Paul Dickson

From Paul Dickson, the Casey Award–winning author of Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick, the first full biography of Leo Durocher, one of the most colorful and important figures in baseball history.

Leo Durocher (1906–1991) was baseball's all-time leading cocky, flamboyant, and galvanizing character, casting a shadow across several eras, from the time of Babe Ruth to the Space Age Astrodome, from Prohibition

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From the homegrown "boodle" of the 19th century to current "misunderstandistan" in the Middle East, America's foremost expert on slang reveals military lingo at its most colorful, innovative, brutal, and ironic. Author Paul Dickson introduces some of the "new words and phrases born of conflict, boredom, good humor, bad food, new technology, and the pure horror of war." This newly updated reference extends to the post-9/11 world and the American military...

Collects American presidential words, phrases, and slogans that have defined the nation's culture, in a work arranged chronologically and complemented by definitions, etymologies, and essays placing each entry in its cultural context.

"Baseball is set apart from other sports by many things, but few are more distinctive than the intricate systems of coded language that govern action on the field and give baseball its unique appeal. During a nine-inning game, more than one thousand silent instructions are given--from catcher to pitcher, coach to batter, fielder to fielder, umpire to umpire--and without this speechless communication the game would simply not be the same. Baseball...

Traces the history of libraries from Colonial times to the 1980's and examines the role of libraries in American society.