A New York Times Best Seller“Powerful...an important read." —Publishers WeeklyNew York Times bestselling author Steve Almond takes on America’s biggest sacred cow: footballIn Against Football, Steve Almond details why, after forty years as a fan, he can no longer watch the game he still loves. Using a synthesis of memoir, reportage, and cultural critique, Almond asks a series of provocative questions:• Does our addiction to football foster a tolerance for violence, greed, racism, and homophobia?• What does it mean that our society has transmuted the intuitive physical joys of childhood—run, leap, throw, tackle—into a billion-dollar industry?• How did a sport that causes brain damage become such an important emblem for our institutions of higher learning?There has never been a book that exposes the dark underside of America’s favorite game with such searing candor.

Product Description: WINNER, PATERSON FICTION PRIZE FINALIST, FOREWORD BOOK OF THE YEAR OUTSTANDING COLLECTION, THE STORY PRIZE LONGLIST, FRANK O’CONNOR INTERNATIONAL STORY PRIZE BRONZE MEDALIST, INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER From a “gifted storyteller” who delivers “always enjoyable, often hysterical stories” (New York Times Book Review) comes a meditation on the American Dream and its discontents...read more

Product Description: Two rambunctious, romantic flameouts. One boring wedding. One heated embrace in a quiet coatroom. This is not exactly the recipe for true love. John and Jane's lusty encounter at a friend's wedding isn't really the beginning of anything with any weight to it; even they know that...read more

Product Description: Two rambunctious, romantic flameouts. One boring wedding. One heated embrace in a quiet coatroom. This is not exactly the recipe for true love. John and Jane's lusty encounter at a friend's wedding isn't really the beginning of anything with any weight to it; even they know that...read more

Product Description: Drooling fanatic, n. 1. One who drools in the presence of beloved rock stars. 2. Any of a genus of rock-and-roll wannabes/geeks who walk around with songs constantly ringing in their ears, own more than 3,000 albums, and fall in love with at least one record per week...read more

Product Description: Perhaps you remember The Marathon, Oompahs, Bit-O-Choc, or Kit Kat Dark. Where did they go? Driven by his obsession, stubborn idealism, and the promise of free candy, self-confessed candyfreak Steve Almond takes off on a quest to discover candy's origins in America, to explore little companies that continue to get by on pluck and perseverance, and to witness the glorious excess of candy manufacturing...read more

Product Description: This print anthology compiles the best fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that online literary journals have to offer in an eclectic collection in the manner of other broad-ranging anthologies such as the Pushcart Prize and The Best American Non-Required Reading...read more

Presents a compilation of original essays that explore the moral dilemmas of modern-day America, ranging from aquatic onanism to the consumption of ham for Chanukah.

Product Description: Two rambunctious, romantic flameouts. One boring wedding. One heated embrace in a quiet coatroom. This is not exactly the recipe for true love. John and Jane’s lusty encounter at a friend’s wedding isn’t really the beginning of anything with any weight to it; even they know that...read more

Steve Almond has eaten sweets every day of his entire life. He is a candyfreak, a chocoholic, and a confectionery junkie, who thinks about sweets at least once an hour. He has between three and seven pounds of sweets in his house at all times. This book is a confession, a memoir of addiction and dependency, a travel-book, and a hymn to chocolate.

A self-proclaimed candy fanatic and lifelong chocoholic traces the history of some of the much-loved candies from his youth, describing the business practices and creative candy-making techniques of some of the small companies.