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The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times
Par Dr Anita L. Sanchez. 2017
In The Four Sacred Gifts, visionary international business consultant Anita Sanchez, PhD, reveals the timely prophecy entrusted to her by…
a global collective of indigenous elders—four guiding gifts that &“will allow you to set yourself free to live your most successful life…learn how to forgive, to heal, to unite with all life, and to revitalize hope&” (Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul).As we ride the powerful waves of change occurring in our economic, social, political, and physical environment, indigenous wisdom is needed—now more than ever—to guide us to inhabit the fullest and healthiest lives possible. The Four Sacred Gifts opens your mind and heart to an indigenous worldview that will ultimately free you from fear and empower you to find peace even in the conflicts of our tumultuous world. Based on a prophecy that is now coming true, this book reveals how our world depends on each of us discovering a interconnectedness to people, earth, and animals, in the awareness that we are &“all one relation.&” Within these pages, you will find deep wisdom of elders from all continents as they come together to give you four sacred gifts: the power to forgive the unforgivable, the power of unity, the power of healing, and the power of hope. These gifts will guide you to transformation, and support your journey to wholeness. By following the powerful principles, lessons, and tools found in this book, you will experience personal breakthroughs, become a force for conscious, societal evolution, and learn to live in deeper harmony with all of humanity.The Dynasty
Par Jeff Benedict. 2020
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Now a 10-part docuseries on Apple TV+ From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor…
of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots—the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century.It&’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders—including team executives, coaches, players, players&’ wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more—as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications. Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts us in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made—Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice—is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of forty-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018. But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team&’s epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady—each of whom was interviewed for the book—the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots&’ success. The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty&’s three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. &“The Dynasty is…[a] masterpiece…It&’s a relationship book, it&’s a football book, it&’s a business book…you&’ll just eat up these stories&” (Colin Cowherd).How to Speak How to Listen
Par Mortimer J. Adler. 1983
From the author of the bestselling How to Read a Book comes a comprehensive and practical guide for learning how…
to speak and listen more effectively.With over half a million copies in print of his &“living classic&” How to Read a Book in print, intellectual, philosopher, and academic Mortimer J. Adler set out to write an accompanying volume on speaking and listening, offering the impressive depth of knowledge and accessible panache that distinguished his first book. In How to Speak How to Listen, Adler explains the fundamental principles of communicating through speech, with sections on such specialized presentations as the sales talk, the lecture, and question-and-answer sessions and advice on effective listening and learning by discussion.God's Guest List: Welcoming Those Who Influence Our Lives (An Inspirational Gift for Women)
Par Debbie Macomber. 2012
Through touching true stories and inspiring insight, Debbie Macomber takes us on a journey to discover the influence others have…
on us—and the power we have to influence them in turn. Who is on God&’s &“guest list&” for your life…and why? The answers may surprise you. Each of us have &“influencers&” that have affected our lives—some from a distance, some through word or deed, some through example, be it good or bad. Often we don&’t even recognize the deep impact others have had and how God has used them to shape us into who we are. By pausing to recognize these influences, we begin to grasp how God&’s guest list has a purpose far beyond what we imagined. We begin to see the seeds of influence that grew into our personal values and character. In some people God invites into our lives, we see only what appears to be painful or negative influence. In God&’s Guest List, Macomber redirects our attention, opening our eyes to how those experiences prompted strength, resilience, resolve, and choices about how we would change and who we would become. In other instances, God has surprised us with just the people at just the right time to support, teach, lead, or love us, but perhaps we haven&’t quite recognized God&’s timing and work through these &“guests.&” This book also offers the chance to grasp our own power to influence others, and even to anticipate what lives we have yet to touch. In the bestselling tradition of How to Win Friends and Influence People, Macomber shares her vision to seize every opportunity to be a positive and faithful influence on others. Filled with true stories and rich insight, God&’s Guest List will forever change how you see the people in your life.In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want (Inspirational Ser.)
Par Iyanla Vanzant. 1999
&“The most powerful spiritual healer, fixer, teacher on the planet.&” —Oprah Winfrey The #1 national bestseller from the host of…
the show Iyanla: Fix My Life on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) that answers the question: What&’s love got to do with it in the meantime?You know where you want to be, but you have no clue how to get there. You know exactly what you want in life, but what you want is nowhere in sight. Perhaps your vision is unclear, your purpose still undefined. On top of it all, your relationships, particularly your romantic relationships, are failing. If these scenarios feel familiar way down in the deepest part of your gut—then you, my dear, are smack dab in the middle of the meantime. Every living being wants to experience the light of love. The problem is that our windows are dirty! The windows of our hearts and minds are streaked with past pains and hurts, past memories and disappointments. In this book, Iyanla Vanzant teaches us how to do our mental housekeeping so that we can clean the windows, floors, walls, closets, and corners of our minds. If we do a good job, our spirits will shine bringing in the light of true love and happiness.The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less
Par Christine Platt. 2021
Forget the aesthetics of mainstream minimalism and discover a life of authenticity and intention with this &“warm, engaging guide&” (Laura…
Fenton, author of The Little Book of Small Living) to living with less…your way.When Christine Platt set out on her journey to live with less, she never intended to become The Afrominimalist. She just wanted to tame the chaos in her closet! But after struggling with the austerity and whiteness of mainstream minimalism, Christine realized why minimalism often seems unattainable for so many: the emphasis on all-white, barren aesthetics distracts from the practice of living with intention. And so, she decided to do things her way by curating a life of less influenced by the African diaspora. In The Afrominimalist&’s Guide to Living With Less, Christine gets right to the heart of how childhood experiences and expectations manifest in adulthood, the delicate dance between needs and wants, and the complicated weight of familial and societal pressures. A far cry from Konmaried closets, capsule wardrobes, and conspicuous consumption, Christine&’s brand of &“living with less&” is more than a decluttering regimen. &“By detailing her own maximalist-to-minimalist transformation, Platt puts readers at ease&” (The Washington Post) and presents a radical revisioning of minimalism, one that celebrates the importance of history and heritage, and gives you permission to make space for what really matters…your way. Beautifully illustrated with original black-and-white prints and line drawings, The Afrominimalist&’s Guide to Living With Less is a testament to the idea that anyone can be a minimalist and a warm invitation to a life curated with intention, perfect for readers of Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (The Minimalists), Marie Kondo, Joshua Becker, and Courtney Carver.Believe Bigger: Discover the Path to Your Life Purpose
Par Marshawn Evans Daniels. 2018
&“Your most inspiring girlfriend in book form&” —Booklist Reinvention strategist Marshawn Evans Daniels delivers a practical and inspirational guide for…
women ready to reclaim their lives and discover a higher purpose, demonstrating that through disruption, life can become sweeter than you ever imagined.Marshawn Evans Daniels thought she was on the right path. She was an accomplished business woman and high-powered sports attorney ready to marry the man of her dreams—until she learned just days before a fairytale wedding that he was cheating on her. After this betrayal flipped her seemingly perfect world upside down, she found herself craving significance, not just success. Believe Bigger is about resilience, reclaiming your life, and discovering how God uses rejection, hardship, and unexpected circumstances to awaken something greater within...if you&’re willing to embrace disruption. You&’ll see her go from heartbroken and hitting rock bottom financially, to building a multi-million-dollar faith-centered enterprise and finding something super sweet along the way: a calling. Through Marshawn&’s own &“very compelling personal story of betrayal, heartbreak, and—in the end—healing&” (Faith Jenkins, TV personality and host of Judge Faith) will show you how you too can turn pain into purpose. Believe Bigger is &“a great guide to making seemingly impossible dreams a reality&” (Michelle McKinney Hammond, bestselling author). Whether you are drowning in self-doubt and regret, feeling stuck, or sensing a shift but unable to discern what&’s next, Marshawn&’s Purpose Map outlining the 5 Stages of Divine Reinvention will give you insight into your true gifts and calling—and the courage to pursue them. You&’ll see that difficulties are not designed to devastate you, but to ignite the bigger dreams, life, love, and abundance you were destined for all along.The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough
Par Thomas Curran. 2023
&“Offers a hopeful beacon and a steady path for anyone struggling to find their footing in a world of impossible…
standards.&” —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive and The Power of Regret In the tradition of Brené Brown&’s bestseller The Gifts of Imperfection, this illuminating book by an acclaimed professor at the London School of Economics explores how the pursuit of perfection can become a dangerous obsession that leads to burnout and depression—keeping us from achieving our goals.Today, burnout and depression are at record levels, driven by a combination of intense workplace competition, oppressively ubiquitous social media encouraging comparisons with others, the quest for elite credentials, and helicopter parenting. Society continually broadcasts the need to want more, and to be perfect. Gathering a wide range of contemporary evidence, Curran offers &“a clear-eyed look at how perfectionism and its capitalistic &‘obsession with boundless growth&’ has contributed to mass discontent and insecurity&” (Publishers Weekly). He shows what we can do as individuals to resist the modern-day pressure to be perfect, and in so doing, win for ourselves a more purposeful and contented life. Filled with &“many useful lessons and valuable insights…This book offers an alternative path to a fulfilling, productive life&” (Kirkus Reviews) and the relief of letting go to focus on what matters most.Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary
Par Norman Lewis. 1978
The most effective vocabulary builder in the English language provides a simple, step-by-step method that will increase your knowledge and…
mastery of written and spoken English. Word Power Made Easy does more than just add words to your vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening your knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary building process. Do you always use the right word? Can you pronounce it—and spell it—correctly? Do you know how to avoid illiterate expressions? Do you speak grammatically, without embarrassing mistakes? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you need Word Power Made Easy. Written in a lively, accessible, and timeless style, and loaded with helpful reviews, progress checks, and quizzes to reinforce the material, this classic resource has helped millions learn to speak and write with confidence.The Ball in the Air: A Golfing Adventure
Par Michael Bamberger. 2023
After a lifetime of writing about the professional sport, Michael Bamberger, &“the poet laureate of golf&” (GOLF magazine), delivers an…
exhilarating love letter to the amateur game as it&’s played—and lived—by the rest of us.Over Michael Bamberger&’s celebrated writing career, he has written a handful of books and hundreds of Sports Illustrated stories about professional golf and those who play it—that is, the .001 percent. Now, Bamberger trains his eye on the rest of us. In his most personal book yet, Bamberger takes the lid off a game that is both quasi-religious and a nonstop party, posing an age-old question that is answered over its pages: Why does the game cast such a spell on us? Here is the story of modern golf that is not on TV. This is our story, we who pay to play, who can&’t wait to get another crack at the game, even when golf doesn&’t love us back. And just as every round is an adventure, every life in golf is, too. The golfers Michael Bamberger introduces will leave you inspired and moved. You&’ll meet Sam Reeves, a golf-loving US Army soldier who becomes captivated by a fellow soldier, Cliff Harrington, a gifted Black golfer who&’s cruelly robbed of the chance to show the world all he can do. You&’ll meet Ryan French, who plays on a college golf team out of Animal House. You&’ll get to know Pratima Sherpa, who grew up in a maintenance shed at the Royal Nepal Golf Club in Kathmandu and took up the game with a stick whittled by her father. The Ball in the Air is reported with Bamberger&’s you-are-there intimacy and captures the sweep of time. Pratima finds her way from Nepal to a university golf team in Southern California. Ryan and his father caddie in minor-league events while sleeping in tents, a preamble to Ryan&’s becoming the godfather of the popular Monday Qualifier Twitter feed. Sam Reeves, born in rural Georgia during the Depression, becomes a cotton king, the oldest amateur to make the cut at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and the ultimate man for all seasons. And there are Bamberger sightings, too, as he finds his own path in the game. You&’ll make joyful side trips with the author, who&’s spent more than forty years exploring golfers and golf, a way of life that captivates him down to his bones. You&’ll visit the golf course at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and compete with Bamberger and other purists at the National Hickory Championship in rural Pennsylvania. At St. Andrews, you&’ll get up close and personal with Lee Trevino, one of the few professionals in these pages, because Trevino, when you really get to the core of the man, is one of us. He can&’t get enough of it. The Ball in the Air is Bamberger&’s valentine to golf. The modern world, obsessed with fame and fortune, has infiltrated professional golf—but it hasn&’t infiltrated golf. Bamberger is here to highlight the distinction and to celebrate the game and all who play it.Author of Oprah&’s Book Club Pick—The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self &“The best known life…
coach in America&” (Psychology Today) and bestselling author of Finding Your Own North Star provides a new transformational program for creating an unconventional life path to a sustainable way of life. Martha Beck&’s program has been practiced by Oprah and featured on Super Soul Sunday!Finding Your Way in a Wild New World reveals a remarkable path to the most important discovery you can make: the knowledge of what you should be doing with your one wild and precious life. It&’s the thing that so fulfills you that, if you knew what it was, you&’d run straight toward it through brambles and fire. Life coach and bestselling author of Finding Your Own North Star Martha Beck guides you to find out how you got to where you are now and what you should do next, with clear instructions on tapping into the deep, wordless knowledge you carry in your body and soul. You probably have sensed that you have a higher calling and a quiet power that could change the world—you lack only the tools. With her sparkling prose, Beck draws from ancient wisdom and modern science to help you consciously tap into that power and develop those tools for transformation. You&’ll also find your inner identity and your external &“tribe&” of like-minded people, experience the spark of inspiration, and take action to make a lasting impact on the world. Compassionate and inspirational, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is a revolutionary journey of self-discovery that leads to miraculous change.Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by your finances? Do you wish there was a clear path towards financial well-being?…
Look no further than Make Your Money Smile, the groundbreaking new book by bestselling author Jason Vitug, winner of the prestigious 2023 Plutus Award. Make Your Money Smile covers every essential aspect of personal finance with precision and compassion. Jason acts as your guide, sharing lessons and steps, and giving you knowledge and tools to conquer your financial challenges once and for all. In this book, you'll learn to: Manage Money: Elevating your banking relationships and going beyond budgeting to cash flow mastery. Earn Money: Optimizing your paycheck and discovering the many ways to multiply and diversify your income streams. Grow Money: Making money work for you, contributing to retirement accounts, and investing for financial independence. Borrow Money: Using credit to build wealth, enhancing your credit report and score, and eliminating debt once and for all. Protect Money: Safeguarding your identity, insuring your most valuable assets, and protecting your wealth through tax strategy and estate planning. Don't let financial uncertainty hold you back any longer. Take a step toward a happier future. With insightful commentary and practical exercises, Make Your Money Smile is your indispensable companion on your journey to financial success. This book will empower you to take control of your finances and chart your course to your dream lifestyle.Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
Par Parker J. Palmer. 2024
The 25th Anniversary Edition of a modern classic, with a new Introduction by its celebrated author “Is the life I…
am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?” With this searching question, bestselling author Parker J. Palmer begins his insightful and moving meditation on finding our way toward meaning and purpose. As readers of many ages, backgrounds and walks of life will attest, Let Your Life Speak is an elegant and openhearted gift to all who seek to live authentically. We find a path that's right for us by embracing what gives us life and rejecting what diminishes us, listening more closely to the voice of “true self” than to what others expect or demand of us. As we live more deeply into our own identity and integrity, we find both personal fulfillment and our place in the community to which we belong. As always, Palmer writes honestly and vulnerably about his own life, including the fumbles and failures that have marked his unconventional vocational journey. He chronicles his deep dives into depression, and his quest for “an undivided life” that would allow him to offer his best gifts to the world. The details of his story are unique, but the insights he draws from it are universal. Let Your Life Speak offers no simplistic formulas for finding a meaningful path through life's complexities. Instead, it offers real-life experience, thoughtfully mined for insight and wisdom: Learn how to listen to your inner teacher and follow its guidance toward a sense of meaning and purpose Reframe your life as a series of “experiments with truth,” learning from those that fail as well as those that work Understand that the doors that close behind you can offer as much guidance as those that open up Gain inspiration and resolve from the lives of seekers who have walked this path before you Enjoy the wisdom, compassion, gentle humor and companionship of a master teacher in a beloved book that has helped hundreds of thousands of people find their way toward meaning and purpose.Skateboarding For Dummies
Par Daewon Song. 2024
A beginner’s guide to skating for fun, fitness, and self-expression Skateboarding For Dummies teaches you the basics of the fun…
and popular sport of skateboarding, so you can start shredding. Author Daewon Song has been a pro skateboarder for 30 years and is considered to be the most technically gifted skateboarder of all time. He is passionate about the sport and shares his enthusiasm and experience in this easy-to-read guide. Skateboarding is a fun, challenging, and inclusive sport that can also be a powerful outlet for self-expression. With this book, you’ll learn cool tricks, safe skating, and skatepark etiquette. Plus, you’ll discover how skateboarding can bring positivity to your life, building your confidence and self-esteem. Shop for your first skateboard and essential accessories Learn the basics of riding a skateboard at a skatepark Get step-by-step instructions for performing classic tricks Discover the history of skateboardingSkateboarding is for everyone, regardless of age or background, and Skateboarding For Dummies is for anyone who wants to give this sport a try.Wheeling through Toronto: A History of the Bicycle and Its Riders
Par Albert Koehl. 2024
Highlighting an important yet often ignored part of Toronto’s transportation story, Wheeling through Toronto chronicles the history of the bicycle…
and reveals a way forward for a world in climate crisis. Throughout its history in Toronto, the bicycle’s place on the roads and in public esteem has fluctuated wildly: flaunted as fashionable, disparaged and derided, rescued from looming obscurity, and promoted as a way to respond to the challenges of the day. What is it about the simple bicycle that it can be so loved by some yet despised and detested by others? Wheeling through Toronto offers a 130-year ride from the 1890s to the present to help answer this question. Albert Koehl, a Toronto lawyer and leading cycling advocate, chronicles the tumultuous history of this mode of transportation from the bicycle craze at the turn of the century, to the rise of the car and the motorway in the 1950s, to the intensifying cry for active transportation in the 1990s and into pandemic times. In an era of catastrophic climate events, Wheeling through Toronto highlights how the bicycle should be celebrated not only as hope for the future, but also for its affordability, for its contribution to clean and healthy mobility, and because it brings happiness and joy to so many. Drawing on archival materials, newspapers, and personal interviews, and full of fascinating vignettes, this book presents the story of how we got here and what Torontonians need to know as we pedal forward.Drive: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods
Par Bob Harig. 2024
Bob Harig's latest deep-dive into Tiger Woods' thrilling career, as seen through his iconic 2019 Masters comeback and win. In…
April of 1997, the world of golf was forever changed. At the age of 21, a young Tiger Woods won the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, the Masters, by a record of 12 strokes. Woods became the youngest golfer ever to win the Masters and the first African or Asian-American player to win a major. History had been made - and would continue to be made over the next 15 years.Woods transformed the game, turning golf geeks into keen observers, casual golf fans into ardent followers and even indifferent sports fans into curiosity mavens. He will undoubtedly be known for the raw numbers: 82 PGA Tour titles, 15 major championships, and according to Forbes, a billionaire who amassed more than $110-million in official PGA Tour earnings. Woods has proven to be a complicated figure through his decades in the spotlight. Plagued by marital scandal, a DUI arrest, and severe back injuries that resulted in what even he believed would be a career-ending spinal fusion surgery in 2017, Woods’ career finally seemed to be coming to an end. That all changed through 2018 and into 2019 as Woods returned slowly from the surgery. In 2019, on the same course where he won for the first time in 1997, Tiger Woods made history once again, winning the Masters one final time. The 2019 Masters brought together all the qualities that ultimately make up someone who has been an enduring figure for 30 years.In this captivating and emotional portrait of one of the most famous figures in sports, Bob Harig brings readers the true story of the grit and perseverance of Tiger Woods in the final years of his career. Drive will show that Woods’ true legacy is one of resolve and redemption.James Taylor: Cut Short (Authentic Guitar-tab Editions Ser.)
Par James Taylor. 1992
A superstar athlete&’s inspiring autobiography—from his cricket-loving youth to the diagnosis of a career-ending heart condition and its aftermath. James…
Taylor was born in Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, in 1990. A sporting phenomenon from an early age, he chose to forge a life in cricket, establishing himself as one of the country&’s leading batsmen and an England regular. And then tragedy struck. In April 2016, a serious heart condition left Taylor fighting for his life in the changing room. Told he faced possible death if he played cricket, or exercised, ever again, James&’s bright and brilliant career was over at the age of 26. In Cut Short, Taylor reveals his route to the top. On the way, he describes how he encountered prejudice against his size and takes us through the highs and lows of his international career, including a century against the Australians and a closeup view of the unsavory nature of David Warner. With the world at his feet, Taylor reveals just what it was like to have sporting ambition snatched away right at the point of international breakthrough. He relives in breathless detail the horrific events of the day he thought he was going to die and his desolation at watching a fine sporting career torn from his grasp. At the same time he faced a battle to rebuild his life and his future, he was getting used to a body which, on several occasions, left him fearing for his existence. That James has emerged from these dark days with courage, good humor, and renewed ambition is testament to a remarkable personality.Have you ever wondered...Why am I so eaily discouraged?Why do I procrasinate?Why do I stare at myself in the mirror?Why…
do I keep people waiting?Why do I eat when I am not hungry?Why do I secretly hope other people will fail?Why do I feel alone even when I'm around other people?Why am I constantly misplacing my keys and other things?Why do I enjoy hearing the secrets and confessions of others?Why will I do a favor for someone I don't even like?Why am I so superstitious?Why do I have trouble asking for help?If any of these behavior, habit, and thoughts are keeping you from having the life you want, then you need to know that help has finally arrived in David J. Lieberman's Instant Analysis.Great Men Die Twice: The Selected Works of Mark Kram
Par Mark Kram Jr.. 2015
A collection of classic essays by legendary sports journalist Mark Kram, Great Men Die Twice covers Muhammad Ali and Joe…
Frazier, George Best, Cool Papa Bell, and other memorable subjects.Imagine Mad Men set not in the advertising world but at 1960s Sports Illustrated, a place where the finest sports staff of any generation was attended by an open bar and almost unlimited expense account. This was the world Mark Kram lived and wrote in, along with his peers including Frank Deford, Dan Jenkins and other major talents. A high school graduate with a gift for revealing the hearts of his subjects, Kram would become one of the greatest sports writers of all time, covering the famed rivalry between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Negro League baseball star Cool Papa Bell, doomed soccer legend George Best, Olympic gold medal sprinter Edwin Moses, and others.The New York Times obituary of Kram in June, 2002 saluted his work in SportsIllustrated by calling him one of its "most lyrical writers of the 1960s and 1970s." Great Men Die Twice selects his best work with a moving introduction by his son, Mark Kram Jr., the PEN/ESPN Award-winning author of Like Any Normal Day.The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower
Par Christopher Price. 2007
Moneyball for the New England Patriots, award-winning sportswriter Christopher Price goes into the inner workings of the legendary football franchise…
in The BlueprintFor years, the New England Patriots were a certifiable joke of a franchise. They were run on the cheap and were once the very example of how not to manage a team. They hired inept coaches--one of whom (Clive Rush) was nearly electrocuted when he grabbed a microphone at his introductory press conference. In 1968 their scouting director, Ed McKeever, suggested they draft a wide receiver . . . before someone in the organization realized the player had been dead for six months. They plucked ex-players out of the stands minutes before kickoff--Bob Gladieux was enjoying a beer at the game when he heard his name called over the P.A. (The Patriots had cut a player earlier that morning and found themselves short. Gladieux, who would go on to spend four years in the league as a running back, made the tackle on the opening kickoff.) And they played in a run-down stadium that was one of the worst venues in professional sports. There were brief moments of success, but on each occasion, front-office infighting would invariably cause the franchise to slide back down to the basement again.But in the first four months of 2000, everything changed. The hiring of head coach Bill Belichick and Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli and the drafting of quarterback Tom Brady turned the fortunes of the franchise around. And their nontraditional approach to acquiring personnel--remembering that it's not about collecting talent, it's about assembling a team--quickly led to three Super Bowl titles in four seasons. It's a feat that, in the salary cap era, with free agency, planned parity and balanced scheduling, is in many ways even more impressive than anything achieved by the past dynasties of Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and San Francisco.Along the way, Christopher Price has had a front-row seat for football history, chronicling the rise to power of the NFL's unlikeliest superpower. Price takes the reader inside the franchise to give him a dynamic portrait of a mighty organization at the height of its power. Readers are immersed in the locker room during the strange and tumultuous days of 2001 and 2003, when major personnel moves involving a pair of the most popular players in franchise history--Drew Bledsoe and Lawyer Milloy--threatened to rock their championship foundation to the core. Readers get an up-close look at the team that dominated the league on the way to a record-setting winning streak in 2004. And Price analyzes what went wrong when they fell short in 2005 and 2006, and how they plan to return to Super Bowl form.The Blueprint explores how the Patriots went from the dregs to a dynasty, becoming the gold standard for professional sports franchises everywhere. It will prompt sports fans (and those who study organizations) to acknowledge what many football insiders have believed for a long time: when it comes to building a successful system, the Patriots have the Blueprint.