Books by Andrew Blauner
Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference
A range of celebrated writers share the inspiring stories of athletic coaches who influenced their lives with powerful advice or encouragement, in a collection of original and previously published essays by such contributors as John Irving, John McPhee, and Pat Conroy. 30,000 first printing.
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Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference
A collection of more than 20 essaysby well-known authors, writers and celebrities abouttheir experiences with the sports coaches who have shapedtheir lives.
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Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and Rivalry
"The next best thing to not having a brother (as I do not) is to have Brothers."
―Gay Talese
Here is a tapestry of stories about the complex and unique relationship that exists between brothers. In this book, some of our finest authors take an unvarnished look at how brothers admire and admonish, revere and revile, connect and compete, love and war with each other. With hearts and minds wide open, and, in some cases, with laugh-out-loud humor, the writers tackle a topic that is as old as the Bible and yet has been, heretofore, overlooked.
Contributors range in age from twenty-four to eighty-four, and their stories from comic to tragic. Brothers examines and explores the experiences of love and loyalty and loss, of altruism and anger, of competition and compassion―the confluence of things that conspire to form the unique nature of what it is to be and to have a brother.
“Brother.” One of our eternal and quintessential terms of endearment. Tobias Wolff writes, “The good luck of having a brother is partly the luck of having stories to tell.” David Kaczynski, brother of “The Unabomber”: “I’ll start with the premise that a brother shows you who you are―and also who you are not. He’s an image of the self, at one remove . . . You are a ‘we’ with your brother before you are a ‘we’ with any other.” Mikal Gilmore refers to brotherhood as a “fidelity born of blood.”
We’ve heard that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But where do the apples fall in relation to each other? And are we, in fact, our brothers’ keepers, after all?
These stories address those questions and more, and are, like the relationships, full of intimacy and pain, joy and rage, burdens and blessings, humor and humanity.
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No copies available.
Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and Rivalry
"The next best thing to not having a brother (as I do not) is to have Brothers."
—Gay Talese
Here is a tapestry of stories about the complex and unique relationship that exists between brothers. In this book, some of our finest authors take an unvarnished look at how brothers admire and admonish, revere and revile, connect and compete, love and war with each other. With hearts and minds wide open, and, in some cases, with laugh-out-loud humor, the writers tackle a topic that is as old as the Bible and yet has been, heretofore, overlooked.
Contributors range in age from twenty-four to eighty-four, and their stories from comic to tragic. Brothers examines and explores the experiences of love and loyalty and loss, of altruism and anger, of competition and compassion—the confluence of things that conspire to form the unique nature of what it is to be and to have a brother.
“Brother.” One of our eternal and quintessential terms of endearment. Tobias Wolff writes, “The good luck of having a brother is partly the luck of having stories to tell.” David Kaczynski, brother of “The Unabomber”: “I’ll start with the premise that a brother shows you who you are—and also who you are not. He’s an image of the self, at one remove . . . You are a ‘we’ with your brother before you are a ‘we’ with any other.” Mikal Gilmore refers to brotherhood as a “fidelity born of blood.”
We’ve heard that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But where do the apples fall in relation to each other? And are we, in fact, our brothers’ keepers, after all?
These stories address those questions and more, and are, like the relationships, full of intimacy and pain, joy and rage, burdens and blessings, humor and humanity.
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Now Comes Good Sailing: Writers Reflect on Henry David Thoreau
From twenty-seven of today’s leading writers, an anthology of original pieces on the author of Walden
Features essays by Jennifer Finney Boylan • Kristen Case • George Howe Colt • Gerald Early • Paul Elie • Will Eno • Adam Gopnik • Lauren Groff • Celeste Headlee • Pico Iyer • Alan Lightman • James Marcus • Megan Marshall • Michelle Nijhuis • Zoë Pollak • Jordan Salama • Tatiana Schlossberg • A. O. Scott • Mona Simpson • Stacey Vanek Smith • Wen Stephenson • Robert Sullivan • Amor Towles • Sherry Turkle • Geoff Wisner • Rafia Zakaria • and a cartoon by Sandra Boynton
The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), the author of Walden, “Civil Disobedience,” and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. In Now Comes Good Sailing, twenty-seven of today’s leading writers offer wide-ranging original pieces exploring how Thoreau has influenced and inspired them―and why he matters more than ever in an age of climate, racial, and technological reckoning.
Here, Lauren Groff retreats from the COVID-19 pandemic to a rural house and writing hut, where, unable to write, she rereads Walden; Pico Iyer describes how Thoreau provided him with an unlikely guidebook to Japan; Gerald Early examines Walden and the Black quest for nature; Rafia Zakaria reflects on solitude, from Thoreau’s Concord to her native Pakistan; Mona Simpson follows in Thoreau’s footsteps at Maine’s Mount Katahdin; Jennifer Finney Boylan reads Thoreau in relation to her experience of coming out as a trans woman; Adam Gopnik traces Thoreau’s influence on the New Yorker editor E. B. White and his book Charlotte’s Web; and there’s much more.
The result is a lively and compelling collection that richly demonstrates the countless ways Thoreau continues to move, challenge, and provoke readers today.
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On the Couch: Writers Analyze Sigmund Freud
by Sigmund Freud, Andrew Blauner
A collection of colorful and candid essays and other pieces about Freud and his legacy today, featuring twenty-five leading writers
With original contributions by André Aciman • Sarah Boxer • Jennifer Finney Boylan • Susie Boyt • Gerald Early • Esther Freud • Rivka Galchen • Adam Gopnik • David Gordon • Siri Hustvedt • Sheila Kohler • Peter D. Kramer • Phillip Lopate • Thomas Lynch • Daphne Merkin • David Michaelis • Rick Moody • Susie Orbach • Richard Panek • Alex Pheby • Michael S. Roth • Casey Schwartz • Mark Solms • Colm Tóibín • Sherry Turkle
W. H. Auden described Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) as “a whole climate of opinion / Under whom we conduct our differing lives.” The controversial father of psychiatry and psychoanalysis, Freud charted the human unconscious, brought us the talking cure, and wrote books that now rank among the classics of world literature. In On the Couch, the great analyst is analyzed by some of today’s great writers and thinkers, who help us understand the man who has helped us understand ourselves as much, if not more, than anyone else, ever. The result is a fresh, multifaceted reassessment of Freud’s continuing relevance and influence on ideas, literature, culture, science, and more.
Here, Colm Tóibín writes about Freud, World War I, Henry James, and Thomas Mann; Adam Gopnik explores Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents; Susie Orbach considers Freud’s “ordinary unhappiness” and D. W. Winnicott’s “good enough”; Jennifer Finney Boylan reflects on penis envy and gender identity; Peter Kramer describes how new science and drugs have revolutionized psychology since Freud; Susie Boyt, one of Freud’s great-granddaughters, spends the night at the Freud Museum in London; Siri Hustvedt examines Freud’s divided reception today; and there’s much more.
Filled with insights, provocation, and humor, On the Couch offers an original and nuanced portrait of Freud as a complex figure who, for all his flaws, forever changed how we see ourselves and the world.
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$29.95
In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs
The perfect gift for any Beatles fan, In Their Lives is an anthology of essays from a chorus of twenty-nine luminaries singing the praises of their favorite Beatles songs.
The Beatles’ influence—on their contemporaries, on our cultural consciousness, and on the music industry ever after—is difficult to overstate. We all have a favorite song from the band that made us want to fall in love, tune in, and follow our dreams. Arranged chronologically by the date of the song’s release, these essays highlight both the Beatles’ evolution as well as the span of generations their music affected. Whether they are Beatlemaniacs who grew up listening to the iconic albums on vinyl or new fans who stream their favorite songs on their phones, all of the contributors explore that poignant intersection between Beatles history and personal history.
With contributions from twenty-nine authors and musicians—Roz Chast on “She Loves You,” Jane Smiley on “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” Rosanne Cash on “No Reply,” Gerald Early on “I’m a Loser,” Rick Moody on “The End,” Maria Popova on “Yellow Submarine,” David Duchovny on “Dear Prudence,” Chuck Klosterman on “Helter Skelter,” David Hajdu on “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” and more—the breadth of the band’s impact is clear. From musings on young love and family strife to explorations of racial boundaries and identity, these essays pay tribute to a band that ran the gamut of human experience in a way no musical group has done before or since.
Timed for the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this anthology captures the full spectrum of reasons fans still love the Fab Four after all these years.
“In Their Lives is full of pleasant surprises.”—New York Times
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Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference (Excelsior Editions)
Twenty-five celebrated writers share the encouraging words and timeless wisdom of the coaches who influenced their lives.
For everyone who has heard the beloved whistle at the end of a grueling practice, only to eagerly await the next, Coach is a treasure trove of insights and wisdom from the mouths of those we cherish, seen through the eyes of those we admire most. This book offers the reflections of twenty-five notable authors and writers who reveal their experiences, both good and bad, with the athletic coaches who changed and influenced their lives, irrevocably. Now including a new preface by David Duchovny, this collection celebrates those special people whose inspiration and influence make us believe that we are greater than the sum of our parts.
“The really great coaches engage their players in a quest to be the best. In the right player-coach relationship, a quiet ‘well done’ can go a long way. These individual stories taken together form a narrative of value that shows us the powerful reward of vision, hard work, and the belief that together we can be something bigger and better than if we never listened to, learned from, or engaged with the people we encounter in our lives.” — from the Foreword by Bill Bradley
“What happens when twenty-five wonderful writers meet twenty-five unforgettable coaches? The twenty-five life lessons you are holding in your hands.” — Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated
“Compelling … rich … an all-star squad of scribblers. You don’t have to be an ex-jock with a trophy case to find someone you can relate to here.” — Los Angeles Times
“Coach! One measly monosyllable, yet the word can evoke the entire range of human emotion, as it does in this masterful and touching anthology, which promises endless pleasure for anyone who has experience coaching on either side.” — Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer Prize–winner and author of In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle
“This intriguing collection of essays will remind anyone who’s ever been coached that it can be a powerful experience. Coaches come in all sorts of flavors. The gruff and kind appear here, as do the wise and the foolish, the encouraging and the destructive, and some in whom lots of these qualities and inclinations are curiously mixed. What the coaches share, at least in this remarkable collection of writers chronicling coaching, is that they are unforgettable.” — Bill Littlefield, host of NPR’s Only a Game
“A solid, entertaining collection recognizing great coaches, and a Beelzebub or two.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A moving and often humorous collection.” — Booklist
“Here is a book for all of us who teach to consider—the way students learn through those who help them learn how to use their bodies (and minds) while doing athletic work. Coaches offer so much to athletes—addressing their minds, hearts, and souls—as this extraordinary anthology lets us know so very well.” — Robert Coles, author of Children of Crisis
“Perfect ... refreshing ... makes a true connection with the reader ... Sweet and often funny vulnerability, revealing the part of the writer that is willing to be coached. The collection has perfect ‘pitch.’ Writers pay tribute to coaches in the purest sense, showing their lasting influences.” — USA Today
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The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages
In The Good Book, thirty-two of today’s most prominent writers share never-before-published pieces about passages in the Bible that are most meaningful to them.
The Good Book, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik, collects new pieces by writers from many different faiths and ethnicities including literary fiction writers (Colm Tóibín, Edwidge Danticat, Tobias Wolff, Rick Moody); bestselling nonfiction writers (A.J. Jacobs, Ian Frazier, Thomas Lynch); notable figures in the media (Charles McGrath, Cokie Roberts, Steven V. Roberts); and social activists (Al Sharpton, Kerry Kennedy). While these contributors are not primarily known as religious thinkers, they write intelligently and movingly about specific passages in the Bible that inform the way they live, think about past experiences, and see society today. Some pieces are close readings of specific passages, some are anecdotes from everyday life, and all will inspire, provoke, or illuminate.
Addressing some of the best-known and best-loved characters and stories from Genesis to Revelation, The Good Book will be a beautiful, enlightening gift for secular readers and readers of faith as well as a collection of interest to reading groups, readers of creative nonfiction and personal essays, and fans of each of the individual contributors.
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The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages
Thirty-two prominent writers share the Bible passages most meaningful to them in this “Sunday School class you’ve been waiting for” (Garrison Keillor).
The Good Book, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik, is “a rich tapestry of reflections” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) by writers from many different faiths, including literary fiction writers (Colm Tóibín, Edwidge Danticat, Tobias Wolff, Rick Moody); bestselling nonfiction writers (A.J. Jacobs, Ian Frazier, Thomas Lynch); notable figures in the media (Charles McGrath, Cokie Roberts, Steven V. Roberts); and social activists (Al Sharpton, Kerry Kennedy). While these contributors are not primarily known as religious thinkers, they write intelligently and movingly about specific passages in the Bible that inform the way they live, think about past experiences, and see society today. Excerpted in The New Yorker and other prestigious publications, some pieces are close readings of specific passages, some are anecdotes from everyday life, and all will inspire, provoke, or illuminate.
Showcasing some of the best-known and best-loved characters and stories from Genesis to Revelation, The Good Book is “often inspiring and always interesting” (Booklist, starred review). This beautiful, enlightening gift “really does justice to the richness and complexity of the texts and how they resonate in our lives” (Krista Tippett, host of NPR’s On Being). “These writers raise questions that are age-old, yet utterly contemporary, pressing, thoughtful, eternal” (Edward Hirsch). “This collection has something for everyone who appreciates good writing” (Library Journal).
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The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life: A Library of America Special Publication
A one-of-a-kind celebration of America's greatest comic strip--and the life lessons it can teach us--from a stellar array of writers and artists
Over the span of fifty years, Charles M. Schulz created a comic strip that is one of the indisputable glories of American popular culture—hilarious, poignant, inimitable. Some twenty years after the last strip appeared, the characters Schulz brought to life in Peanuts continue to resonate with millions of fans, their beguiling four-panel adventures and television escapades offering lessons about happiness, friendship, disappointment, childhood, and life itself.
In The Peanuts Papers, thirty-three writers and artists reflect on the deeper truths of Schulz’s deceptively simple comic, its impact on their lives and art and on the broader culture. These enchanting, affecting, and often quite personal essays show just how much Peanuts means to its many admirers—and the ways it invites us to ponder, in the words of Sarah Boxer, “how to survive and still be a decent human being” in an often bewildering world. Featuring essays, memoirs, poems, and two original comic strips, here is the ultimate reader’s companion for every Peanuts fan.
Featuring:
Jill Bialosky
Lisa Birnbach
Sarah Boxer
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Ivan Brunetti
Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
Rich Cohen
Gerald Early
Umberto Eco
Jonathan Franzen
Ira Glass
Adam Gopnik
David Hajdu
Bruce Handy
David Kamp
Maxine Hong Kingston
Chuck Klosterman
Peter D. Kramer
Jonathan Lethem
Rick Moody
Ann Patchett
Kevin Powell
Joe Queenan
Nicole Rudick
George Saunders
Elissa Schappell
Seth
Janice Shapiro
Mona Simpson
Leslie Stein
Clifford Thompson
David L. Ulin
Chris Ware
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For the Love of Baseball: A Celebration of the Game That Connects Us All
by Andrew Blauner, Lee Gutkind
Stefan Fatsis sends his stunningly perfect, consummately perfect, why-would-anyone-use-anything-else? perfect” glove to be restored by the glove designer at Rawlings. Frank Deford makes the case that the baseball cap may be the most universal article of clothing ever designed. Roger Angell considers why it is that pitchers are so much livelier and more garrulous than hitters.” George Plimpton reflects on the slow demotion of aging or slumping players from pitcher to first base, to the outfield.
United by the authors’ fervent love of the game, each chapter in this book reminds us of the unique role baseball plays in our national history and collective imagination. In addition to the authors mentioned above, the lineup includes:
Kevin Baker
Jeff Greenfield
Katherine A. Powers
Michael Shapiro
John Thorn
Sean Wilentz
And more!
Published previously as Anatomy of Baseball and Great Baseball Stories, this wide-ranging collection now includes pieces by A. Bartlett Giamatti, Gay Talese, Matthew McGough, and George Vecsey.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sportsbooks about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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Central Park: An Anthology
A wild night outdoors with Bill Buford. A football tradition with Nathaniel Rich. A jog around the reservoir with Mark Helprin as he "protects" Jacqueline Onassis from imagined harm. The 843 carefully planned acres of Central Park have not only crept into the hearts of its 38 million annual visitors, but also into the life and work of a diverse array of writers who come to revel in its natural remedy for urban chaos.
In Central Park, a dozen exclusive pieces commissioned especially for this book are accompanied by a handful of beloved classics. Francine Prose reflects on open-air performances by Nina Simone and James Brown; Jonathan Safran Foer writes a creation myth of the park; Buzz Bissinger meditates on how the park defined his early life; and Marie Winn definitively answers Holden Caulfield's question of where the ducks go when the ponds freeze over.
This vibrant collection presents Central Park in all its diverse glory, with an ode on every page to a fifty-one-block swath of special New York magic. A must-read for the thousands who consider the park their own, and a keepsake for the many more who visit, it will be a standard for years to come.
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