Books published by publisher Blue River Press

Benjamin Franklin was a natural leader and helped to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As one of America's most versatile of the Founding Fathers, Ben began his career in his brother's printing press. He wrote articles for The New England Courant, the first newspaper in Boston. He is credited with the creation of Poor Richard's Almanac. Ben's daring scientific discoveries which included the conductivity of electricity, performed by flying a kite in a storm, progressed society significantly. We still use some of his inventions today like bifocals, lightning rods, and the American public library system. Dedicating himself to the advancement of American society, Benjamin Franklin is one of our most important historical figures.

A National BestsellerHave you ever wondered what it would be like talk to Parker Posey? On an airplane, with Parker as your seat companion, perhaps? Parker’s irreverent, hilarious, and enchanting memoir gives you the opportunity. Full of personal stories, whimsical how-tos, recipes, and beautiful handmade collages created by the author herself, You’re On an Airplane is a delight in every way. In her first book, actress and star of movies such as Dazed and Confused, Party Girl, You’ve Got Mail, The House of Yes, and so many more, Posey opens up about the art of acting, life on the set, and the realities of its accompanying fame. A funny and colorful southern childhood prepared Posey for a life of creating and entertaining, which not only extends to acting but to the craft of pottery, sewing, collage, yoga, and cooking, all of which readers will find in this whimsical, hilarious, always entertaining book. Parker takes us into her childhood home, behind the scenes of the indie film revolution in the 90s, the delightful absurdity of the big-budget genre thrillers she’s turned into art in a whole new way, and the creativity that will always be part of both her acting and her personal life. With Posey’s memorable, hilarious, and poignant voice, her book gives the reader a feeling of traveling through not only a memoir, but an exploration, meditation, and celebration of what it means to be an artist. Buckle up and enjoy the journey.

The perfect gift for music lovers and Elvis Costello fans, telling the story behind Elvis Costello’s legendary career and his iconic, beloved songs. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink provides readers with a master’s catalogue of a lifetime of great music. Costello reveals the process behind writing and recording legendary albums like My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, Armed Forces, Almost Blue, Imperial Bedroom, and King of America. He tells the detailed stories, experiences, and emotions behind such beloved songs as “Alison,” “Accidents Will Happen,” “Watching the Detectives,” “Oliver’s Army,” “Welcome to the Working Week,” “Radio Radio,” “Shipbuilding,” and “Veronica,” the last of which is one of a number of songs revealed to connect to the lives of the previous generations of his family. Costello chronicles his musical apprenticeship, a child's view of his father Ross MacManus' career on radio and in the dancehall; his own initial almost comical steps in folk clubs and cellar dive before his first sessions for Stiff Record, the formation of the Attractions, and his frenetic and ultimately notorious third U.S. tour. He takes readers behind the scenes of Top of the Pops and Saturday Night Live, and his own show, Spectacle, on which he hosted artists such as Lou Reed, Elton John, Levon Helm, Jesse Winchester, Bruce Springsteen, and President Bill Clinton. The idiosyncratic memoir of a singular man, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink is destined to be a classic.

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, and the first African American to serve. He served two terms from 2009 to 2017, when he was replaced by President Donald Trump. Before the presidency, Obama served as an Illinois Senator and a US Senator. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack Obama had to overcome the difficulty of having multiracial parents at a time when that was frowned upon. Through his childhood and teenage years, he struggled with issues of identity. Things began to make sense when he graduated from Columbia University and began working in Chicago communities. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he became a civil rights attorney and professor. He ran for president in 2008 and won, staying in office until 2017. He is definitely a 21st century president and was the first president to upload his weekly addresses to YouTube.

What hit meant the most to you and why? It was a simple question of nine words, a magical number in baseball, and it led award-winning sportswriter Mark Newman on an eight-year journey that would bring about surprising stories and empowering life lessons from the minds of the most fabled Major League hitters in our time. Charming tales of heroic moments are delivered in a very different and captivating way, as unique as the men who made them happen right before our eyes. It all started with the beloved Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose eager response was a much-needed lesson in humility as well as inducement to ask it again. From one legend to the next, the answers were unexpected, introspective, telling, and most of all inspiring. Diamonds from the Dugout is a collection of motivational lessons on achieving success in life, organized through stories shared by such greats as Derek Jeter, Stan Musial, Ken Griffey Jr., Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, Cal Ripken Jr., George Brett, Johnny Bench, Brooks and Frank Robinson, Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn, Albert Pujols, Mike Schmidt, Carlton Fisk, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Jim Palmer, Robin Yount, Andre Dawson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Roberto Clemente (via wife Vera), Dave Winfield, Ferguson Jenkins, Joe Carter, Steve Garvey, Ralph Kiner, Roberto Alomar, Bo Jackson, Dale Murphy, Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly and more than 100 of our favorites of all-time.A great new baseball book from Mark Newman. . . . Brooks even wrote the Foreword! Perfect for all baseball fans. . . . A must-read. Cal Ripken Jr., Hall of FamerThink of Diamonds from the Dugout as a colorful baseball quilt. Mark Newman has sewn together not fabric, but stories from Hall of Famers, All-Stars, journeymen, and those who simply love the game. Each story is delightful and many are surprising. Tom Verducci, Journalist; Broadcaster; Best-Selling AuthorI am happy to lead off Mark Newman s new bestseller Diamonds From The Dugout, and past teammates like Junior, Tino, and ARod are in it, too. Edgar Martinez, Mariners legend You're going to find a lot of my friends in the pages of this book, and that is one of the best things to happen in a life spent in or around the wonderful game of baseball. . . . Thanks for being a fan and wanting to soak in all of these wonderful life lessons that baseball has to offer. Brooks Robinson, Hall of Famer This is amazing . . . ten years in the making. The question was simple: 'What hit meant the most to you and why?' . . . A wonderful new book worth picking up. Ed Randall, New York broadcasting legend Incredible! Rico Petrocelli, Boston Red Sox legend You are a much better author than me! Congrats on the book. Chipper Jones, 2018 Hall of Fame electee and new author One of baseball s top writers, Mark Newman posed the very succinct What hit meant the most to you and why? question to more than one hundred legendary ballplayers, and their answers make for mesmerizing, often emotional reading. Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews magazine Excited to catch up on some . . . reading and . . . starting with Diamonds From The Dugout by Mark Newman Curtis Granderson, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Diamonds from the Dugout is a delightful read about players greatest hits, with author Mark Newman branching out a bit when he talks to Bob Costas, James Caan, Bud Selig, and Joe Piscopo, among others, about theirs. The knowledgeable fans can guess many players favorites, but some of the answers will surprise you, as they surprised me. Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer, 2006 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner

Everyone complains about terrible meetings—they’re a waste of time, and people dread them. If you consistently lead bad meetings, you lose trust and credibility. People notice.But meetings are necessary, and even worthwhile. A well-run meeting can be one of the most efficient ways to move a project forward or solve a problem.Imagine yourself consistently...•successfully engaging with teams•effectively communicating and building consensus•showcasing your leadership skills•running meetings that produce valuable resultsThis book is your step-by-step instruction manual. Filled with expert guidance, time-tested checklists, real-life examples, and advice for how to handle problems that derail even the most well-planned meetings. BY USING THIS BOOK, YOU’LL LEARN… •What to do before, during, and after meetings•How to handle common meeting challenges with grace•How to adapt your approach to different types of meetings•How to use proven tools to meet your goalsBY FOLLOWING THIS BLUEPRINT, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO… •Conduct focused, productive, and effective meetings•Demonstrate your strong leadership skills to co-workers and executives •Build the confidence and trust that will move your career forward

“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live.” – Stuart Scott The fearless, intimate, and inspiring story behind ESPN anchor Stuart Scott’s unrelenting fight against cancer, with a foreword by Robin Roberts. Shortly before he passed away, on January 4, 2015, Stuart Scott completed work on this memoir. It was both a labor of love and a love letter to life itself. Not only did Stuart relate his personal story—his childhood in North Carolina, his supportive family, his athletic escapades, his on-the-job training as a fledgling sportscaster, his being hired and eventual triumphs at ESPN—he shared his intimate struggles to keep his story going. Struck by appendiceal cancer in 2007, Stuart battled this rare disease with an unimaginable tenacity and vigor. Countless surgeries, enervating chemotherapies, endless shuttling from home to hospital to office and back—Stuart continued defying fate, pushing himself through exercises and workout routines that kept him strong. He wanted to be there for his teenage daughters, Sydni and Taelor, not simply as their dad, but as an immutable example of determination and courage. Every Day I Fight is a saga of love, an inspiration to us all.

As an Oxford student, Stephen Hawking never expected that people across the world would know his name, or that his hobby of stargazing would lead him to be one of the world s greatest scientists. Stephen Hawking made cosmology, or the study of the universe, accessible to everyone. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of twenty-one, but didn t let that stop him from receiving a graduate degree from Cambridge and going on to be an expert in the scientific origin of the universe and black holes. Hawking is best known for writing A Brief History of Time, which explained cosmology in non-scientific terms so that non-scientists could understand it.

A humorous, illustrated, pocket field guide describing where to find—or where to avoid—the most disturbed North American birds. The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds allows anyone to quickly identify psychotic, violent or mentally unstable bird species—and provides the perfect gag gift for your bird loving (or fearing) friends and family. Throughout the book the reader will discover tales of murder, assault, mental breakdowns, obesity, drug abuse and infidelity among the birds. This guide is used and recommended by law enforcement agencies and ignored by leading ornithologists.We are only just discovering the reality of our avian adversaries, with their reptilian brains, their appetites for mayhem and the fact that they fly mostly to spite us. To ignore the information found within this volume may be at the peril of your very life.Perfect for: • White elephant gifts • Animal lover gifts • Bird lovers gift • Gag gifts • Funny gifts • Christmas gifts

Madam C. J. Walker was a self made millionaire who was beloved within her community for her philanthropy, and respected as a first rate business person. She was America’s first female self-made millionaire and one of the most successful African American business owners ever. Born Sarah Breedlove, she was the first person born free in her family. She married Charles Joseph Walker and became known as Madam C. J. Walker, the name she would later use on her haircare products. After talking with her brothers, who were barbers, and experiencing problems with hair loss, she developed a formula that healed scalp infections. This inspired her to start her own line of hair care products to do things like reduce dandruff, grow longer hair, smooth hair, or prevent baldness. Her company employed thousands of door-to-door saleswomen from all over the United States and the Caribbean. She supported the African American community by making a significant contribution for a new YMCA building in Indianapolis, funding scholarships for the Tuskegee Institute and Daytona Normal Institute for Girls, and becoming a patron of the arts in the early years of the Harlem Renaissance. Her hair care products are still produced today by Sephora and her story was the inspiration to the Netflix series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker and the adult biography On Her Own Ground, both also written by Madam C.J. Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles.

Steelers Takeaways approaches the Pittsburgh Steelers organization and players in a way no other book has spanning across seven decades of Steelers players, the book is comprised of personal and on-field stories. Author, Ron Lippock has conducted over 400 interviews with former Steelers from those that played in the 50's, through ones that just recently retired. These stories and memories are amassed not only from the household names like L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell, Antwaan Randle El, Rocky Bleier, and Tommie Maddox, but also from the hundreds of players who fought just to make the practice squad. Their contributions and struggles, successes and failures, all helped to define the Steelers as an organization just as much as the many Hall of Famers. These players discuss the adversity they faced the physical impact of the game, the stress of making and keeping one's position on the team, mentoring younger players even as they sought to take their roster spot, moving from team to team, and more. Players reveal the humor behind the game and how it affected them from the jokes teammates played on one another in the locker rooms, meeting rooms, and hotels, to the on-field pranks and antics fans are otherwise not privy to. This is the insider's history of the organization, a very personal view shared from the players perspectives. There is something for every Steeler fan here - and these stories simply can't be found elsewhere.

For famous one-armed war correspondent Paddy Quinn, this is to be his final Civil War assignment: the funeral of the assassinated President Lincoln. Quinn and his new bride Felice are aboard the steamboat Sultana going up the spring-flooded Mississippi River toward Illinois to meet the Funeral Train, when their honeymoon vessel stops at Vicksburg and takes on a pathetic human cargo of 2,000 sick and ragged survivors of the hellish Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp, kept alive only by their desire to get home. Quinn's lot is now thrown in with some of the unluckiest veterans of that awful war. While he is interviewing them about life in the notorious prison, the Sultana, carrying five times its lawful number of passengers, explodes after midnight. Quinn is blown overboard with the emaciated veteran Robb Macombie, and in the worst night of his life proves himself a better man than he had ever imagined he could be. In this narrative of America's worst maritime disaster, the deepest undercurrent is the spirit of the martyred President, whom Quinn and Macombie have vowed to honor by attending his funeral even if it kills them.