Supporters Books

I have never been a sports fan. A few years ago some of my friends became avid fans of the Astros, the Rockets, and the Comets, going to the games and having fun. This made me wish I knew more about sports. After reading Teri Burns's book I am going to try going to games and see if I can become a late-blooming fan.
THANKS TERI!

I just finished reading "How to Become an Athletic Supporter", and loved it! This book is actually a informative, and well written, handbook to provide the basics (and lots of interesting details) of all of the major sports a wife is likely to encounter!

It covers each sport, and keeps your interest with it's pithy commentary (primarily aimed at the man of the house).

Overall, both I and my husband recommend this book. I just enjoyed reading it, and my husband actually learned a few things from it!

This book is GREAT! It shed a whole new light on the sporting world. Also, it should make the upcoming football season a bit more enjoyable in our home now that my spouse has also read the book.

This book is great! Not only is it hilarious, it is jam-packed with sports facts that I was able to use to totally impress my boyfriend. (And, with my limited sports knowledge, that's really hard to do!) Hats off to Teri Burns for delivering a book that is long overdue!

One of the funniest sports books I have ever read. This is a straight-forward succinctly written guide to the major sports ~ but with an attitude. I'm certain the author had her tongue planted firmly in her cheek as she wrote each page. She obviously knows her sports, and you will, too, after reading this. That you had so much fun learning about those sports is the beauty of this gem of a book. This is a must have book for anyone who wants to learn about sports or anyone with a sense of humor. It works on both levels.

What happened to all those people who thought smiling was right wing, and whose activism consisted of making others feel inadequate? They were just waiting for you to be slightly out of line about Nicaragua or a teeny bit frivolous about gender stereotypes. One slip and they'd give you their best sneer - in spades. Politeness was also right wing. Yes, things got better. This joyless crowd melted away, morphed into new people, or else herded into colleges of higher education and social work departments to waste public money on endless meetings. But I shall never forgive!

This book is a misery memoir of the highest order. The story of an activist who, galvanised into socialism as a young man in the late 70s, the very same period when the ideology was lurching around in its death throes, decided to devote his life to the Labour Party. John O'Farrell was no ambitious Blairite politico though. He fought his battles at the low end of the totem pole - trudging miles of godforsaken streets delivering leaflets, attending tedious meetings in grubby halls where left wing worthies tied themselves in knots with their own political correctness. All this could descend into a self righteous polemic. But the crucial, vital saving grace is the book's humour.

O'Farrell tells of the looks he gained in working class pubs by lunk headed Sun readers when he tentatively voiced his opposition to the Falkland's war. His guilty admission after the Brighton bomb that he wishes Thatcher had actually kopped it. The wishful, naive optimism on the eve of every general election only to wake up with a head pounding hangover and the Tories in power -again! The brutal asceticism and self-abnegation that prevented him from enjoying pretty much anything.

Nowadays, O'Farrell has done a New Labour type maturation himself - he lives a comfortable life as a metropolitan Guardian columnist and broadcaster. New Establishment as it were. But he can still laugh at the grim old days. The Conservatives might have won all the elections in the 1980s - but Labour trounced them at the humour polls. Very funny.

This book is hilarious. And so true. If you were an unhappy camper during the Thatcher years in the UK--or are filled with dread by the recent onset of unfettered Republican control in the US you should read this book. The author was a writer on the political satire show SPitting Image in the 1980s and boy does it show. Laugh out loud quality in many part and filled with so unspoken truths. Great stuff.

Essential therapy for anybody who supported the Labour Party through eighteen years the of Conservatives Ruling Britain. We feel that O'Farrell was right there with us as pre-election optimism dissolved into miserable failure again and again and again.

Over the years his radical edge is softened by age and cynicism. The vegetarian succumbs to the bacon sandwich. The dedicated capaigner pays the au pair to deliver his election leaflets. The words of the chant have changed - 'What do we want? A winter flowering clematis! When do we want it? Before we lay the patio!'

Is it similar changes which made the Labour Party electable again?

His description of the unforgettable election night of 1997 is the highlight. The defeat of Michael Portillo described as dramatically as the scoring of a winning goal in the Cup Final. Could we ever get?

But did things really get better?

This is a superb book. I couldn't put it down. Extremely well written and a must have for anyone interested in football from the fans point of view.

I can't recommend this book stronger. For Manchester United fans it's the opportunity to follow a year with the side from the untainted by the PLC view of the supporter. For Reds abroad, it serves as the perfect reminder of home. For non-United or those not football supporters it's a chance to understand what we go through. Well written and personal, Paul and Linda have created a book you'll want to dip into time and time again.

I am a huge fan of Tranter and this book was a two day read for me. I never wanted to put it down. I had to keep finding an excuse to keep reading. Crusader is about David de Lindsay, a Lord of small standing who ends up in high places. Catching the eye of the young Prince Alexander shortly before the King's death, David becomes a Pseudo father figure and mentor to the young King Alexander III. Trying to steer clear of the politics and turmoil of the Regents, David falls in love with Alexander's illegitimate sister. Alexander III proves to be a lively child and we see him grow from 8 to his majority and subsequent assumption of the realm at 19. All this through David's eyes and by his guiding hands. David de Lindsay becomes royal cup Bearer, Knight, Chamberlain and ultimately becomes Alexander's Regent and is present in much of the negotiations and trials with Alexander's Father-in-Law, King Henry III of England and the issue of English paramountcy over Scotland. A great story with insight to the early factions and rivalries of government between the Bruce/Durward and Comyn factions. All pre-cursor to the wars of independence and rise of Robert the Bruce to the throne. An easy and action packed book which leaves you looking for the next book.

I learned about this book from a Fibromyalgia Help web page and I am VERY happy I bought it. It is problem enough trying to deal with FBM as a paeson and nearly impossible to explain it to anyone else. I have an extremly supportive family but they had no understanding of the syndrome. This book explains FBM clearly and in non medical terms. The author gives examples anyone can understand. Not only did my hyusband "get it" so did I.

Guide for Cancer Supporters is more than the ideas of one person or family. Questionaires were sent to numerous doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, facilitators of support groups, supporters of cancer patients and cancer patients seeking their input and suggestions. This is a compilation of the results of all of those with the expeiences of Richard Bloch, who was diagnosed as having terminal lung cancer in 1978 and given 90 days to live. After 2 years of strenuous treatments he was pronounced cured. In 1989, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and again endured a year of chemotherapy after surgery. He was supported through all of this by his wife, Annette and their three daughters. Their input allong with the experiences of talking to more than a thousand cancer patients and their supporters by telephone and in person and the R. A. Bloch Cancer Management Center and R. A. Bloch Cancer Support Center are what make this book comprehensive and reliable.

My mother has breast cancer, and this is a wonderful book for patients, their friends and family members. Sharon is a very honest and tactful writer who shares her experiences for the purpose of helping others in their battles. The devotional format is easy to read a little at a time or whole sections at a time. This book is a fabulous balance between sound medical advice and reminders that God is with every step of this journey.

If you have ever had to prepare a meal for more than 5 people, this book is a must have! Not only is this book filled with tons of delicious recipes, many of them are easy to prepare, and can even be made a day in advance. The book is full of tips on feeding large groups of people, with advice on timing, presentation, etc.... This is the one cookbook that I own that has all the information and tips that you could possibly need for entertaining/feeding a large group. I wish this had been published long ago.

Shifting The Burden Of Truth is a ground-breaking book for the victim or survivor of sexual abuse and/or incest! One should never enter into a life-changing decision without the proper information and support and this book provides lots of both. It is written in a warm and supportive style and all legal jargon is explained so that it is understandable to the average person.My story is in this book under a pseudonym--but even if that were not the case,this book changed my life and was my constant companion during a very difficult journey!

A systematic and thorough guidebook for victims of child abuse, which provides explanations of what the laws are and how they can work for the victim. Although this book is now five years old, its lessons are invaluable. You see, in a CRIMINAL case, it is up to the VICTIM to prove the case. But if the victim SUES the attacker, the situation is reversed. All parents should read this book

Mark Drakeford's book on the Kibbo Kift and the Green shirts is a book that should have be written many years ago. It helps us understand the complex nature of solutions advanced in the 30's toward depression and mass unemployment. The period is remembered for Cable Street, the National Unemployed Workers Movement, fascism, and the Spanish Civil War. The response of radical capitalism has rarely been addressed by the left or the right. Social Credit did not want to abolish capitalism, but recognised the weaknesses of that particular economic system. The study traces the development of the Green Shirts from the Kibbo Kift Kindred. As a historian I felt a certain ambiguity toward the sociological slant of this work, however one must recognise the excellent narrative and use of oral history techniques to deal with the inner life of both movements. The weakness of the book comes from a lack of in depth knowledge of the woodcraft movement that developed independently from Scouting. The realtionship between the Westlakes and Hargrave is not mentioned, nor is the link between eugenics, recapitulation theory and woodcraft in its early ideological form. Another weakness must be the simple chronological narrative Drakeford opts for. He must have gathered plenty of information on Hargrave, yet his intensely complex character is only hinted at. The elitism of the Kibbo Kift passes without too much comment, and the merger talks with the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry get no mention. This is a shame as it casts a particular light on the KKK and Hargrave. The strength of the book lies in subject. The Green shirts were the militant wing of social credit, and Drakeford has raised this fringe group before the eyes of readers of history. Drakeford has accomplished for them what CP Hill achieved for the radicals of the English revolution ie a hearing. Sociological study it may be, but it also important history.

The history of the Kibbo Kift and the Green Shirts is well documented in the book Social Movements and their Supporters - The Green Shirts in England by Mark Drakeford, Lecturer in Social Studies and Applied Social Studies at University of Wales College of Cardiff. While the first chapter is devoted to a discussion of social science methodologies, virtually impenetrable to the layman, the rest of the book is eminently readable and contains many first-hand recollections of former Kindred and Green Shirts. Published in 1997 by MacMillan Press, it can be ordered online at Amazon.