Adult

Aaron's historic blast --- and the yearlong quest leading up to it --- not only shook baseball but the world at large. It exposed prejudice, energized a flagging civil rights movement, inspired a generation of children and also called forth the dark demons that haunted Aaron's every step and turned what should have been a joyous pursuit into a hellish nightmare.

The World Series has gone to a thrilling "game seven" only 35 times, and each one comes alive in THE SEVENTH GAME, a rich collection of compelling stories and statistics. From the 1909 marquee match-up of Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, to the thrilling confrontation of Pete Alexander and Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in 1926, to Bill Mazeroski's improbable walk-off home run to beat the Yankees in 1960, all the way to 2002's "Giant disappointment" between the inspired Angels and the hard-luck Giants, each game is brought to light.

Fenway Park, Saturday, 8/30/03: Yankees versus Red Sox. Not just a special day in a historic rivalry but a unique one in the long tradition of baseball writing. For on this day, award-winning sportswriter Steve Kettmann worked with a team of top reporters to chronicle everything that happened, from the point of view of everyone involved. With ONE DAY AT FENWAY, Kettmann goes beyond the ballpark to bring you interviews and anecdotes involving all the major players.

The Yankees vs. the Red Sox. Each baseball season begins and ends with unique intensity, focused on a single question: What's ahead for these two teams? One, the most glamorous, storied, and successful franchise in all of sports; the other, perennially star-crossed but equally rich in baseball history and legend. In THE RIVALS sports writers of The New York Times and The Boston Globe come together in the first-ever collaboration between the two cities' leading newspapers to tell the inside story of the teams' intertwined histories, each from the home team's perspective.

The child of Italian immigrants and an award-winning scholar of Italian literature, in MY TWO ITALIES Joseph Luzzi straddles these two perspectives to link his family’s dramatic story to Italy’s north-south divide, its quest for a unifying language, and its passion for art, food and family. With topics ranging from the pervasive force of Dante’s poetry to the meteoric rise of Silvio Berlusconi, Luzzi presents the Italians in all their glory and squalor, relating the problems that plague Italy today to the country’s ancient roots.

Without telling her family, Elyria takes a one-way flight to New Zealand, abruptly leaving her stable but unfulfilling life in Manhattan. Haunted by her sister’s death and consumed by an inner violence, her growing rage remains so expertly concealed that those who meet her sense nothing unwell. This discord between her inner and outer reality leads her to another obsession: If her truest self is invisible and unknowable to others, is she even alive?

The death of a young heroin dealer causes no great concern for NYPD Detective Frank Parrish --- Danny Lange is just another casualty of the drug war. But when Danny’s teenage sister winds up dead, questions are raised that have no clear answers. As the homicides continue --- and a disturbing pattern emerges --- Frank tries desperately to make some sense of the deaths, while battling with his own demons.

In his wide-ranging and entertaining book, Tom Zoellner travels the globe to tell the story of the sociological and economic impact of the railway technology that transformed the world --- and could very well change it again. From the frigid trans-Siberian railroad to the antiquated Indian Railways to the Japanese-style bullet trains, Zoellner offers a stirring story of this most indispensable form of travel.