Connecticut Softball Legend Joan Joyce


Book Description

Joan Joyce will always be known as the unbeatable pitcher for the Raybestos Brakettes and the Connecticut Falcons, whose numerous career records--including an incredible 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games--made her the best in the game. However, she was also one of the most gifted athletes the state has ever produced, as she also set records in basketball and later went on to a stellar career in the LPGA. A true pioneer of women's sports, Joan is currently the head softball coach at Florida Atlantic University. Join author Tony Renzoni as he profiles the multifaceted career of one of the country's greatest athletes.




Connecticut Rock ‘n’ Roll


Book Description

Long neglected in the annals of American music, the Nutmeg State's influence on the history of rock'n'roll deserves recognition. Connecticut's musical highlights include the beautiful harmonies of New Haven's Five Satins, Gene Pitney's rise to fame, Stamford's the Fifth Estate and notable rockers such as Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and Saturday Night Live Band's Christine Ohlman. Rock Hall of Famers include Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads and Dennis Dunaway of the Alice Cooper Band. Some events became legend, like Jimi Hendrix's spellbinding performance at Yale's Woolsey Hall, Jim Morrison's onstage arrest at the New Haven Arena and teenage Bob Dylan's appearance at Branford's Indian Neck Folk Festival. With in-depth interviews as well as rare, never-before-seen photos, author Tony Renzoni leads a sonic trip that captures the spirit and zenith of the local scene.




Connecticut Bootlegger Queen Nellie Green


Book Description

Recounts the life of Nellie Green, who was known as the "queen of the rumrunners on the East Coast," against the backdrop of the Prohibition era, the women's movement, and the Roaring Twenties.




Historic Connecticut Music Venues: From the Coliseum to the Shaboo


Book Description

Connecticut is home to a number of landmark music venues that have featured local and national performers. While some of the locations have closed, they have certainly not been forgotten. The New Haven Coliseum, the Arena and the Bushnell Memorial were once the places to be for music lovers, while elsewhere places like the Cheri Shack and the Shaboo hosted local bands and national headliners. Other venues such as Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, The Meadows and Toad's Place have now taken center stage and continue to attract large crowds. With in-depth interviews with performers and many timeless photos, author Tony Renzoni takes you on a nostalgic and fun tour of the Nutmeg State's most beloved music sites.




Women's College Softball on the Rise


Book Description

Sidestepping the inflated egos and scandal that have infiltrated many men's sports, college female softball players exhibit power and grace on the field as well as camaraderie, high achievement and vulnerability off the field. This balance not only makes the game compelling to watch, but it also elevates women's softball as an aspirational model for other sports. Focusing on the 2018 season, this book explores gender performance and sexuality in softball, how the influx of money from the sport's growth has reshaped expectations of success, and traditional media coverage of women's sports.




That Time of Year


Book Description

With the warmth and humor we've come to know, the creator and host of A Prairie Home Companion shares his own remarkable story. In That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor looks back on his life and recounts how a Brethren boy with writerly ambitions grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the 1950s and, seeing three good friends die young, turned to comedy and radio. Through a series of unreasonable lucky breaks, he founded A Prairie Home Companion and put himself in line for a good life, including mistakes, regrets, and a few medical adventures. PHC lasted forty-two years, 1,557 shows, and enjoyed the freedom to do as it pleased for three or four million listeners every Saturday at 5 p.m. Central. He got to sing with Emmylou Harris and Renée Fleming and once sang two songs to the U.S. Supreme Court. He played a private eye and a cowboy, gave the news from his hometown, Lake Wobegon, and met Somali cabdrivers who’d learned English from listening to the show. He wrote bestselling novels, won a Grammy and a National Humanities Medal, and made a movie with Robert Altman with an alarming amount of improvisation. He says, “I was unemployable and managed to invent work for myself that I loved all my life, and on top of that I married well. That’s the secret, work and love. And I chose the right ancestors, impoverished Scots and Yorkshire farmers, good workers. I’m heading for eighty, and I still get up to write before dawn every day.”




Sisterhood of the Squared Circle


Book Description

Documenting the rise of women’s wrestling from sideshow to WWE main event Sisterhood of the Squared Circle presents the fascinating history of women’s wrestling, from the carnival circuit of the late 1800s to today’s hugely popular matches. With more than 100 wrestler profiles, find out how backstage politics, real-life grudges, and incredible personalities shaped the business. The careers of many well-known trailblazers, including Mildred Burke, the Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young, Penny Banner, Wendi Richter, Trish Stratus, Chyna, and Lita, are celebrated alongside today’s stars, like Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Times; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} With rare photographs and an exploration of women’s wrestling worldwide — including chapters on Japan, Mexico, England, and Australia — Sisterhood of the Squared Circle is a priceless contribution to the history of professional wrestling. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Times; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}




The Keillor Reader


Book Description

Stories, essays, poems, and personal reminiscences from the sage of Lake Wobegon When, at thirteen, he caught on as a sportswriter for the Anoka Herald, Garrison Keillor set out to become a professional writer, and so he has done—a storyteller, sometime comedian, essayist, newspaper columnist, screenwriter, poet. Now a single volume brings together the full range of his work: monologues from A Prairie Home Companion, stories from The New Yorker and The Atlantic, excerpts from novels, newspaper columns. With an extensive introduction and headnotes, photographs, and memorabilia, The Keillor Reader also presents pieces never before published, including the essays “Cheerfulness” and “What We Have Learned So Far.” Keillor is the founder and host of A Prairie Home Companion, celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2014. He is the author of nineteen books of fiction and humor, the editor of the Good Poems collections, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.




Your Comeback


Book Description

God can turn things around for anyone—including you! We've all experienced a time in life when it feels like the world is against us. Whether it's a financial setback, a breakup, or career that's gone off course, our first instinct is to give up and give in. In that moment, you need a comeback. It can be hard to find solid ground in the most challenging of times—but take heart! God is the master of comebacks and orchestrated the greatest turnaround of all—through Jesus, the Savior who was crucified and came back from the grave. Inside Your Comeback, you will find inspiration to turn your circumstances around as you learn about some of the most remarkable comeback stories of all time. You may have been knocked down, but you're not knocked out!




Fastpitch


Book Description

“A League of Their Own for the softball set” (Lily Koppel, bestselling author of The Astronaut Wives Club), Fastpitch is hidden history at its most intriguing—the tale of the forgotten beginnings of one of the most popular and widely played sports today. Softball is played by tens of millions in various age groups all around the world, but the origins of this beloved sport (and the charismatic athletes who helped it achieve prominence in the mid-twentieth century) have been shrouded in mystery…until now. Fastpitch brings to vivid life the eclectic mix of characters that make up softball’s vibrant 129-year history. From its humble beginnings in 1887, when it was invented in a Chicago boat club and played with a broomstick, to the rise in the 1940s and 1950s of professional-caliber, company-sponsored teams that toured the country in style, softball’s history is as varied as it is fascinating. Though it’s thought of today as a female sport, fastpitch softball’s early history is full of male stars, such as the vaudeville-esque Eddie Feigner, whose signature move was striking out batters while blindfolded. But because softball was one of the only team sports that also allowed women to play competitively, it took on added importance for female athletes. Women like Bertha Ragan Tickey, who set strikeout records and taught Lana Turner to pitch, and her teammate Joan Joyce, who struck out baseball star Ted Williams, made a name—and a life—for themselves in an era when female athletes had almost no prospects. Softball allowed them to flourish, and they in turn inspired a whole new generation of athletes. Featuring eight pages of captivating, vintage photos and compelling, well-researched historical commentary, this “fun and entertaining read” (Billie Jean King) chronicles softball’s unique history as well as its uncertain future (as evidenced by its controversial elimination from the 2012 Olympics, and the mounting efforts to have it reinstated). A celebration of this distinctively American game and the role it plays in our culture today, Westly has written “a must-read for anyone who loves the sport” (Jonathan Fader, author of Life as Sport).