Swing Kings

Download or read book Swing Kings written by Jared Diamond and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The best baseball book I’ve read in years." — Sam Walker • "An exhilarating story of innovation." — Ben Reiter • "Swing Kings feels like a spiritual successor to Moneyball." — Baseball Prospectus From the Wall Street Journal’s national baseball writer, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of players who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who helped them usher the game into a new age. We are in a historic era for the home run. The 2019 season saw the most homers ever, obliterating a record set just two years before. It is a shift that has transformed the way the game is played, contributing to more strikeouts, longer games, and what feels like the logical conclusion of the analytics era. In Swing Kings, Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn’t steroids or the stitching of the baseballs, it’s the most elemental explanation of all: the swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks a group of baseball’s biggest stars—including Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, and Justin Turner—who remade their swings under the tutelage of a band of renegade coaches, and remade the game in the process. These coaches, many of them baseball washouts who have reinvented themselves as swing gurus, for years were one of the game’s best-kept secrets. Among their ranks are a swimming pool contractor, the owner of a billiards hall, and an ex-hippie whose swing insights draw from surfing and the technique of Japanese samurai. Now, as Diamond artfully charts, this motley cast has moved from the baseball margins to its center of power. They are changing the way hitting is taught to players of all ages, and major league clubs are scrambling for their services, hiring them in record numbers as coaches and consultants. And Diamond himself, whose baseball career ended in high school, enlists the tutelage of each swing coach he profiles, with an aim toward starring in the annual Boston-New York media game at Yankee Stadium. Swing Kings is both a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported, character-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and new, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared Diamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the crossroads.

Download or read book Swing Kings written by Julie Koerner and published by Friedman/Fairfax Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series of book and compact disc packages offers informative and enjoyable histories of many diverse genres of music in a beautifully compact format. Readers will be able to listen to some of the greatest songs ever recorded as they read about the musicians who made them.

Download or read book Bluefield written by William R. Archer and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The remarkable story of Bluefield represents a unique combination of geology, geography, and opportunity. Once just the confluence of a handful of family farms in southern West Virginia, Bluefield was put on the map, literally, in the 1880s, when the Norfolk & Western Railway came to town. The company's influence on the rural landscape was overwhelming, and soon, Bluefield was transformed into the center of a coal-fired universe and became a major thoroughfare for the then-thriving mining industry. Though the company--not the coal--was king in Bluefield, enterprising men and women could, and did, share in its success. The city evolved into a successful supply center for the enormous network of towns that sprung up almost overnight throughout the region's coalfields. For the next 60 years, Bluefield experienced dramatic growth, enticing a diverse group of newcomers who helped to build the strong cultural heritage that continues to play a prominent role in the community to the present day.

Download or read book Swing, that Modern Sound written by Kenneth J. Bindas and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2001 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was for stage bands, for dancing, and for a jiving mood of letting go. Throughout the nation swing re-sounded with the spirit of good times. But this pop genre, for a decade America's favorite, arose during the worst of times, the Great Depression. From its peak in the 1930s until bebop, r & b, and country swamped it after World War II, swing defined an American generation and measured America's musical heartbeat. In its heyday swing reached a mass audience of very disparate individuals and united them. They perceived in the tempers and tempos of swing the very definition of modernity. A survey of the thirties reveals that the time was indeed the Swing Era, America's segue into modernity. What social structures encouraged swing's creation, acceptance, and popularity? Swing, That Modern Sound examines the cultural and historical significance of swing and tells how and why it achieved its audience, unified its fans, defined its generation, and, after World War II, fell into decline. What fed the music? And, in turn, what did the music feed? This book shows that swing manifested the kind of up-to-date allure that the populace craved. Swing sounded modern, happy, optimistic. It flouted the hardship signals of the Great Depression. The key to its rise and appeal, this book argues, was its all-out appropriation of modernity--consumer advertising, the language and symbols of consumption, and the public's all-too-evident wish for goods during a period of scarcity. As it examines the role of race, class, and gender in the creation of this modern music, Swing, That Modern Sound tells how a music genre came to symbolize the cultural revolution taking place in America. Kenneth J. Bindas is an associate professor of history at Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, in Warren, Ohio. He is the author of All of This Music Belongs to the Nation: The WPA's Federal Music Project and American Society, 1935--1939.

Download or read book South to Louisiana written by John Broven and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the history of the music of southern Louisiana and examines the influence of Cajun songs on American popular music

Download or read book Spider-Man: Far From Home: Spider-Man Swings Through Europe! written by Calliope Glass and published by Marvel Press. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Swing alongside Spider-Man as he travels through Europe! Whether he's riding in a gondola through the Venice canals or breaking out all his best moves to get a reaction from the Queen's Guard in London, Spider-Man is determined to have the best vacation ever. Full of vibrant and hilarious original art, this picture book shows off the various European locations seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and is told from Peter Parker's unique point of view. Perfect for curious young readers who love Super Heroes, the book also has hidden characters and details from Spidey's world. You never know what-or who-you might find!

Download or read book The Swing Book written by Degen Pener and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2009-06-27 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten years ago a revival of swing took place, originating in San Francisco, snowballing into today's international resurgence. This book presents the complete history of swing music and dancing, then and now.