A masterful ode to America’s game—and an unforgettable portrait of its greatest legends written by America’s best sportswriters.It is a question that has bedeviled football fans for generations: Who’s the best? Of the more than 25,000 men who have suited...

How historically rooted power dynamics have shaped the evolution of civil society globally.The civil society sector―made up of millions of nonprofit organizations, associations, charitable institutions, and the volunteers and resources they mobilize―has...

The racist legacy behind the Western idea of freedomThe era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on the principle of...

The definitive biography of the basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, from the highly respected, career sportswriter and author of Michael Jordan: The Life.Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved, and at times controversial, athletes in history. His...

Philanthropy is everywhere. In 2013, in the United States alone, some $330 billion was recorded in giving, from large donations by the wealthy all the way down to informal giving circles. We tend to think of philanthropy as unequivocally good, but as the...

Richard Sennett's The Fall of Public Man examines the growing imbalance between private and public experience, and asks what can bring us to reconnect with our communities.Are we now so self-absorbed that we take little interest in the world beyond our...

Though privately controlled, foundations perform essential roles that serve society at large. They spearhead some of the world's largest and most innovative initiatives in science, health, education, and the arts, fulfilling important needs that could...

Most social commentators and politicians have espoused the Tocquevillian conviction that voluntary efforts contribute vitally to the health of American society, making up a third sector "between states and markets." The essays gathered here analyze the...

Christy Mathewson (1880–1925) was the greatest baseball pitcher of his day, a hero with appeal reaching beyond sports. A college-educated player from Pennsylvania farm country, he restored respectability to a game tarnished by the rowdies who had...

The views of twenty sociologists and journalists, both black and white, on race relations in the United States today. Each writer examines an important aspect of white or black society and probes its attitude towards its opposite racial group.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKThe long-awaited autobiography from Georgetown University’s legendary coach, whose life on and off the basketball court throws America’s unresolved struggle with racial justice into sharp reliefJohn Thompson was never just a...

From the New York Times bestselling author of K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches comes the ultimate history of the World Series—a vivid portrait of baseball at its finest and most intense, filled with humor, lore, analysis, and fascinating...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being HumanSuperman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and the X-Men—the list of names as familiar as our own. They are on our movie and...

Riveting and inspiring first-person stories of how “taking a knee” triggered a political awakening among athletes of all ages and levels, from the celebrated sportswriter“With profiles of courage that leap of the page, Zirin uncovers a whole national...

OPEN NET is another inimitable account of an amateur's foibles meeting the world of professional sport.George Plimpton takes to the ice a goalie for the Boston Bruins, after first signing a document holding the team harmless if he should meet with injury...

"Plimpton will interest even the man who can't tell a pitching wedge from a putter.... This is really a book about a kind of madness with rules, and anyone can appreciate the appeal of that." -NewsweekTHE BOGEY MAN remains arguably the funniest book on...

“boyd’s new book is layered and smart . . . It’s Complicated will update your mind.”—Alissa Quart, New York Times Book Review“A fascinating, well-researched and (mostly) reassuring look at how today's tech-savvy teenagers are using social media...

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s seemed to mark a historical turning point in advancing the American dream of equal opportunity for all citizens, regardless of race. Yet 50 years on, racial inequality remains a troubling fact of life in American...