General Crafts, Hobbies, & Games

As the first great Jewish player in the major leagues and the first African American to play major-league baseball during the twentieth century, respectively, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson are forever linked because of the barriers they encountered,...

Today, black players compose more than eighty percent of the National Basketball Association's rosters, providing a strong and valued contribution to professional basketball. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, pro basketball was tainted...

In this "sharp-eyed account of a nearly forgotten African-American sports legend" (Publishers Weekly)--the remarkable Major Taylor who became the world's fastest bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era--"Kranish has done historians and fans a service...

Micahel Sokolove presents an unforgettable tale of families grasping for opportunities, of athletes praying for one chance to make it big, of all of us hoping that the will to succeed can triumph over the demons haunting our city streets. The year was...

"If you are a basketball fan, you should be aware of Spencer Haywood's immense historical importance. If you're not aware, you should be." --Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe Hall of Famer, Olympic gold medalist, MVP, and All-Star could all be used to describe...

From the author of Baseball 100"A fascinating account of a man who outlasted the ignorance of a nation and persevered to become a beloved figure...One of the best baseball books in years, filled with depth style and clarity. --Cleveland Plain DealerAn...

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was riding a wave of success. The survivor of a difficult youth, he rose to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing crown. But his career crashed to a halt on May 26, 1967, when he and another man were found guilty of...

Winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing: The true story of the game that never should have happened -- and of a nation on the brink of monumental change.In the fall of 1943, at the little-known North Carolina College for Negroes,...

In the spring of 1968, the Omaha Central High School basketball team made history with its first all-black starting lineup. Their nickname, the Rhythm Boys, captured who they were and what they did on the court. Led by star center Dwaine Dillard, the...

Jack Dempsey was instrumental in creating the first million-dollar gate. That momentous event occurred in 1921 when he faced Georges Carpentier, the French heavyweight champion. Dempsey went on to annihilate his opponent. Four more million-dollar gates...

Following in the footsteps of Robeson, Ali, Robinson and others, today's Black athletes re-engage with social issues and the meaning of American patriotism Named a best book of 2018 by Library Journal It used to be that politics and sports were as...

The unknown story of the Black pioneers who collectively changed the face of the NFL in 1946. THE FORGOTTEN FIRST chronicles the lives of four incredible men, the racism they experienced as Black players entering a segregated sport, the burden of...

The unknown story of the Black pioneers who collectively changed the face of the NFL in 1946.The Forgotten First chronicles the lives of four incredible men, the racism they experienced as Black players entering a segregated sport, the burden of...

The powers-that-be in 1920s auto racing, namely the American Automobile Association's Contest Board, barred everyone who wasn't a white male from the sport. But Dewey Gatson, a black man who went by the name Rajo Jack, drove into the center of "outlaw"...

The inspiring true story of a remarkable coach whose superb undefeated high-school basketball team in 1980s Baltimore produced four NBA players and gave hope to a desperate neighborhood and city--"a feel-good story that is timely as well as true" (Glenn...

A New York Times bestselling sportswriter tells the inside story of how three star players joined together to form the most dominant team in basketball and lead the Boston Celtics to their first championship in more than two decades. The first of "The...