George F. Will

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist's "astonishing" and "enthralling" New York Times bestseller and Notable Book about how the Founders' belief in natural rights created a great American political tradition (Booklist) -- "easily one of the best books on American Conservatism ever written" (Jonah Goldberg). For more than four decades, George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America's...

Sheds new light on American politics, culture, and society in a collection of essays that addresses such topics as gambling, Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," the history of Harley-Davidson, sports, and other colorful aspects of American life.

"A monumental new reflection on American conservatism and the Founders' political tradition. For more than four decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will has attempted to discern the principles of the Western political tradition and apply them to America's civic life. Today, the stakes could hardly be higher. Vital questions about the nature of man, of rights, of equality, of majority rule are bubbling just beneath the surface of daily...

In the fall of 2001, a very worried country yearns for normalcy. Baseball helps provide it. In an epic battle with the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox stage the greatest comeback in history. Baseball is more popular and profitable than ever.

If you're a baseball fan in New York, you're in baseball heaven. Year after year, the Yankees are on top of the American League. Year after year, the Giants and the Dodgers fight for the National League crown. Starting in 1949, there is a New York team in the World Series for 10 straight years. And in six of those years, both teams are from New York.

As America struggles to make it through the Depression, baseball provides them heroes. But the heroes do not come only from the Major Leagues. The Negro Leagues bring baseball to towns the Major Leagues ignore. They develop an elaborate warm-up routine in pantomime; throwing and hitting an invisible ball so convincingly, spectators can't believe it's not real. It's called "shadow ball."

When the war ends, Major League Baseball becomes what it has always claimed to be: the national pastime. At the beginning of the decade, Jackie Robinson's debut is still years away. Meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio sets a consecutive game-hitting streak that still stands. Ted Williams becomes the last man to hit .400. The once-lowly Brooklyn Dodgers win their first pennant.

On June 19, 1846, at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, a team of well-dressed gentlemen, the Knickerbockers, play the first game of baseball. By 1856, the game is already being called "the national pastime," or simply, "Our Game." But the nation is about to be torn apart. And, in the midst of the Civil War, there is one thing that Americans North and South have in common: baseball.

The 1920s begin with America trying to recover from World War I and baseball trying to recover from the scandal of the 1919 World Series. America finds relief in the boom market and the Jazz Age. George Herman "Babe" Ruth is one of the best pitchers in baseball. But he loves to hit even more. In 1919, he hits 29 homers for the Red Sox, more than any player has ever hit in a single season.