Stuart Shea – författare

In spring 1914, a new ballpark opened in Chicago. Hastily constructed after epic political maneuvering around Chicago's and organized baseball's hierarchies, the new Weeghman Field (named after its builder, fast-food magnate Charley Weeghman) was home to the Federal League's Chicago Whales. The park would soon be known as Wrigley Field, one of the most emblematic and controversial baseball stadiums in America. In Wrigley Field: The Long Life and Contentious Times of the Friendly Confines, Stuart Shea provides a detailed and fascinating chronicle of this living historic landmark. The colorful history revealed in Wrigley Field shows how the stadium has evolved through the years to meet the shifting priorities of its owners and changing demands of its fans. While Wrigley Field today seems irreplaceable, we learn that from game one it has been the subject of endless debates over its future, its design, and its place in the neighborhood it calls home. To some, it is a hallowed piece of baseball history; to others, an icon of mismanagement and ineptitude. Shea deftly navigates the highs and lows, breaking through myths and rumors.And with another transformation imminent, he brings readers up to date on negotiations, giving much-needed historical context to the maneuvering. Wrigley Field is packed with facts, stories, and surprises that will captivate even the most fair-weather fan. From dollar signs (the Ricketts family paid $900 million for the team and stadium in 2009), to exploding hot dog carts (the Cubs lost that game 6-5), to the name of Billy Sianis' curse-inducing goat (Sonovia), Shea uncovers the heart of the stadium's history. As the park celebrates its centennial, Wrigley Field continues to prove that its colorful and dramatic history is more interesting than any of its mythology.

40 years after the release of the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles continue to captivate music fans of all ages. There's something always more to discuss about the Fab Four. What were their greatest live performances? Their worst moments? Stories still unknown by most music fans, trends still unseen, history still uninterpreted are all revealed in Fab Four FAQ. Pop culture authors Stuart Shea and Rob Rodriguez provide must-know fan trivia and offer obscure Beatles facts and stories in an easy-to-read, provocative format that will start as many arguments as will end them. With more than sixty chapters of stories, history, observation, and opinion, Fab Four FAQ lays bare the whys and wherefores that made the Beatles so great, giving credit where credit is due and maybe bursting some bubbles along the way.

‘I have struck a city– a real city – and they call it Chicago ... I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages,’ so wrote Rudyard Kipling on his tour of America in 1899. From these inauspicious beginnings rose the ‘windy city’, home to the first skyscraper, gateway to the Great Lakes, birthplace of modern advertising and shorthand for stories about violent crime during America’s prohibition and Al Capone’s dominance of the ganglands. This book offers candid views of an extraordinary town, which has attracted citizens from all over Europe and the rest of the world. They have made the city what it is today – and written about it variously with affection, loyalty, disgust and amazement.

More than four decades since their first album, and 35 years after the release of the iconic Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd continue to inspire and mystify rock fans around the world. Pink Floyd FAQ, by pop culture author Stuart Shea, lays out the band's strange, winding history through a new series of prisms. What were the band's most memorable gigs? What are their greatest moments on record, as a group and individually? What contemporary records influenced them, and which performers follow in their wake? What was it like to be at a Pink Floyd show in 1967, in 1973, in 1980?Pink Floyd FAQ tells the band's story, dissects their most popular work, and provides little-known facts, all adding up to a provocative must-read for fans. With 400 pages of stories, history, observation, opinion, photos, and reminiscences from those who were there, Pink Floyd FAQ will discuss frankly what made the band great – as well as note their not-so-great moments – and their place in modern pop culture, giving credit where credit is due – and maybe puncturing some inflatable pigs along the way.