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:

 

In two previous highly regarded books on the U.S. Senate, Ira Shapiro chronicled the institution from its apogee in the 1970s through its decline in the decades since. Now, Shapiro turns his gaze to how the Senate responded to the challenges posed by the Trump administration and its prospects under President Biden. The Founding Fathers gave the US Senate many functions, but it had one fundamental responsibility—its raison d’etre: to provide the check against a dangerous president who threatened our democracy. Two hundred and thirty years later, when Donald Trump, a potential authoritarian, finally reached the White House, the Senate should have served as both America’s first and last lines of defense. Instead, we had the nightmare scenario: today’s Senate, reduced through a long period of decline to a hyper-partisan, gridlocked shadow of its former self, was unable to meet its fundamental responsibility. Shapiro documents the pivotal challenges facing the Senate during the Trump administration, arguing that the body’s failure to provide leadership represents the most catastrophic failure of government in American history. The last section covers the Senate’s performance during President Biden’s first year in office and looks forward to the 2022 Senate elections and beyond.

In My TBR Stack:

Falcon Guide to Van Life: Every Essential for Nomadic Adventures
by Roxy and Ben Dawson
Globe Pequot
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

This essential guidebook for anyone looking to hit the road, from the weekend warriors to the full-time nomads, combines practical information, inspirational photography, and engaging stories of travel and adventure. It helps the reader transition past the 9-5 to the nomadic lifestyle, and then guide them to the best vistas, hikes, and adventures in the country. Get the inside scoop on building out a van, from insulation to plumbing, building a budget, and staying safe and well on the road.

Inside you'll find:

5 Suggested Road Trip Itineraries complete with maps, highlights, and stop information:

Denver, Colorado to Whitefish, Montana
Moab, Utah to Yosemite National Park, California
Seattle, Washington to San Francisco, California
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina
Millinocket, Maine to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland

The van guide to National Parks:
Northeast
Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
Southeast
Congaree National Park (South Carolina)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina and Tennessee)
Midwest
Badlands National Park (South Dakota)
Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)
West
Yellowstone National Park (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)
Yosemite National Park (California)
Redwoods State and National Park (California)
Southwest
Canyonlands National Park (Utah)
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
Zion National Park (Utah)
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Colorado)
Northwest
Glacier National Park
Olympic National Park

On My Radar:

Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star
by Matthew Kerns
TwoDot
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Texas Jack: America’s First Cowboy Star is a biography of John B. “Texas Jack” Omohundro, the first well-known cowboy in America. A Confederate scout and spy from Virginia, Jack left for Texas within weeks of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. In Texas, he became first a cowboy and then a trail boss, jobs that would inform the rest of his life. Jack lead cattle on the Chisholm and Goodnight-Loving trails to New Mexico, California, Kansas and Nebraska. In 1868 he met James B. “Wild Bill” Hickok in Kansas and then William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody in Nebraska at the end of the first major cattle drive to North Platte. Texas Jack and Buffalo Bill became friends, and soon the scout and the cowboy became the subjects of a series of dime novels written by Ned Buntline.

In My TBR Stack:

Dying with Ease: A Compassionate Guide to Making Wiser End-of-Life Decisions
by Jeff Spiess, MD
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

We all know we are going to die, but live as though we don’t believe it. Rather than explore our options and consider the possibilities that can impact our final days, we ignore the idea altogether out of fear. By avoiding the topic of death, we increase the pain and grief we experience at the end of life, and the suffering of those left behind. 

After three decades of caring for the dying, Dr. Jeff Spiess argues that if we honestly face our mortality, we will make wiser decisions, die with less distress, and live the remainder of our lives, whether days or decades, more fully and with less anxiety. Using cultural and religious references alongside poignant narratives, this optimistic work informs, inspires, and challenges our cognitive and emotional understandings of our own lives and deaths.

Dying with Ease contains the practical nuts and bolts information about advance care planning, hospice, palliative care, and ethical and legal issues surrounding dying in America. Dr. Spiess answers such questions as: 

• How can I plan for the last part of my life?
• What options do I have if my suffering is unbearable?
• What do religion and spiritual philosophy have to say about dying?
• What does it feel like to die? 

While dying can be difficult, it can also be beautiful. By learning to relax in the face of death at our current stage of life, we can make wiser and more authentic decisions throughout the rest of our lives-- however long they may be.

On My Radar:

The Night the Referee Hit Back: Memorable Moments From the World of Boxing
by Mike Silver
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The boxing world has witnessed some spectacular and iconic moments, from the “Thrilla in Manila” to the last encounter between Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta. In The Night the Referee Hit Back: Memorable Moments from the World of Boxing, award-winning boxing journalist Mike Silver looks back at some of boxing’s most legendary fights, talks with Hall of Famers Archie Moore, Carlos Ortiz, Emile Griffith and Curtis Cokes, and analyzes the changes that have taken place in boxing since the Golden Age. This collection, drawn from the author’s best articles from the past 40 years, are a colorful mix of hard-hitting exposes, interviews, and light-hearted stories featuring boxers such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joe Frazier, Oscar De La Hoya, and Muhammad Ali.

Mike Silver captures the essence, charisma, tragedy, and romance of boxing like no one else. Featuring numerous historical and iconic photographs, The Night the Referee Hit Back is a fascinating and valuable collection for boxing fans and sports historians alike.

On My Radar:

Weird Al: Seriously
by Lily E. Hirsch
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:


From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, "Weird Al" Yankovic has made a career out of making us laugh.

Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic’s fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. In this book, for the first time, the parodies, original compositions, and polka medleys of the Weird Al universe finally receive their due respect. Lily Hirsch weaves together original interviews with the prince of parody himself, creating a fresh take on comedy and music’s complicated romance. She reveals that Yankovic’s jests have always had a deeper meaning, addressing such topics as bullying, celebrity, and racial and gender stereotypes.

Weird Al is undeterred by those who say funny music is nothing but a low-brow pastime. And thank goodness. With his good-guy grace still intact, Yankovic remains unapologetically and unmistakably himself. Reveling in the mischief and wisdom of Yankovic’s forty-year career, this book is an Al-expense-paid tour of a true comedic and musical genius. 

On My Radar:

Operation Devil Horns: The Takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco
by Michael Santini and Ray Bolger
Rowman & Littlefield
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

In a bid to take down MS-13’s criminal network in the Mission District of San Francisco, Michael Santini, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, recruits a pair of hardened gang members and convinces them to risk their lives as criminal informants. Set in a city with one of the strictest sanctuary policies protecting illegal immigrants in America, Operation Devil Horns illustrates how politically correct ideology impacts life-or-death crime fighting on the streets. 

Through the informants’ eyes, Operation Devil Horns offers a rare glimpse into the pervasive criminal subculture of MS-13, a gang of Spanish-speaking immigrants that still terrorizes pockets of American society today – including their own compatriots. The case begins with a focus on the gang in San Francisco, eventually widening to include a network that reaches across borders. Santini tracks down the gang’s leadership from the Bay Area to the prison cells of corrupt Central American regimes. Eventually, it takes the cold-blooded murder of three family members in San Francisco to shake the American public out of complacency and focus sober attention on a growing and violent threat.

This is the story of a dedicated team of special agents, federal prosecutors, and local police who overcome political and legal challenges to take down more than two dozen violent criminal targets. 

In My TBR Stack:

Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food: A Five-Point Plan for Success
by Arlene B. Englander
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food is for anyone who would like to eat whatever they like, yet stop just at the point of satisfaction without overeating. 

Written by a Columbia University trained psychotherapist and former emotional overeater, Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food offers psychologically sound techniques for recognizing the symptoms of emotional overeating and methods for addressing it in ways that are both effective and enjoyable. 

Readers will learn how to become aware of the difference between eating in a healthy way and eating emotionally – neither to satisfy hunger, nor for enjoyment, but in a desperate attempt to distract oneself from painful thoughts and feelings. Diets don’t work for people who eat through their emotions. Instead, learning to recognize the stressors that lead to emotional eating and to address those tensions through other methods besides eating is the goal. When we handle stress well away from the table, we’re free to relax and really savor our food when we choose to eat. Proven techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are presented in an innovative, easy-to-remember way. Learning to eat mindfully, for health and enjoyment, becomes the goal, and Arlene Englander walks readers through table techniques designed to make mindful eating easier, habitual, and ultimately second-nature. 

Allowing for both fun foods and healthy foods, Englander’s approach emphasizes eating healthfully and being aware of best practices and the behavioral objectives of coping with stress, exercising regularly, mindful eating, good nutrition and hydration, and controlling overeating situations. She addresses late-night eating, parties, vacation, and other situations where overindulging may be a risk. She concludes with a prescription that is meant to last so that readers can love their food for a lifetime.

On My Radar:

Kris Kristofferson: Country Highwayman
by Mary G. Hurd
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Kris Kristofferson: Country Highwayman, Mary G. Hurd surveys the life and works of this highly respected American songwriter. For many, Kristofferson’s songs remain the gold standard of modern songwriters, and Kris Kristofferson follows the commitment to freedom of expression that has characterized his songwriting and struggles with the music industry. The author also explores his film career, work with the Highwaymen, liberal activism, decision to write and record two albums of material protesting the U.S. government’s intrusion in Central America, and reflowering as a musical artist with the release of This Old Road in 2006 and other studio albums. 

Kris Kristofferson: Country Highwayman should appeal not only to dedicated fans of Kristofferson’s work as an artist but also to anyone interested in country music and its influence on modern Americana and the roots of music traditions.

On My Radar:

Stolen, Smuggled, Sold: On the Hunt for Cultural Treasures
by Nancy Moses
Rowman & Littlefield
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

There are many books about museum heists, Holocaust artwork, insider theft, trafficking in antiquities, and stolen Native American objects. Now, there’s finally a book for the general public that covers the entire terrain. The book includes full-color photos of the objects. 

Stolen, Smuggled, Sold features seven vivid and true stories in which the reader joins the author as she uncovers a cultural treasure and follows its often-convoluted trail. Along the way author and reader encounter a cast of fascinating characters from the underbelly of the cultural world: unscrupulous grave robbers, sinister middlemen, ruthless art dealers, venal Nazis, canny lawyers, valiant academics, unstoppable investigative reporters, unwitting curators, and dedicated government officials. Stories include Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1, the typset manuscript for Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth, a ceremonial Ghost Dance short from the massacre at Wounded Knee, the theft of 4,800 historical audio discs by a top official at the National Archives, a missing original copy of The Bill of Rights, the mummy of Ramses I, and an ancient treasure from Iraq. 

While each story is fascinating in and of itself, together they address one of the hottest issues in the museum world: how to deal with the millions of items that have breaks in the chain of ownership, suspicious ownership records, or no provenance at all. The issue of ownership touches on professional practices, international protocols, and national laws. It’s a financial issue since the illicit trade in antiquities and cultural items generates as much as $4 billion to $8 billion a year. 

On My Radar:

Baseball Myths: Debating, Debunking, and Disproving Tales from the Diamond

by Bill Deane

Scarecrow Press

Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Baseball followers have been perpetuating, debating, and debunking myths for nearly two centuries, producing a treasury of baseball stories and “facts.” Yet never before have these elements of baseball history been carefully scrutinized and compiled into one comprehensive work—until now. In Baseball Myths: Debating, Debunking, and Disproving Tales from the Diamond, award-winning researcher Bill Deane examines baseball legends—old and new. 

This book covers such legendary players as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose, and Derek Jeter, while also looking at lesser-known figures like Dummy Hoy, Grover Land, Wally Pipp, and Babe Herman—not to mention people who found fame in other fields, such as Civil War General Abner Doubleday, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Deane’s original research and logic will educate, amuse, and often surprise readers, revealing the truth behind such legends as the inventor of baseball, the first black player in the major leagues, and even the origin of the hot dog. 

With photographs, stats, and more than 80 myths examined, this book is sure to fascinate everyone, from the casual baseball fan to lifelong devotees of the sport.