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“Paul Johnsgard’s The Niobrara is one of the very best books—if not the very best—he has written. . . . [It] displays the variety of Johnsgard’s talents. It combines graceful readability with his own sketches in a book overflowing with the evolutionary history of the remarkable Niobrara Valley.”—Harold Andersen, Omaha World-Herald
Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors “[A] beautifully rendered look at other people’s, and the author’s, struggles with mental illness.”—Bloomsbury Review
“In The Cowboy Girl, author and essayist John Clayton presents a warm portrait of a woman whose strong spirit and independent vision perfectly embodied the American West. As part of the University of Nebraska’s Women in the West series, Clayton’s biography provides a voice to the little-known legend.”—Bloomsbury Review
“This rich introduction to the region encompasses the geological history, unique arid environments, and social and political movements that characterize it. . . . [T]he striking color photographs by Georg Joutras provide engaging evidence of the sweeping vistas linked to this geographic masterpiece.”—Bloomsbury Review
Once again, we're in the midst of the baseball season and here's me with no knowledge whatsoever of the sport. What, I think, can be so difficult? You hit a ball from home plate, run around a field, touch three bases, then go back home again. Or you pitch the ball to said hitter. Or you stand out in the outfield and try to catch the ball the hitter hit and stop him with the ball he hit before the hitter makes it home. Or you yell out "Safe!" or "Out" then get in a yelling match with hitter or pitcher or coach or the stadium or by some there-in-spirit fan at home.
Yet I'm told it's a very intellectual game. Nuances, intricate rules, and the art of meticulous observation decide the game and, in the process, make the sport interesting. I argue (and I should know, I think; I went to a game in Milwaukee a couple years back when Sosa was near a batting milestone or something or the other) that what is going on out there on that field is: spitting, grabbing, clutching, hitting bat against shoe, looking over here, staring at something over there, advertisements and averages flashing across the screen, sausage races, and—every so often—someone would hit the ball. More often than not, the hit would be: foul. Strike? No, a strike is when you miss, right? Sometimes (let's say a quarter of the time), the player would hit the ball and make it to first base. Before he makes it to third, almost invariably, he'd be struck out. Or hit out? What's the terminology? I think there may have been a couple of home runs but, by that time, I was mentally somewhere else.
I cannot talk about baseball. I become mute when someone here at the office mentions the KC Royals or the NY Yankees. Sorry, folks. But, for your blogging perusal, I offer you links of writing I find enjoyable about baseball:
Baseball Musings is, from what I can tell (see above), a very informative blog of the ins and outs of the sport. The writer previously hosted Baseball Tonight Online for ESPN in 2001. He also has a radio show, accessible from the blog.
Baseball fans like statistics, then they like comparing statistics. Mike's Baseball Rants does a lot of compiling and comparing statistics.
Kansas City Review, mentioned here because the Royals is one of the closest big league teams and because someone here has a family member on the team. Just a fan site.
A quote and a link: "Baseball Toaster is a collection of blogs by a group of friends who love baseball and enjoy writing about it."
And for all things sports (I even put a link on the sidebar last year), check out the popular site Deadspin.
Oh, if you hadn't noticed, I now italicize blog titles as I would a book title. Haven't checked any manual, but thought that since a blog is, in a sense, complete work (such as a book or an album), it should be treated like one.
Enjoy your weekend.
Now Available from the University of Nebraska Press
Playing in Isolation: A History of Baseball in Taiwan By Junwei Yu
Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman By Lee Lowenfish
Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball Edited and with an introduction by Philip F. Deaver; Foreword by Lee K. Abbott
Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball By Peter Morris
Invisible Men: Life in Baseball's Negro Leagues By Donn Rogosin; Introduction by Monte Irvin
By Mary Ridder
Roots of Change was one of those What if? that became a book. It began as a concept to write a series of short articles concerning cooperatives developing in Nebraska thanks in part to the support of the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center's staff and board.
Personally this book was an inspiration because I met people from all over the state who dreamed and worked towards the reality. That's a scary, financially difficult, and unusual thing to do. 
The first group I interviewed was the Arthur residents who dreamed of opening a grocery story in their
small community following a devastating fire in their previous store. This was a huge undertaking which began with the creative thinking of students at Arthur High School and their business teacher. Don't tell teens that entrepreneurism is tough. They're up to the challenge, as was the entire Arthur area.
Today, senior citizens volunteer their time to pick up foodstuffs in Hyannis, Nebraska to stock the Wolf Den, Arthur's co-op grocery market. Teens stop at the store on their way to a game. Young moms pick up milk and other necessary items. It's a community hub, communications center, and it is critical to Arthur's future.
My home town of Callaway faced a similar challenge recently when we learned that our grocery store may have to close due to their wholesaler's minimum order increases. Our population of 650 would have been challenged should the store have closed.
Value-added businesses are central to the future of our rural communities and the Arthur Wolf Den is a terrific example of this.
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You can learn more about Mary Ridder, author of Roots of Change: Nebraska's New Agriculture, on the Ridder Ranch website.
A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969
by Francis French and Colin Burgess
“[A] readable introduction to the first years of America’s leap into space.”—Publishers Weekly
“Authors Burgess and French are even-handed and equitable, and have done an excellent job in covering a vast expanse of material. . . . The opportunity to get the true stories from the astronauts themselves is a luxury that will sadly not be available forever, and In the Shadow of the Moon has done an excellent job in gathering and eliciting the stories of these men, not just the ‘official reports,’ but the personal touches that render them more human. . . . The authors have a touch for weaving revealing and captivating personal narratives amidst the nuts-and-bolts space history.”—Michael Patrick Brady, PopMatters.com
“There’s a wealth of information and insights about the people and missions in each chapter, at least for those who haven’t immersed themselves in space history.”—Jeff Foust, The Space Review.com
“There are already a huge number of books about the ‘Space Race.’ Refreshingly, this new book is not just about the race – it is about the runners.” —Mike Myer, space enthusiast, CollectSPACE Online Forum
“[T]he authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spacecraft as both an intimate human experience and rollicking global adventure. . . . [T]heir book draws a richly detailed picture of the space race as an endeavor equally endowed with personal meaning and political significance.”—QUEST
“French and Burgess present a first-rate, detailed, and very personal account of the space race to the moon . . . . [S]trongly recommended both as a study of the social interactions among this unique group of people and as a gripping series of anecdotes that describe the exciting, dangerous steps behind the successful moon landing.”—CHOICE
“The writers have gone beyond old Soviet propaganda to tell the untold stories of heroic cosmonauts through new and recent interviews. This volume captures the anxiety and haste shown by both nations at the height of the space race . . . . This series will be read by future generations when they want the complete perspectives of the original generation of space explorers.”—Space Times
“This book is a pleasure to read. . . . Although many of the selections are excerpts from longer works, for the most part they feel satisfyingly self-contained. . . . The volume as a whole . . . is thoughtfully arranged. . . . These writers take unflinching looks at racism, the Vietnam War, rural poverty, environmental degradation, and other unflattering episodes in the state's history. The book is nevertheless filled with humor. . . . [I]t’s certain that readers will never look at a barbed-wire fence or a buffalo chip the same way again.”—Bloomsbury Review
Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman “If you read one baseball book this summer, make it Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish. The author did a remarkable amount of research in bringing to life this incredible baseball man. . . . Lee Lowenfish is to be congratulated for this monumental work. . . . [O]ne of the best baseball books I’ve read.”—Tom Knight, Brooklyn Spectator
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