There are tens of thousands of them in Iraq. They work for companies with exotic and ominous-sounding names, like Crescent Security Group, Triple Canopy, and Blackwater Worldwide. They travel in convoys of multicolored pickups fortified with makeshift armor, belt-fed machine guns, frag grenades, and even shoulder-fired missiles. They protect everything from the U.S. ambassador and American generals to shipments of Frappuccino bound for Baghdad’s Green Zone. They kill Iraqis, and Iraqis kill them. 
 And the only law they recognize is Big Boy Rules. 
 From a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter comes a harrowing journey into Iraq’s parallel war. Part MadMax, part Fight Club, it is a world filled with “private security contractors”—the U.S. government’s sanitized name for tens of thousands of modern mercenaries, or mercs, who roam Iraq with impunity, doing jobs that the overstretched and understaffed military can’t or won’t do. 
 They are men like Jon Coté, a sensitive former U.S. army paratrooper and University of Florida fraternity brother who realizes too late that he made a terrible mistake coming back to Iraq. And Paul Reuben, a friendly security company medic who has no formal medical training and lacks basic supplies, like tourniquets. They are part of America’s “other” army—some patriotic, some desperate, some just out for cash or adventure. And some who disappear into the void that is Iraq and are never seen again. 
 Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru traveled with a group of private security contractors to find out what motivates them to put their lives in danger every day. He joined Jon Coté and the men of Crescent Security Group as they made their way through Iraq—armed to the teeth, dodging not only bombs and insurgents but also their own Iraqi colleagues. Just days after Fainaru left to go home, five men of Crescent Security Group were kidnapped in broad daylight on Iraq’s main highway. How the government and the company responded reveals the dark truths behind the largest private force in the history of American warfare. . . . 
 With 16 pages of photographs

Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq

History

Fainaru, Steve

Military

Da Capo Press

From Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru comes an unforgettable journey into Iraq's parallel war—a world filled with tens of thousands of armed men roaming Iraq with impunity, doing jobs the military can't or won't do. Fainaru reveals in gritty and shocking detail what drives these men to do the world's most dangerous work.

Business & Money

Education & Reference

Da Capo

The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream

In 1998, a mysterious right-handed pitcher emerged from the ashes of the Cold War and helped lead the New York Yankees to a World Championship. His origins and even his age were uncertain. His name was Orlando El Duque Hernandez. He was a fallen hero of Fidel Castro's socialist revolution. The chronicle of El Duque's triumph is at once a window into the slow death of Cuban socialism and one of the most remarkable sports stories of all time. Once hailed as a paragon of Castro's revolution, the finest pitcher in modern Cuban history was banned from baseball for life for allegedly plotting to defect. Instead of accepting his punishment, he fearlessly fought back, defying the Communist party authorities, vowing to pitch again, and ultimately fleeing his country in the bowels of a thirty-foot fishing boat. Here, for the first time and in astonishing detail, the secrets behind El Duque's persecution and escape are revealed. Moving from the crumbling streets of post Cold War Havana to the polarized world of exile Miami, from the deadly Florida Straits to the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, it is a story of cloak-and-dagger adventure, audacious secret plots, the pull of big money, and the historic collision of ideologies. Present throughout are the larger-than-life characters who converged at this bizarre intersection of baseball and politics: El Duque himself, Fidel Castro, the Miami sports agent Joe Cubas, the late John Cardinal O'Connor along with scouts, smugglers, and the Cuban ballplayers who gave up their lives as tools of socialism to test the free market and chase their major-league dreams. Reported in the United States and Cuba by two award-winning journalists who became part of the story they were covering, The Duke of Havana is a riveting saga of sports, politics, liberation, and greed.

Sports & Outdoors

Sanchez, Ray

Baseball

Villard

Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream

Diane Pub Co.

“PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS DO NOT SUSTAIN FREQUENT REPETITIVE BLOWS TO THE BRAIN ON A REGULAR BASIS.” So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: A chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players -- including some of the all-time greats -- to madness. League of Denial reveals how the NFL, over a period of nearly two decades, sought to cover up and deny mounting evidence of the connection between football and brain damage. Comprehensively, and for the first time, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our 21st century pastime. Everyone knew that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know – and what the league sought to shield from them – is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football; that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage. In a fast-paced narrative that moves between the NFL trenches, America’s research labs and the boardrooms where the NFL went to war against science, League of Denial examines how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research -- a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. It chronicles the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives; and former Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of an unseemly scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents and private emails, this is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it – questions at the heart of crisis that threatens football, from the highest levels all the way down to Pop Warner.

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth

Fainaru-Wada, Mark

Football (American)

Crown/Archetype

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth

Self-Help

Death & Grief

Crown

“PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS DO NOT SUSTAIN FREQUENT REPETITIVE BLOWS TO THE BRAIN ON A REGULAR BASIS.”So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: A chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players -- including some of the all-time greats -- to madness.League of Denial reveals how the NFL, over a period of nearly two decades, sought to cover up and deny mounting evidence of the connection between football and brain damage.Comprehensively, and for the first time, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our 21st century pastime. Everyone knew that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know – and what the league sought to shield from them – is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football; that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage.In a fast-paced narrative that moves between the NFL trenches, America’s research labs and the boardrooms where the NFL went to war against science, League of Denial examines how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research -- a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. It chronicles the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives; and former Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of an unseemly scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents and private emails, this is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it – questions at the heart of crisis that threatens football, from the highest levels all the way down to Pop Warner.

Random House Audio |

Biographies & Memoirs

Random House Publishing Group

Product Description 
Pedro Gomez of ESPN was a beloved figure in baseball. His death from sudden cardiac arrest on Feb. 7, 2021, unleashed an outpouring of heartfelt tributes. He was 58, both a hard-nosed reporter and a smiling ambassador of the sport. These 62 personal essays soar beyond sports to delve into life lessons.\nPedro, a proud Cuban American, was known for his dramatic reporting from Havana. Fully and fluidly bilingual, he did as much as anyone to bridge the wide gap that had existed between U.S.-born players and the Latin Americans now so important to the game’s vitality and future growth. He was also a family man who loved to talk about his three children, 
Sierra, Dante and 
Rio, a Boston Red Sox prospect. Pedro was universally known as a smiling presence who brought out the best in people. His humanity and generosity of spirit shaped countless lives, including one of his ESPN bosses, 
Rob King, who was so moved by Pedro’s advice to him―“Remember who you are”―that he printed up the words and posted them on the wall of his office in Bristol. King is one of a diverse collection of contributors whose personal essays turn Pedro’s shocking death into an occasion to reflect on the deeper truths of life we too often overlook. Part 
The Pride of Havana and part 
Tuesdays With Morrie, part 
The Tender Bar and part 
Ball Four, this is the rare essay collection that reads like a novel, full of achingly honest emotion and painful insights, a book about friendship, a book about standing for something, a book about joy and love.\nFormer 
New York Times writer 
Jack Curry writes about Pedro’s passion for live music, and former 
Sports Illustrated writer 
Tim Kurkjian brings alive spring-training basketball games with executives like 
Sandy Anderson and 
Billy Beane and Pedro right in the mix. Detroit manager 
AJ Hinch and formers Texas manager 
Ron Washington both reveal that in their darkest hours Pedro gave them some of the best advice of their lives.\nHall of Famers 
Dennis Eckersley, Tony La Russa, Peter Gammons, Ross Newhan, Tracy Ringolsby and 
Dan Shaughnessy are among the contributors. So are likely future Hall of Famers 
Max Scherzer and 
Dusty Baker. Pulitzer-Prize-winning 
Washington Post war correspondent 
Steve Fainaru, award-winning writers from 
Howard Bryant and 
Mike Barnicle to 
Tim Keown, Ken Rosenthal and 
Dave Sheinin also contribute. Rounding out the mix are current and former ESPN stars including 
Rachel Nichols, Shelley M. Smith, Peter Gammons, Bob Ley and 
Keith Olbermann.\nThis is a book to rekindle in any lapsed fan a love of going to the ballpark, but it’s also a wakeup call that transcends sports. To any journalist, worn down by the demands of a punishing job, to anyone anywhere, pummeled by pandemic times and the dark mood of the country in recent years, these essays will light a spark to seize every opportunity to make a difference, in your work and in the lives of people who matter to you. 
 Review 
Advance praise for Remember Who You Are\n"Pedro Gomez was as kind as he was talented. I can think of no one else in the industry who would have inspired this many heartfelt essays by this diverse a group of writers, ballplayers, coaches, and front office executives. Everyone loved and respected him. And while he left this earth way too soon, his legacy will live on through his children and in the pages of this book." ― 
Molly Knight, Author, 
The Best Team Money Can Buy\n"The words in this collection share a common source―while they were crafted with the head, they originated from the heart. The Gomez Rules are the Commandments for those who cover the game. All who have lived the baseball life should have followed all at some point. They should be etched in tablet."―Broadcaster 
Ted Robinson\n" 
Remember Who You Are pulls together heartfelt and eloquent tributes to a man who was more than just America’s foremost baseball journalist, more than just an embodiment of the American dream, but a bona fide inspiratio

Remember Who You Are: What Pedro Gomez Showed Us About Baseball and Life

MARTIN, Frank

Sheinin, Dave

Keown, Tim

Jenkins, Bruce

Nichols, Rachel

Kreidler, Mark

Scherzer, Max

Ley, Bob

Gomez, Pedro

Gammons, Peter

Bryant, Howard

Barnicle, Mike

Murphy, Brian

Janes, Chelsea

Baker, Dusty

KING, ROB

Gomez, Rio

Newhan, Ross

Daniels, Jon

Rosenthal, Ken

Olney, Buster

Smith, Shelley M.

Quinn, T.J.

Boras, Scott

Alderson, Sandy

Shaughnessy, Dan

Swanson, Mike

Carr, Robin

La Russa, Tony

La Canfora, Jason

Ratto, Ray

Washington, Ron

Culpepper, Chuck

Ringolsby, Tracy

Black, Bud

Kurkjian, Tim

Curry, Jack

Zagaris, Michael

Begala, Paul

Mangin, Brad

Schaap, Jeremy

Passan, Jeff

Melvin, Bob

Ostler, Scott

King III, George A.

Francona, Terry

Goold, Derrick

Coffey, Alex

McAdam, Sean

Snitker, Brian

Kurland, Brett

Gonzalez, Alden

Morales, Sarina

Bretón, Marcos

D'Anna, John

Hernandez, Orlando "El Duque"

Gomez, Dante

Geracie, Bud

Eckersley, Dennis

Hinch, AJ

Olbermann, Keith

Wellstone Books

A parallel army lives on the margins of the Iraq war-nearly 100,000 armed men, invisible yet in plain sight, doing jobs the overstretched and understaffed military can't or won't do. The U.S. media call them "security contractors." They call themselves "mercs," and they operate under their own rules. Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru traveled with several groups of security contractors to find out what motivates them to put their lives in danger every day. What emerges is a searing, revealing, and sometimes darkly funny look at the men who live and work in the battlefields of Iraq: some are desperate, some are confused, and some are just out for a lark. Some disappear into the void that is Iraq and are never seen again. It's not a pretty picture that Fainaru reveals, but it is brutally real and shockingly honest. Big Boy Rules is an unforgettable leap into the mayhem of Iraq and into the dark recesses of the minds of American policymakers and the warriors they hire.

Tantor Audio

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