Laurence Holmes

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SELECTION ON BARACK OBAMA’S SUMMER READING LIST The definitive history of the 1990s New York Knicks, illustrating how Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason resurrected the iconic franchise through oppressive physicality and unmatched grit. For nearly an entire generation, the New York Knicks have been a laughingstock franchise. Since 2001, they’ve spent more money, lost more games, and won fewer playoff series than any other NBA team. But during the preceding era, the Big Apple had a club it was madly in love with—one that earned respect not only by winning, but through brute force. The Knicks were always looking for fights, often at the encouragement of Pat Riley. They fought opposing players. They fought each other. Hell, they even occasionally fought their own coaches. The NBA didn’t take kindly to their fighting spirit. Within two years, league officials moved to alter several rules to stop New York from turning its basketball games into bloody mudwrestling matches. Nevertheless, as the 1990s progressed, the Knicks endeared themselves to millions of fans; not for how much they won, but for their colorful cast of characters and their hardworking mentality. Now, through his original reporting and interviews with more than two hundred people, author Chris Herring delves into the origin, evolution, and eventual demise of the iconic club. He takes us inside the locker room, executive boardrooms, and onto the court for the key moments that lifted the club to new heights, and the ones that threatened to send everything crashing down in spectacular fashion. Blood in the Garden is a portrait filled with eye-opening details that have never been shared before, revealing the full story of the franchise in the midst of the NBA’s golden era. And rest assured, no punches will be pulled. Which is just how those rough-and-tumble Knicks would like it.

#1 New York Times Bestseller What would happen if we called on God for help and God actually appeared? In Mitch Albom’s profound new novel of hope and faith, a group of shipwrecked passengers pull a strange man from the sea. He claims to be “the Lord.” And he says he can only save them if they all believe in him. Adrift in a raft after a deadly ship explosion, ten people struggle for survival at sea. Three days pass. Short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves. They pull him in. “Thank the Lord we found you,” a passenger says. “I am the Lord,” the man whispers. So begins Mitch Albom’s most beguiling novel yet. Albom has written of heaven in the celebrated number one bestsellers The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The First Phone Call from Heaven. Now, for the first time in his fiction, he ponders what we would do if, after crying out for divine help, God actually appeared before us? In The Stranger in the Lifeboat, Albom keeps us guessing until the end: Is this strange man really who he claims to be? What actually happened to cause the explosion? Are the survivors in heaven, or are they in hell? The story is narrated by Benji, one of the passengers, who recounts the events in a notebook that is discovered—a year later—when the empty life raft washes up on the island of Montserrat. It falls to the island’s chief inspector, Jarty LeFleur, a man battling his own demons, to solve the mystery of what really happened. A fast-paced, compelling novel that makes you ponder your deepest beliefs, The Stranger in the Lifeboat suggests that answers to our prayers may be found where we least expect them.

An exquisite tarot card deck and guidebook boxed set by Rachel True, beloved for her role as the co-star of the cult-classic movie The Craft Rachel True, an actress best known for her role in The Craft, is a lifelong occultist—she had been reading tarot cards long before being cast in the 90s witchy cult classic. Now, True shares her tarot knowledge through her unique guidebook and deck boxed set. Each card in the deck is uniquely made following a beautiful, multicultural aesthetic. True’s guidebook helps readers use the cards as she does: with an intuitive approach, rather than assigning one literal definition to each card. She shares personal stories from her experiences in Hollywood to explain how the cards can mean something different for each person, depending on their unique set of circumstances. True’s stance is that tarot cards don’t predict the future, but rather suggest possible outcomes based on the reader’s present energy.

Entropy Magazine: Best of 2017 As a member of the 1992 world-champion Chicago Bulls, a dashiki-clad Hodges delivered a handwritten letter to President George H. W. Bush demanding that he do more to address racism and economic inequality. Hodges was also a vocal union activist, initiated a boycott against Nike, and spoke out forcefully against police brutality in the wake of the Rodney King beating. But his outspokenness cost him dearly. In the prime of his career, after ten NBA seasons, Hodges was blackballed from the NBA for using his platform as a professional athlete to stand up for justice. In this powerful, passionate, and captivating memoir, Hodges shares the stories—including encounters with Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, Jim Brown, R. Kelly, Michael Jordan, and others—from his lifelong fight for equality for African Americans.

The fall and rise of the Chicago Blackhawks, is the most dramatic in North American sports. From drawing barely 3,000 people per game to three Stanley Cups, the turnaround was simply whiplash. Fans who have been through it all can hardly believe the ride, and no one was a better example of this than Sam Fels. A die-hard fan as a child, disconnected as the organization collapsed in on itself, and then pulled back in by their resurgence, Fels became something of a voice for it all through his blog (SecondCityHockey.com, TheCommittedIndian.com, FaxesFromUncleDale.com) and the independent, gameday program he wrote and sold outside the United Center every game between 2008 and 2016. There was no better seat for the transformation of the franchise than his post outside Gate 3. He documented every game, taking the ride with every other fan and welcoming all the new ones along the way, while trying to come to grips with this new hockey world and all the challenges life was throwing at him away from the United Center. But this is the story of every Hawks, and hockey fan riding the fortunes of their teams through the fortunes of their own lives. How we use our fandom to cope, to celebrate, to commiserate. And to drink. How the different phases of our life fit differently with our continued fandom, and vice versa. How we all grow up and yet hang on to something of our childhood. And how our fandom colors the biggest moments of our lives and change the way we see things outside of the arena. How being a fan keeps us company when we're low, adds to our highs, and continually fills us with anger and dread in between. Won't you take a ride?