{"title":"George R Matthews","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"america-s-first-olympics-book-george-r-matthews-9780826215888","title":"America's First Olympics","description":"America in 1904 was a nation bristling with energy and confidence. Inspired by Theodore Roosevelt, the nation's young, energetic, and athletic president, a sports mania rampaged across the country. Eager to celebrate its history, and to display its athletic potential, the United States hosted the world at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. One part of the World's Fair was the nation's first Olympic games. Revived in Greece in 1896, the Olympic movement was also young and optimistic. In fact, the St. Louis Olympics were only the third in modern times. Although the games were originally awarded to Chicago, St. Louis wrestled them from her rival city against the wishes of International Olympic Committee President Pierre de Coubertin. Athletes came from eleven countries and four continents to compete in state-of-the-art facilities, which included a ten-thousand-seat stadium with gymnasium equipment donated by sporting goods magnate Albert Spalding. The 1904 St. Louis Olympics garnered only praise, and all agreed that the games were a success, improving both the profile of the Olympic movement and the prestige of the United States. But within a few years the games of 1904 had receded in memory. They suffered a worse fate with the publication of Coubertin's memoirs in 1931. His selective recollections, exaggerated claims, and false statements turned the forgotten Olympics into the failed Olympics. This fictitious account was furthered by the 1948 publication of An Approved History of the Olympic Games by Bill Henry, which was reviewed and endorsed by Coubertin. America's First Olympics, by George R. Matthews, corrects common misconceptions that began with Coubertin's memoirs and presents a fresh view of the 1904 games, which featured first-time African American Olympians, an eccentric and controversial marathon, and documentation by pioneering photojournalist Jessie Tarbox Beals. Matthews provides an excellent overview of the St. Louis Olympics over a six-month period, beginning with the intrigue surrounding the transfer of the games from Chicago. He also gives detailed descriptions of the major players in the Olympic movement, the events that were held in 1904, and the athletes who competed in them. This original account will be welcomed by history and sports enthusiasts who are interested in a new perspective on this misunderstood event.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50364832448785,"sku":"CIN0826215882G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826215882.jpg?v=1751170341"},{"product_id":"zebulon-pike-book-george-r-matthews-9781440844317","title":"Zebulon Pike","description":"Through careful examination of primary documents, this book reveals that the true purpose of Zebulon Pike's western expedition in 1806–1807 was not innocent exploration of the West but an espionage mission in preparation for an American invasion of New Mexico.  In 1806, the United States was on the brink of war with Spain over the disputed western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase and anticipated invading New Mexico. Possessing only meager information on the terrain as well as Spanish troop numbers and fortifications, President Thomas Jefferson and General James Wilkinson needed an agent who could cross the continent to Spanish territory all the way to the capital of Santa Fe, provide a plausible \"cover story\" for being there, and return with the vital information. Zebulon Pike: Thomas Jefferson's Agent for Empire is the story of how Pike carried out his mission as a prelude to an American invasion of New Mexico.  This unique book is the first to fully chronicle Pike's 1806–1807 expedition to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, addressing both the exploratory and the clandestine purposes of Pike's western journey. By carefully examining the evidence available in primary documents, which shows that Pike prepared and carried a map showing a route to Santa Fe on his journey, the author overturns the conventional wisdom that Pike became lost searching for the Red River and mistakenly wandered into Spanish territory. This book also presents the Spanish perspective and response to Pike's invasion of Spanish territory and provides historical context to understand the role of Pike's expedition in Thomas Jefferson's quest to build an American \"empire for liberty.\"","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52487844069649,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52487844757777,"sku":"NLS9781440844317","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781440844317.jpg?v=1759861721"},{"product_id":"when-the-cubs-won-it-all-book-george-r-matthews-9780786434954","title":"When the Cubs Won It All","description":"In the fall of 1908, no one could have guessed that the Chicago Cubs, a team that had dominated the National league three straight years, would for a century be shut out in its efforts to reclaim the world championship. Stars like Frank Chance, Ed Reulbach, and Three Finger Brown were still in their prime, and the Cubs had just emerged the winner in the most remarkable pennant race in history.     In the decades since, the achievement of the 1908 Cubs has been overshadowed first by the events of the season, which included the Merkle Game and a playoff that pitted two all-time great pitchers against each other, and more recently by the calendar, as the centennial anniversary of the last Cubs championship closed in. This book rescues the 1908 team from its status as footnote to baseball history, following one of the all-time great clubs on a thrilling, season-long march toward the World Series.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52542506860817,"sku":"NLS9780786434954","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780786434954.jpg?v=1760689061"},{"product_id":"billy-the-kid-book-george-r-matthews-9781476695266","title":"Billy the Kid","description":"This new, in-depth life of Henry McCarty, alias Billy Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, offers fresh perspectives, not only on the Lincoln County War and his boyhood in Silver City, New Mexico, but also on his Irish mother's origins and immigration to Indiana, his public-school education in Indianapolis, the McCarty family moves to Wichita, Kansas, and Santa Fe, and his two-year outlaw adventures in Arizona.     This work gives us, for the first time, the whole person. It brings together a huge amount of material, much of it made available to researchers only in recent years. The result is an original, authoritative, and provocative portrait of Billy the Kid as both outlaw and frontier fighter against the infamously corrupt Santa Fe Ring.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52675713270033,"sku":"NLS9781476695266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781476695266.jpg?v=1762302541"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-george-r-matthews.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}