Feared by pitchers and loved by baseball fans of all stripes, David “Big Papi†Ortiz wields a big bat, a huge smile, and an even bigger heart. In this blockbuster biography, Ortiz tells his tale: Growing up poor in the Dominican Republic, struggling through the minor leagues in an unfamiliar country, and ultimately finding success as a late-inning hero for the Boston Red Sox . . . and helping his team make the greatest comeback in sports history by winning the 2004 World Series. In 2006 he broke the team record with 54 home runs and started the All-Star game for the third straight year in 2007.
Along the way he shares his hard-won wisdom, sidesplitting laughs from the clubhouse, thoughts about his famous teammates and opponents, and some remarkably candid opinions. Big Papi is a! n unforgettable story about a sports hero that will have readers cheering with every page.
He's just a regular guinea pig with a fondness for Fruity-Nut Buffetâ€"and dreams of the big time.
Now he's leaving the only home he's ever known and heading for the coast. Stardom awaits himâ€"but is it all he hoped it would be?
Denise Brunkus and Deborah Blumenthal are proud to present a new star who's ready for his close-up. Charlie's debut is what Hollywood hits are made ofâ€"humor, adventure, and a good dose of love.
The president who served the shortest termâ€"just a single monthâ€"but whose victorious election campaign rewrote the rules for candidates seeking America's highest office
William Henry Harrison died just thirty-one days after taking the oath of office in 1841. Today he is a curiosity in American history, but as Gail Collins shows in this entertaining and revelatory biography, he and his career are worth a closer look. The son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Harrison was a celebrated general whose exploits at the Battle of Tippecanoe and in the War of 1812 propelled him into politics, and in time he became a leader of the new Whig Party, alongside Daniel Webster and Henr! y Clay. But it was his presidential campaign of 1840 that made an indelible mark on American political history.
Collins takes us back to that pivotal year, when Harrison's "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign transformed the way candidates pursued the presidency. It was the first campaign that featured mass rallies, personal appearances by the candidate, and catchy campaign slogans like "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." Harrison's victory marked the coming-of-age of a new political system, and its impact is still felt in American politics today. It may have been only a one-month administration, but we're still feeling the effects.
Every day, President Obama reads ten representative letters among the thousands he receives from citizens across the land. The letters come from people of all ages, walks of life, and political points of view. Some are heartÂbreaking, some angry, some hopeful. Indeed, Obama reads as many letters addressed “Dear Jackass†as “Dear Mr. Pre! sident.†Eli Saslow, a young and rising star at the Washi! ngton Po st, became fascinated by the power of these letters and set out to find the stories behind them.The oddly named president whose shortsightedness and stubbornness fractured the nation and sowed the seeds of! civil war
In the summer of 1850, America was at a terrible crossroads. Congress was in an uproar over slavery, and it was not clear if a compromise could be found. In the midst of the debate, President Zachary Taylor suddenly took ill and died. The presidency, and the crisis, now fell to the little-known vice president from upstate New York.
In this eye-opening biography, the legal scholar and historian Paul Finkelman reveals how Millard Fillmore's response to the crisis he inherited set the country on a dangerous path that led to the Civil War. He shows how Fillmore stubbornly catered to the South, alienating his fellow Northerners and creating a fatal rift in the Whig Party, which would soon disappear from American politicsâ€"as would Fillmore himself, after failing to regain the White House under the banner of the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic "Know Nothing" Party.
Though Fillmore did have an eye toward the future, dispatching Commodore Matthew ! Perry on the famous voyage that opened Japan to the West and o! n the ce ntral issues of the ageâ€"immigration, religious toleration, and most of all slaveryâ€"his myopic vision led to the destruction of his presidency, his party, and ultimately, the Union itself.
The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century
In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all.
Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the cold war and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth centuryâ€"his 1948 “whistlestop campaign†against Thomas E. D! ewey.
Robert Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson’s observation that the presidency is a “splendid misery,†but it was during his tenure that the United States truly came of age.
This is the perfect introduction for young readers to the lives and times of America’s 43 most influential leaders. Just as the new president is inaugurated, readers can easily relive the course of American history through a detailed timeline, more than 50 vivid photographs and illustrations, information about each president’s term in office, and the major political issues of each era. Quick-reference sidebars provide brief summ! aries of the major events and important people who emerged dur! ing each presidential term. Famous quotes and fun facts about each president ensure that this perennial favorite continues to be an entertaining and enlightening addition to any child’s library.
DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS: This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.In the early 1970s, the sport of skateboarding had so waned from its popularity in the 1960s that it was virtually non-existent. In the Dogtown area of west Los Angeles, a group of young surfers known as the Zephyr Team (Z-Boys) was experiment! ing with new and radical moves and styles in the water which they translated to the street. When competition skateboarding returned in 1975, the Z-Boys turned the skating world on its head. . Dogtown The Legend of the Z-Boys is a truly fascinating case study of just how an underground sport ascended on the world. These are the stories and images of a time that not only inspired a generation but changed the face of sport forever. The Legend of the Z-Boys has been described as "The Dogtown text book" and an insightful companion piece to the movie: "DogTown and Z-Boys". . Spanning 1975 â€" 1985, the first section of the 240 page book includes the best of the "DogTown" articles written by C.R. Stecyk III as they originally appeared in SkateBoarder Magazine. The second half compiles 100’s of never before seen skate images from the archive of Glen E. Friedman - many of which appear in the movie. Both Stecyk and Friedman acted as executive producers and advisors for the award wi! nning film, Dogtown and Z-Boys to be released nationwide simul! taneousl y by Sony Picture Classics in April 2002.In the early 1970s, a group of young surfers from a tough neighborhood south of Santa Monica took up skateboards and offhandedly changed the world. At least it appears so after watching Dogtown and Z-Boys, a documentary about how twelve "Z-Boys" (including one girl) resuscitated a dead sport and created a lifestyle that spread infectiously to become a worldwide counterculture phenomenon, namely high-flying "vert" (i.e. vertical) skateboarding and punk rock abandon. Director Stacy Peralta, one of the original Z-Boys, and Craig Steyck, the photographer whose publicity first made them famous, would have you believe that with empty pools as their springboard, the clan single-handedly carved a niche that grew into what is now referred to as "extreme sports" (snowboarding seems particularly implicated). Degrees of accuracy aside, the hoard of original footage Peralta and Steyck have access to makes for an engaging portrait of "accide! ntal revolutionaries" whose mythology as expressed by themselves (all but one of the original crew give extensive interviews) and those they influenced (including Henry Rollins, Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, and Sean Penn, who narrates) is far more entertaining than any evenhanded version could ever hope to be. --Fionn MeadeIn the early 1970s, a group of young surfers from a tough neighborhood south of Santa Monica took up skateboards and offhandedly changed the world. At least it appears so after watching Dogtown and Z-Boys, a documentary about how twelve "Z-Boys" (including one girl) resuscitated a dead sport and created a lifestyle that spread infectiously to become a worldwide counterculture phenomenon, namely high-flying "vert" (i.e. vertical) skateboarding and punk rock abandon. Director Stacy Peralta, one of the original Z-Boys, and Craig Steyck, the photographer whose publicity first made them famous, would have you believe that with empty pools as their sp! ringboard, the clan single-handedly carved a niche that grew i! nto what is now referred to as "extreme sports" (snowboarding seems particularly implicated). Degrees of accuracy aside, the hoard of original footage Peralta and Steyck have access to makes for an engaging portrait of "accidental revolutionaries" whose mythology as expressed by themselves (all but one of the original crew give extensive interviews) and those they influenced (including Henry Rollins, Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, and Sean Penn, who narrates) is far more entertaining than any evenhanded version could ever hope to be. --Fionn MeadeMovieGoods has Amazon's largest selection of movie and TV show memorabilia, including posters, film cells and more: tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed and laminated posters. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from MovieGoods on Amazon.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Interviews
Other
A lot of people ask me if I’m sad that the Vampire Academy series ended. And honestly…I’m not. There are a couple reasons for this. One of the biggest is that I’ve always known how Rose’s story was going to wrap up, and it was time for her to get a little hap! piness. She’s had a rough time in the series!
The other reason I’m not sad about Vampire Academy ending is because…well, it hasn't.
Technically, Bloodlines is the first book in a new series (which is also called Bloodlines), but it picks up almost right after Last Sacrifice ended. Fans aren’t going to have to wait long to find out what’s going in the Moroi world--and that’s the key point here. We’re still in the Moroi world. Bloodlines takes place around all the Moroi, dhampirs, and other supernatural intrigue and romance we loved in the first six books. We even get to see how a lot of familiar characters are doing--including Rose and Dimitri.
The biggest difference is that Sydney, the Alchemist we first met in Blood Promise, has taken over as our narrator. She’s telling the story now--and with good reason. Things have gotten a bit crazy in the Moroi world, and Sydney finds herself dragged into the he! art of it. Jill Mastrano, the young Moroi girl who learned abo! ut her r oyal status at the end of Last Sacrifice, is being targeted by assassins who want to remove her sister from the throne. To keep her safe, Jill is sent off into hiding--at a human school in Palm Springs, California.
To say this is a bit of culture shock for Jill is an understatement, but it’s just as difficult for Sydney. Sydney has to go undercover with Jill, posing as her sister, in order to make sure things run smoothly with a vampire hiding out in a human society. Eddie Castile, the well-intentioned dhampir always getting into trouble for Rose, also comes along to work as Jill’s bodyguard. Rounding out the cast is the notorious Adrian Ivashkov. He’s not posing as a student, but he has “helpfully†invited himself along to keep a brotherly eye on Jill--and torment Sydney with his constant jokes and party boy habits.
Rose was a great narrator, and Sydney’s fun in a lot of different ways. She gives us a human take on the Moroi world, whi! ch isn’t something we’ve really seen yet. Vampire life, through Rose’s eyes, is a very normal thing. For Sydney? Not so. It’s made worse because she’s been raised to believe vampires and dhampirs are wrong and unnatural, but spending time with them in Palm Springs begins to change her mind. The Alchemists don’t look favorably on those questioning their beliefs.
What’s also interesting is that Sydney has a much more analytic view of the world than Rose. Sydney overthinks where Rose rushes in, and both styles are fun to watch. Sydney’s super smart and can memorize reams of materialâ€"but is a little oblivious to how a normal social life works. That’s never been an issue while she was working as a field Alchemist, but in the midst of a high schoolâ€"with guys who want to ask her out? Yeah. There are a few complications! Roll in the fact that sinister, supernatural activities are going on in Palm Springs, and Sydney suddenly finds her mission a lot m! ore complicated than even she expected.
All in all, ! I think readers who loved the Vampire Academy series are going to adore Bloodlines. I purposely left a lot of questions at the end of Last Sacrifice…and those are going to get answered. And like I said, Vampire Academy hasn’t really ended. It’s just going to go on in a different form and give us a look at the vampire world in a new way. Fans of Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian are going to love learning more about them. So, have fun, and get ready for the story to continue!
--Richelle MeadNate and Marcus are half brothers born and raised in the ghetto of South Florida by their unstable, single mother. During a playground fight, Marcus defends his brother by stabbing a bully who is threatening his brother’s life. When Marcus’ father finds out about his son’s behavior, he removes Marcus from his mother’s home. Years later, the brothers are reunited on the streets of Miami, but on different sides of the law! Marcus has become a police offi! cer, while Nate has become a local drug dealer. The promise to stay brothers forever puts Nate and Marcus’ relationship to the test. 
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