Books with author Steve Pitts

As the first-time manager of a provinical non-League football team, former England star Paul Gascoigne promised to fulfil their dreams. Then, in the space of just 39 days, both manager and team saw a dramatic reversal of fortune… Gazza was the English football icon of the 1990s. His magnificent midfield play provided some of England's most memorable moments, and he enjoyed a headline-grabbing career with Newcastle United, Tottenham, Lazio, Glasgow Rangers, Middlesborough and Everton. Then it all went terribly wrong. He still made the headlines, but for all the wrong reasons - alcoholism, drugs, wife-beating, personality disorder, run-ins with the law, nervous breakdown. Like his great hero George Best, Gascoigne seemed to have passed a personal point of no return. Then in the autumn of 2005, he was given a chance to rebuild his career with his first job as a football manager. As part of a consortium which bought Kettering Town, Gazza reinvented himself. Appearing to have his personal problems under control, he took charge - full of big ideas about steering the club into the Football League and towards the big time. The people of Kettering were star-struck by the celebrity among them. And yet, within just a few short weeks after Gascoigne was appointed manager, he would be sacked amidst an increasingly bizarre series of allegations, leaving a once hopeful club on its knees. In39 Days of Gazza, author Steve Pitts tells the story of how the disintegration of Gascoigne's managerial role impacted on so many people's lives - not least his own. This is a tragicomedy of English football, on a par with the fictionalised appraoch of The Damned United. Told by a writer who was close enough to factually observe the events, it features revealing contributions from many who were present at the time.

Commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens Canadian World War II pilot Charley Fox, now in his late eighties, has had a thrilling life, especially on the day in July 1944 in France when he spotted a black staff car, the kind usually employed to drive high-ranking Third Reich dignitaries. Already noted for his skill in dive-bombing and strafing the enemy, Fox went in to attack the automobile. As it turned out, the car contained famed German General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, and Charley succeeded in wounding him. Rommel, who at the time was the Germans’ supreme military commander in France orchestrating the Nazis’ resistance to the D-day invasion, was never the same after that. Author Steve Pitt focuses on this seminal event in Charley Fox’s life and in the war, but he also provides fascinating aspects of the period, including profiles of noted ace pilots Buzz Beurling and Billy Bishop, Jr., and Great Escape architect Walter Floody, as well as sidebars about Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts.

In 1812, a 67-year-old black United Empire Loyalist named Richard Pierpoint helped raise "a corps of Coloured Men to stand and fight together" against the Americans who were threatening to invade the tiny British colony of Upper Canada. Pierpoint’s unique fighting unit would not only see service throughout the War of 1812, it would also be the first colonial military unit reactiviated to quash the Rebellion of 1837. It would go on to serve as a police force, keeping the peace among the competing Irish immigrant gangs during the construction of the Welland Canal. Pierpoint and the Coloured Corps are the central focus, but the sidebars featuring fascinating facts about the rise and fall of slavery in North America and the state of African-Canadians in early Canada provide an entertaining and informative supplement. Among other tidbits, readers will find out why "Good Queen Bess" launched the British slave industry and how Scottish pineapples are connected to the American Declaration of Independence.

Short-listed for the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award, 2010 It is 1900, and 14-year-old Bertie McCross is a newspaper boy in downtown Toronto. Berties family has fallen on hard times and can use every penny he brings home from hawking newspapers on the frigid streets. However, in order to do that Bertie has to keep out of the clutches of the Kelly Gang, a family of slightly older Cabbagetown toughs who are shaking down "newsies." On Christmas Eve, Bertie is almost cornered by the Kellys but is saved by Tommy Fry and Milwaukee Ed, who introduce Bertie to the thrills of iceboat racing on Lake Ontario. Soon Bertie is swept up in the fast and dangerous sport and meets a whole crew of new friends, including Isobel, a girl from a wealthy family with a mansion on Jarvis Street. The continued pursuit by the Kelly Gang, a plunge into freezing harbour water, and the clash of classes all lead up to a spine-tingling race to end all races.

Canadian World War II pilot Charley Fox, now in his late eighties, has had a thrilling life, especially on the day in July 1944 in France when he spotted a black staff car, the kind usually employed to drive high-ranking Third Reich dignitaries. Already noted for his skill in dive-bombing and strafing the enemy, Fox went in to attack the automobile. As it turned out, the car contained famed German General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, and Charley succeeded in wounding him. Rommel, who at the time was the Germans' supreme military commander in France orchestrating the Nazis' resistance to the D-day invasion, was never the same after that. Author Steve Pitt focuses on this seminal event in Charley Fox's life and in the war, but he also provides fascinating aspects of the period, including profiles of noted ace pilots Buzz Beurling and Billy Bishop, Jr., and Great Escape architect Walter Floody, as well as sidebars about Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts.

Canadian World War II pilot Charley Fox, now in his late eighties, has had a thrilling life, especially on the day in July 1944 in France when he spotted a black staff car, the kind usually employed to drive high-ranking Third Reich dignitaries. Already noted for his skill in dive-bombing and strafing the enemy, Fox went in to attack the automobile. As it turned out, the car contained famed German General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, and Charley succeeded in wounding him. Rommel, who at the time was the Germans' supreme military commander in France orchestrating the Nazis' resistance to the D-day invasion, was never the same after that. Author Steve Pitt focuses on this seminal event in Charley Fox's life and in the war, but he also provides fascinating aspects of the period, including profiles of noted ace pilots Buzz Beurling and Billy Bishop, Jr., and Great Escape architect Walter Floody, as well as sidebars about Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts.

As the first-time manager of a provincial non-League football team, former England star Paul Gascoigne promised to fulfil their dreams. Then in the space of just 39 days, both manager and team saw a dramatic reversal of fortune...Gazza was the English football icon on the 1990s. His magnificent midfield play provided some of England's most memorable moments, and he enjoyed a headline-grabbing career with Newcastle United, Tottenham, Lazio, Glasgow Rangers, Middlesbrough and Everton. Then it all went terribly wrong. He still made the headlines, but for all the wrong reasons - alcoholism, drugs, wife-beating, personality disorder, run-ins with the law, nervous breakdown. Like his great hero, George Best, Gascoigne seemed to have passed a personal point of no return. Then, in the autumn of 2005, he was given a chance to rebuild his career with his first job as a football manager. As part of a consortium which bought Kettering town, Gazza reinvented himself. Appearing to have his personal problems under control, he took charge - full of big ideas about steering the club into the Football League and towards the big time. The people of Kettering were star-struck by the celebrity among them. And yet, within just a few short weeks after Gascoigne was appointed manager, he would be sacked amidst an increasingly bizarre series of allegations, leaving a once hopeful club on its knees.