Captain's Diary 2008


Book Description

It was one thing for the Aussie cricket team to become world champions; staying No. 1 is a whole new ball game. 'When the Australian team talks about playing aggressively, we are committing ourselves to playing hard. there's nothing given and there's nothing asked to be given.'- RICKY PONtING, OCtOBER 6, 2007the Australian cricket team's program for 2007-08 was as hectic as ever, featuring the ICC World twenty20 and matches against Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and the West Indies. As well, many of the Australian players were involved in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League. Yet when the season began, no one could have imagined it would generate the headlines it did.Much of this coverage came from the acrimonious battles between Australia and India, both in a one-day series in India and then in the tests in Australia that followed. Ricky Ponting was confronted with a series of controversies that none of his predecessors as Australian captain had faced, and now, in Captain's Diary 2008, he explains his side of the story. Many players, including Ponting, who are more used to being treated as heroes, were suddenly cast as villains. Did they really deserve the level of criticism that came their way?the Australian team has changed greatly in the past two years. Having lost a number of champions in 2007, a few more stars - most notably Adam Gilchrist - retired in 2008, and here Ponting pays tribute. He also traces the astounding rise of twenty20, and offers his view as to where this exciting new form of cricket might take the game he loves.




Captain's Diary 2009


Book Description

A Season of Tests, Turmoil and Twenty20 Few Australian cricket captains have had a tougher time than that experienced by Ricky Ponting in 2008-09 - a controversial test tour of India, series home and away against South Africa, more than 30 ODIs, the ICC World twenty20. And, finally, the fight for the Ashes.Ponting began the year with a better winning percentage than any other captain in test history, but this adventure ended in disappointment, as his young side fell just short in England after a typically dramatic confrontation. the task of replacing recently retired champions such as Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist and Hayden is still a work in progress. However, this is a story with many positives, as Ponting's Australians produced a number of impressive performances, most notably in South Africa, when they stunned the home side in consecutive matches, and at Leeds, when they completed one of the most decisive test wins of recent times. the emergence of young guns such as Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes and Peter Siddle points to an exciting future. throughout the period of cricket recalled in Ashes Diary 2009, Ponting played with a steely spirit that impressed many observers, including the Guardian newspaper which, after the final Ashes test, wrote, 'Staring down the barrel of a loss that must have hurt more than any other in his career, Ponting showed what a class act he is.' During the series, he had become Australia's highest test run-scorer. At the end, the crowd at the Oval gave him an extended standing ovation.this insider's account follows the path that led to this increased respect. It had been quite a year ...




From Cabin 'Boys' to Captains


Book Description

Traditionally, a woman’s place was never on stormy seas. But actually thousands of dancers, purserettes, doctors, stewardesses, captains and conductresses have taken to the waves on everything from floating palaces to battered windjammers. Their daring story is barely known, even by today’s seawomen.From before the 1750s, women fancying an oceangoing life had either to disguise themselves as cabin ‘boys’ or acquire a co-operative husband with a ship attached. Early pioneers faced superstition and discrimination in the briny ‘monasteries’. Today women captain cruise ships as big as towns and work at the highest level in the global maritime industry.This comprehensive exploration looks at the Merchant Navy, comparing it to the Royal Navy in which Wrens only began sailing in 1991. Using interviews and sources never before published, Jo Stanley vividly reveals the incredible journey across time taken by these brave and lively women salts.




Sold by the Millions


Book Description

Australian genre fiction writers have successfully exploited the Australian landscape and peoples and as a result their books are today “sold by the millions” across boundaries. They have created stories that are imaginative, visionary, and diverse. They appeal to local and international readerships and, most importantly, are thoroughly entertaining, thus making them a strong presence in the popular fiction bazaar. Sold by the Millions: Australia’s Bestsellers is the first collection to concentrate on Australia’s best-selling material that forms the armchair reading of many Australians. Leading experts of popular fiction provide introspective pieces on Romance, Horror, Crime, Science Fiction, Western, Comics, Travel, Sports and Children’s writing so that a wholesome picture emerges of the wide range of reading and research options available for scholars.




Captain Wentworth's Diary


Book Description

The retelling of Jane Austen's novel Persuasion from the point of view of Captain Frederick Wentworth by the author of Mr. Knightley's Diary. During his shore leave from the Navy, Frederick Wentworth falls in love with the elegant and intelligent Miss Anne Elliot' only to see his hopes of marrying her dashed by her godmother. Eight years later, Wentworth has realized his ambitions. A wealthy captain, he has pushed his memories of Anne to the furthest recesses of his mind, until he sees her again. And though Anne's bloom has faded, Wentworth is surprised to find that his regard for her wit and warmth has not.




Gold Medal Diary


Book Description

In Gold Medal Diary, Hayley Wickenheiser, three-time Olympic gold medal winner and captain of the Canadian Women's Olympic Hockey Team, reveals her day-to-day experiences of the 2010 Games, including the six-month lead-up of intensive training and pre-Olympic tournaments. She shares the life of an Olympian — the behind-the-scenes stories, the highs and lows, physical and emotional challenges, struggles and triumphs of an elite athlete in a hyper-intense environment, including details of the public ceremonies and private moments, friendships and rivalries, community and isolation, media presence and security. For the first time ever, readers travel inside the storied Athletes’ Village and understand what it’s like to live through the most high-pressure, high-profile sporting event in the world.







Captains of the Soul


Book Description

Known affectionately as ‘Padres’, chaplains have been integral to the Australian Army for a century. From the legendary William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, whose friendships with diggers in the trenches of Gallipoli and France made him a national figure in 1918, to Harold Wardale-Greenwood, who died caring for the sick while a POW on the brutal Sandakan ‘death march’ in July 1945, this book assesses the contribution of Australian Army chaplains in conflicts and peacekeeping missions, in barracks and among service families. Drawing on a wealth of original archival material and little known published sources, Captains of the Soul represents the first comprehensive account of Australian Army chaplains. It surveys their changing role and experience from the Great War of 1914–18 to the recent conflict in Afghanistan; charts the evolution of the Royal Australian Army Chaplains’ Department across its first century; and addresses the significance of Army chaplaincy for Australia’s military, religious and cultural history. It is a story of personal conviction and selfless devotion.




Sport and Violence


Book Description

Sport and Violence takes a critical look at the culture of ‘sports rage’ and aggression in the sporting industry, covering ethical, historical and sociological causes and impacts. It examines international examples of sport violence, including: the father of a tennis competitor placing a drug in the drinks of her competitors; a player’s neck broken after being attacked from behind by an opponent in an NHL game; hooliganism in international soccer and more. The book not only attempts to explain how and why such violence originates, it examines its impact on society outside sport and suggests potential remedies for the problem. This book: Examines the culture of violence that permeates and surrounds sport, including the sociological causes of that violence, and what can be done to mitigate them Features an international perspective with examples of sport violence from throughout the world Offers a historical view on the evolution of violence in sport Its up-to-date and in-depth coverage of a controversial issue makes this book a valuable asset to both sports students and professionals working in sports management.




The Icon Project


Book Description

In the last quarter century, a new form of iconic architecture has appeared throughout the world's major cities. Typically designed by globe-trotting "starchitects" or by a few large transnational architectural firms, these projects are almost always funded by the private sector in the service of private interests. Whereas in the past monumental architecture often had a strong public component, the urban ziggurats of today are emblems and conduits of capitalist globalization. In The Icon Project, Leslie Sklair focuses on ways in which capitalist globalization is produced and represented all over the world, especially in globalizing cities. Sklair traces how the iconic buildings of our era-elaborate shopping malls, spectacular museums, and vast urban megaprojects--constitute the triumphal "Icon Project" of contemporary global capitalism, promoting increasing inequality and hyperconsumerism. Two of the most significant strains of iconic architecture--unique icons recognized as works of art, designed by the likes of Gehry, Foster, Koolhaas, and Hadid, as well as successful, derivative icons that copy elements of the starchitects' work--speak to the centrality of hyperconsumerism within contemporary capitalism. Along with explaining how the architecture industry organizes the social production and marketing of iconic structures, he also shows how corporations increasingly dominate the built environment and promote the trend towards globalizing, consumerist cities. The Icon Project, Sklair argues, is a weapon in the struggle to solidify capitalist hegemony as well as reinforce transnational capitalist control of where we live, what we consume, and how we think.