Toole. F. X.
Seventy-year-old F.X. Toole has exploded onto the literary scene with this astonishing first collection of stories drawn from his own experiences in boxing. In these powerful and moving tales, he reveals a complex web of athletes, trainers, and promoters and their extended families, all players in an unforgiving business where victory, like defeat, comes at a dark and painful price. F. X. Toole breathes life into vivid, compelling characters who radiate the fierce intensity of the worlds they inhabit. In "The Monkey Look," an aging cut man with an incorrigible sweet tooth works the corner for Hoolie, a featherweight "bleeder" with attitude. "Black Jew" brings Reggie Valentine Love and his camp to a brutal elimination bout in Atlantic City, where they are treated like second-class citizens by a promoter. In "Million $$$ Baby," seasoned trainer Frankie Dunn faces the most daunting challenge of his life when he agrees to aid the fearless Maggie Fitzgerald in her quest to become a champion boxer. "Fightin' in Philly" and "Frozen Water" are stories in which youthful dreams of glory and celebrity are threatened by the harsh realities that suffuse both of these narratives. The novella "Rope Burns" is the crowning achievement of the collection, offering a gritty, heartrending account of the indestructible bond that develops between a devoted fighter and his trainer. In Rope Burns F.X. bole exhibits the skill of a miniaturist: in precise and exquisite detail, he peoples a world rich in unforgettable characters, like Señora Cabrera, the owner of the Acapulco café, who makes low-fat refried beans to keep a local fighter in top form, and an anonymous museum guard with a soft spot for Michelangelo. Toole's faithful dialogue crackles and bites, and the flawed characters he creates cannot help but remind us of our own too fragile humanity. He brings a new understanding to the violence and purity of the sweet science and the world it engenders, opening a window into the fighter's soul that can never be closed. Red cloth over boards, gilt spine lettering. 237 pages. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket
Robenalt, James D.
Inscribed by James D. Robenalt on the half-title page. "So how to tell of the life of a magician whose vocation was politics? A simple biography was out of the question. All of the hard research led to an idea. Why not travel back in time for one night to meet the old wizard himself in a car ride that actually did take place at the end of his life? Once there, he could tell his story directly to one of his descendants--a transference of family memories that just may have had national significance. Surely a magician could accomplish such a meeting." --from the Preface David Copperfield had this to say about Linking Rings. William W. Durbin, businessman, political activist, and professional magician, was a major figure in Ohio politics during the first half of the twentieth century, serving as the powerful head of the Ohio Democratic Party and as a senior official in the U.S. Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Durbin's story is that of a political maverick who knew how to manipulate behind-the-scenes activities, especially in Ohio's political arena. He was instrumental in William Jennings Bryan's near-defeat of William McKinley in Ohio, and two decades later he helped Woodrow Wilson reach the White House. Although Durbin's vocation was politics, his passion was magic. One of the nation's premier magicians, who performed on stage as "The Past Master of the Black Art," he was the first elected president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, a professional organization that has grown since its first convention in Kenton, Ohio, in 1926 to number more than 15,000 members today. Imaginatively told and thoroughly researched, Linking Rings is an engaging biography narrated by James D. Robenalt, Durbin's great-grandson, who places himself with Durbin in a long car ride back to Ohio from Washington, D.C., in February 1937. Fans of magic and those interested in political history will find Linking Rings an engrossing read. 315 pages with index. Illustrated from photographs. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
Block, Gay
Small 4to. Inscribed by the photographer. Laid in is a photo illustrated card, an invitation to attend the exhibition. "My mother's mother, whom everyone called Dear, wanted to be a Southern aristocrat, and she was as much of one as a Jew could be. She was one of those ladies with her nose in the air; you could tell she thought she was better than other people. Dear never learned to drive, so she did her shopping and paid her afternoon visits in her chauffeur-driven Cadillac. Dear grew up in New Orleans where social position was important, and she could trace her lineage in this country back to the American Revolution. When he was twelve, my grandfather emigrated with his large family to Louisiana from Germany, becoming a successful retailer and landowner. I know these few facts about my grandparents, but I know nothing of their childhoods or their thoughts about life. They weren't storytellers. As a child I watched my grandfather kill chickens he raised in the backyard. He ate no meat except for these chickens and fish. Because these are the practices of Jewish dietary laws, I'm sure he kept kosher but when I asked Mother she said, "He never said he did." It isn't surprising that a Jew in the South would want to hide any observance that might separate him from other Americans. Even in my generation when, at fourteen, I said, "Oy vey" to my mother, she quickly informed me, "We don't talk that way, Gay." Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the photographs in this book at the University of New Mexico Art Museum July -September 2003. A near fine copy bound in slick photo illustrated boards as issued
Smith, Alison
A luminous, true story and an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and of a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss. As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name, Alroy. But when Alison was fifteen, she woke one day to learn that Roy, eighteen, was dead. Heartbreaking but hopeful, this extraordinary memoir explores the aftermath of Roy's death: his parents' enduring romance, the faith of a deeply religious community, and the excitement and anguish of Alison's first loveâ"a taboo relationship that opens up a world beyond the death of her brother. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket
Smith, Chas
A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for Nonfiction. Surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith's wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu's North Shoreâ"a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime. For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu's paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth for surfing's Triple Crown competition. Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca. Smith captures this exciting and dangerous place where locals, outsiders, the surf industry, and criminal elements clash in a fascinating look at class, race, power, money, and crime, set within one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result is a breathtaking blend of crime and adventure that captures the allure and wickedness of this idyllic golden world. Illustrated from photographs. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket
Jones, Robert T Jr and O.B. Keeler
The Classics of Golf. Foreword by Herbert Warren Wind. Afterword by Francis M Bird. Originally published in 1927, Bobby Jones's Down the Fairway has become what Sports Illustrated calls "an incontestable classic." Part memoir, part golf instructional, part golf historyâ"and including wonderful vintage photographsâ"Down the Fairway is a must read for all who care about this most fascinating sport. Amazingly, Bobby Jonesâ"along with sports journalist O.B. Keelerâ"wrote this book when he was only 24 years old. His thinking was that, having just become the first golfer ever to win both U.S. and British Open titles in one year (1926), he would never perform at such a high level again. It seemed a good time, then, to tell his story. In an age of big money, lucrative endorsements, TV contracts, and pouting millionaires, this ernest volume comes as a breath of fresh air. Infused with Jones's deep knowledge of and pure passion for the game, it evokes a long-ago time when an amateur could be the best in the world. Illustrated from photographs. 240+ pages. A very good plus copy sans jacket, a very bright copy Green cloth with cream backstrip front panel with gilt lettering. oxblood lettering on spine
Sayers, Dorothy L.
12mo. In this play, Dorothy L. Sayers reworked the legend of Faustus as a serious 'comedy,' presenting Faustus as one who chooses wicked means as an end to an admirable goal: the relief of suffering (while becoming entirely focused on his own supposed satisfactions). In the last scene, in the Court of Heaven, Azrael, angel of the souls of the dead, claims Faustus' soul, opposing Mephistopheles' claim. With the knowledge of good and evil returned to him, Faustus finally accepts that his evil must be cleansed, with Mephistopheles serving as the agent of that purgation. Faustus accepts his need for cleansing, trusting that the divine Judge/Court President, will indeed in mercy meet him at the very gates of hell, finally redeemed. Perfect bound in the original printed wrappers. 63 pages. A very good copy browned around all edges, but a solid copy
Sadik-Khan, Janette and Seth Solomonow
Signed. As New York City's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan managed the seemingly impossible and transformed the streets of one of the world's greatest, toughest cities into dynamic spaces safe for pedestrians and cyclists. Her approach was dramatic and effective: Simply painting a part of the street to make it into a plaza or bus lane not only made the street safer, but it also lessened congestion and increased foot traffic, which improved the bottom line of businesses. Real-life experience confirmed that if you know how to read the street, you can make it function better by not totally reconstructing it but by reallocating the space that's already there. Breaking the street into its component parts, Streetfight demonstrates, with step-by-step visuals, how to rewrite the underlying "source code" of a street, with pointers on how to add protected bike paths, improve crosswalk space, and provide visual cues to reduce speeding. Achieving such a radical overhaul wasn't easy, and Streetfight pulls back the curtain on the battles Sadik-Khan won to make her approach work. She includes examples of how this new way to read the streets has already made its way around the world, from pocket parks in Mexico City and Los Angeles to more pedestrian-friendly streets in Auckland and Buenos Aires, and innovative bike-lane designs and plazas in Austin, Indianapolis, and San Francisco. Many are inspired by the changes taking place in New York City and are based on the same techniques. Streetfight deconstructs, reassembles, and reinvents the street, inviting readers to see it in ways they never imagined. Illustrated from photographs. 350 pages with index. A near fine copy in a very good plus dust jacket (store signed sticker to front cover)
Schemel, Patty with Erin Hosier
Patty Schemel's story begins with a childhood surrounded by the AA meetings her parents hosted in the family living room. Their divorce triggered her first forays into drinking at age twelve and dovetailed with her passion for punk rock and playing the drums. Patty's struggles with her sexuality further drove her notoriously hard playing, and by the late '80s she had focused that anger, confusion, and drive into regular gigs with well-regarded bands in Tacoma, Seattle, and Olympia, Washington. She met a pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain at a Melvins show, and less than five years later, was living with him and his wife, Hole front-woman Courtney Love, at the height of his fame and on the cusp of hers. As the platinum-selling band's new drummer, Schemel contributed memorable, driving beats to hits like "Beautiful Son," "Violet," "Doll Parts," and "Miss World." But the band was plagued by tragedy and heroin addiction, and by the time Hole went on tour in support of their ironically titled and critically-acclaimed album Live Through This in 1994, both Cobain and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff had died at the age of 27 With surprising candor and wit, Schemel intimately documents the events surrounding her dramatic exit from the band in 1998 that led to a dark descent into a life of homelessness and crime on the streets of Los Angeles, and the difficult but rewarding path to lasting sobriety after more than twenty serious attempts to get clean. Hit So Hard is a testament not only to the enduring power of the music Schemel helped create but an important document of the drug culture that threatened to destroy it. 280 pages illustrated from photographs. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket
Ryan, Kathleen Jo
Oblong 4to. This copy is inscribed to a Library by Kathleen Jo Ryan on the title page. In Texas Cattle Barons: Their Families, Land and Legacy, thirteen families discuss the reality of owning and working some of the largest land holdings in the state of Texas. Most have owned some or all of their land for generations, others bought into their properties over time, all have risen to the challenge of taking the cattle industry into the next millennium. Learn firsthand from ranchers like Al and Mike Micailef, Jim and James McAllen, and Jon and Jackie Means about the hard work, discipline, and faith required to make a cattle ranch work in this age of big business. Join the owners of the Broseco, Moorhouse, and Williams ranches as they discuss breeding programs, grazing patterns, and the pursuit of the ultimate "beef animal." Listen as the Gibsons and the Ryans reveal their passion for the land and their hope for the future. A near fine copy bound in brown illustrated boards with a near fine dust jacket
Ward, Jesmyn
In five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five men in her life, to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. Dealing with these losses, one after another, made Jesmyn ask the question: why? And as she began to write about the experience of living through all the dying, she realized the truth--and it took her breath away. Her brother and her friends all died because of who they were and where they were from, because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Jesmyn says the answer was so obvious she felt stupid for not seeing it. But it nagged at her until she knew she had to write about her community, to write their stories and her own. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
Somerville, Janet
A curated collection of letters between Gellhorn and the extraordinary personalities that were her correspondents in the most interesting time of her life. Through these letters and the author's contextual narrative, the book covers Gellhorn's life and work, including her time reporting for Harry Hopkins and America's Federal Emergency Relief Administration in the 1930s, her newspaper and magazine reportage during the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War, and her relationships with Hemingway and General James M. Gavin late in the war, and her many lovers and affairs. Gellhorn's life, reportage, fiction and correspondence reveal her passionate advocacy of social justice and her need to tell the stories of "the people who were the sufferers of history." Renewed interest in her life makes this collection, packed with newly discovered letters and pictures, fascinating reading. 528 pages. Illustrated from photographs. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
Smith, Patti
M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to the fertile moon terrain of Iceland; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; to the West 4th Street subway station, filled with the sounds of the Velvet Underground after the death of Lou Reed; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima. Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith's life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith. Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today. Illustrated with her signature Polaroids. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket
Rowell, Galen
This copy is inscribed by the photographer on the front blank. Rowell, (1940-2002), and his wife, Barbara, tragically passed away during a plane crash near Bishop, California in 2002. In Poles Apart, Galen Rowell takes us on an exhilarating visual journey to the top and the bottom of the world, using his camera to reveal the fascinating differences in these polar opposites. In Part I, Rowell's side-by-side photographs highlight the contrasts between North and South. The photo essays of Part II continue the comparisons, developing such themes as Arctic and Antarctic science, polar bears and penguins, and visits to the North and South Poles. Part III provides detailed information on the story behind each photograph as well as technical data of interest to photographers. Galen Rowell is known for choosing subjects that, while beautiful, are unfamiliar to much of his audience. Yet his books enjoy wide appeal because he accurately focuses in images and words on the essential spirit that sets his subjects apart from the rest of the world. So it is with the distant lands and seas of the polar regions, which hold valuable lessons for all of us concerning evolution, geology, history, human endeavor, and the impact of human greed. No other vast areas of the earth remain as pristine, and for Rowell, the Arctic and Antarctic have become metaphors for those intangible elements that define the earth's wild places. In a world fast becoming a theme park of artificial experience, his book is an invitation to understand and appreciate what is real. A very good plus copy bound in blue cloth over boards in a very good solid dust jacket
Ringo, John
Inscribed by the author on the title page (ownership blindstamp at the bottom of the title page with the same name). At the rear of the book is a CD bound in along with a sheet "Baen CD Library Volume 4" that also contains a "Reading List for the 40th Century". In the future there is no want, no war, no disease nor ill-timed death. The world is a paradise-and then, in a moment, it ends. The council that controls the Net falls out and goes to war. Everywhere people who have never known a moment of want or pain are left wondering how to survive. But scattered across the face of the earth are communities which have returned to the natural life of soil and small farm. In the village of Raven's Mill, Edmund Talbot, master smith and unassuming historian, finds that all the problems of the world are falling in his lap. Refugees are flooding in, bandits are roaming the woods, and his former lover and his only daughter struggle through the Fallen landscape. Enemies, new and old, gather like jackals around a wounded lion. But what the jackals do not know is that while old he may be, this lion is far from death. And hidden in the past is a mystery that has waited until this time to be revealed. You cross Edmund Talbot at your peril, for a smith is notallhe once was. 538 pages. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
Wharton, William
"This book is dedicated to our daughter Kate, her husband Bill, and their two beautiful daughters. They are all dead now. Killed on August 3rd, 1988, at 4pm in a terrible automobile crash and fire on Highway I-5 near Albany in the Willamette Valley in the state of Oregon. This horrible accident was precipitated by a field fire licensed by public officials of that state." (the author's words). ".the first Franky Furbo stories were told by me to Kate, over thirty years ago. I told them every morning to each of my children during the next twenty years.now, due to the arrogance, shortsightedness, and greed of these grass growers with the backing of Oregon state officials, this can never be. We hope to forgive but we can never be reconciled." A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket
