Events

Join us in welcoming the editors of this unorthodox guide to the world's summer obsession for 2010.

If a guide book was a riot, then this is it. The Glorious World Cup is a smash and grab read with propellant laughs and wicked satire. Expect some crunching tackles on the establishment with profiles on hooligans, World Cup villains and serious national grudges. Stuffed with country and player profiles, bags of footie history, and all you need to know about South Africa.

Shooting on target are contributors Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, best-selling author Po Bronson, and the world's best soccer writer, Simon Kuper. This is the guide for the soccer masses. Score a signed on at Green Apple on June 3.

If baseball season is feeling just a little too mainstream for your
sports tastes, don't miss Zach Dundas' appearance at Green Apple to read
from his book The Renegade Sportsman.

You could call this book a first-hand account from the DIY underbelly
of American sports, or a report on a transformative grassroots
movement, or just a particularly weird take on athletics in general. It
covers everything from roller derby to rugby, skateboarding to falconry,
fencing to croquet to bike polo. The story ranges from darkest Iowa
(home of the country's most inspiring - and insane - bike race) to Our
Nation's Capital (home of some of its craziest soccer fans). 

Join us to pick up your copy and hear Zach Dundas' take on sports in
all their strange glory in person on June 10th at 7 PM. 

This sharp, fun, and sassy guide lays it all out for both the casual and impassioned fan - the spectacle, the tradition, and the teams. Learn why Spain never wins, Brazil often does, and what the US and Mexico really need to do to win the Cup. It also examines what the first World Cup in Africa will mean - from both a political and mythical standpoint. The book highlights the cultural politics that still make every England game resemble the Charge of the Light Brigade, as one writer put it, and every Italian team a cross between Machiavelli and Michelangelo.
Come learn everything there is to know about the World Cup, meet the author, Steven Stark, and grab your signed copy.

Join us on the eve of the release of the newest issue of Lapham's Quarterly, which heads to the racetrack, ball field, and chess board in investigation of this issue's theme, "Sports and Games". In this issue, Phillip Roth recounts the original spitball, Herman Melville catches a wave, Commodore Perry enjoys a sumo match, Marco Polo goes hunting with Genghis Kahn, and Lewis Carroll plays a very confusing game of croquet. Also included are charts and graphs detailing the longest races in the world, the slick economics of Yankee Stadium, and the winners of the World Beard and Moustache Championships.

Editor Lewis Lapham will be joining us at Green Apple for what is sure to be a rocking good time in celebration of this latest Quarterly. You'll be able to pick up a copy of the magazine, guaranteed to meet all of your summer sports writing needs.

Join us with Eric Davidson, author of We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 at the Hemlock Tavern. The book tracks the inspiration and destruction of a largely undocumented movement: the last generation of punks and rockers to conquer city after city without the diluting force of the Internet. The bands that populate this book - the Dwarves, the Gories, the Supersuckers, the Mummies, Rocket from the Crypt, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Muffs, and the Donnas among them - truly represent the last great wave of down-and-dirty rock 'n' roll, one whose hangover can still be felt in bars and clubs everywhere in the world. Join us at one of SF's favorite music venues to pick up a signed copy of We Never Learn (which includes a code for a free CD download featuring many of the bands mentioned) and raise a toast to punk with the author himself.