The Undefeated

Winner of the 2020 Caldecott Medal A 2020 Newbery Honor Book Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award The Newbery Award-winning author of THE CROSSOVER pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree. Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.

Legions of self-help authors rightly urge personal development as the key to happiness, but they typically fail to focus on its most important objective: hardiness. Though that which doesn't kill us can make us stronger, as Nietzsche tells us, few authors today offer any insight into just how to springboard from adversity to strength. It doesn't just happen automatically, and it takes practice. New scientific research suggests that resilience isn't something with which only a fortunate few of us have been born, but rather something we can all take specific action to develop. To build strength out of adversity, we need a catalyst. What we need, according to Dr. Alex Lickerman, is wisdom—wisdom that adversity has the potential to teach us. Lickerman's underlying premise is that our ability to control what happens to us in life may be limited, but we have the ability to establish a life-state to surmount the suffering life brings us. The Undefeated Mind distills the wisdom we need to create true resilience into nine core principles, including: --A new definition of victory and its relevance to happiness --The concept of the changing of poison into medicine --A way to view prayer as a vow we make to ourselves. --A method of setting expectations that enhances our ability to endure disappointment and minimizes the likelihood of quitting --An approach to taking personal responsibility and moral action that enhances resilience --A process to managing pain—both physical and emotional—that enables us to push through obstacles that might otherwise prevent us from attaining out goals --A method of leveraging our relationships with others that helps us manifest our strongest selves Through stories of patients who have used these principles to overcome suffering caused by unemployment, unwanted weight gain, addiction, rejection, chronic pain, retirement, illness, loss, and even death, Dr. Lickerman shows how we too can make these principles function within our own lives, enabling us to develop for ourselves the resilience we need to achieve indestructible happiness. At its core, The Undefeated Mind urges us to stop hoping for easy lives and focus instead on cultivating the inner strength we need to enjoy the difficult lives we all have.

Una McCormack's The Undefeated is a thrilling space opera adventure featuring a no holds barred heroine on the front lines of an intergalactic war... She was a warrior of words. As a journalist she exposed corruption across the Interstellar Commonwealth, shifting public opinion and destroying careers in the process. Long-since retired, she travels back to the planet of her childhood, partly through a sense of nostalgia, partly to avoid running from humanity’s newest—and self-created—enemy, the jenjer. Because the enemy is coming, and nothing can stand in its way. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

America's favorite sport and Native American history collide in this thrilling true story of the legendary Carlisle Indians football team and their rise from underdogs to champions.

When Collin Raye's powerful, golden voice dazzled the country music scene in 1991 with his Number One hit single "Love, Me", country music listeners fell in love with one of the great voices of our time. A new star was rising, and Collin's success continued throughout the nineties with over eight million records sold. Raye's autobiography, A Voice Undefeated, gives readers a down-to-earth account of the author's personal and professional life. From his childhood in Arkansas and Texas through his days with the Wray Brothers Band in Oregon and Reno to his rise to international stardom, this book is both a journey to the top of the music world and an intimate diary of a soul that has suffered great professional and personal losses. Many who love Collin Raye, the successful country music artist, don't know much about Collin Raye, the man, and the many trials he has endured with faith and courage. Most recently his beloved nine-year-old granddaughter, Haley, died in 2010 from an undiagnosed neurological disease. Since Haley's death, Collin has become an advocate for the sick and disabled and has established the Haley Bell BlessŽd Chair Foundation to provide wheelchairs to families with special needs children. This is a remarkable, inspirational story told by the man who lived it. It is a story of faith, of struggle, of suffering, of profound love, and ultimately of triumph in the midst of tragedy. Includes 32 pages of color photos. Includes DVD of never-before-seen personal interview and three songs written by Collin, "Undefeated", "She's With Me", and "Give Me Jesus" that are intimate to his story. Ê

A dynamic and hip collective biography that presents forty-four of America's greatest movers and shakers, from Frederick Douglass to Aretha Franklin to Barack Obama, written by ESPN's TheUndefeated.com and illustrated with dazzling portraits by Rob Ball. Meet forty-four of America's most impressive heroes in this collective biography of African American figures authored by the team at ESPN's TheUndefeated.com. From visionaries to entrepreneurs, athletes to activists, the Fierce 44 are beacons of brilliance, perseverance, and excellence. Each short biography is accompanied by a compelling portrait by Robert Ball, whose bright, graphic art pops off the page. Bringing household names like Serena Williams and Harriet Tubman together with lesser-known but highly deserving figures such as Robert Abbott and Dr. Charles Drew, this collection is a celebration of all that African Americans have achieved, despite everything they have had to overcome.

As bareknuckle fighting is poised to steal MMA’s spotlight, its greatest modern-day champion tells his story of rising to the top in the brutal sport. Steeped in the tradition of his Irish Traveller ancestry, Bartley Gorman also embraced its dangerous subculture: bareknuckle fighting. Though it gave birth to boxing as we know it today, the sport has remained underground—and illegal in most developed countries. But that didn’t stop Gorman from rising through the prize-fighting ranks of Great Britain and Ireland and staying undefeated for twenty years. Now, through Gorman’s thrilling memoir, readers get a front row view of the punches exchanged in back parking lots and fair grounds, the gritty characters populating the fight circles, and the hazards facing a sought after champion. “A rare glimpse into a secret world,” Bareknuckle celebrates one man’s mastery of fighting in its purest form and heralds the rebirth of one of the oldest combat sports in history (The Independent on Sunday). “Every page shines. A tremendous book.” —Traveller Magazine “Well-written and interesting.” —Boxing News

The memoirs of a Tibetan freedom fighter who fought in the resistance against the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1950s, centered on his moral progression under the influence of the Dalai Lama from vengeful violence to compassion and forgiveness. The active resistance to the Chinese invasion of Tibet coalesced into a guerrilla army of freedom fighters, the Chushi Gangdruk. In the 1950s, China’s Red Army and communist cadres systematically slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans in Amdo and Kham, seeking to enslave the survivors. The freedom fighters waged war against overwhelming odds, losing to greater numbers, airplanes, and artillery. Fleeing to central Tibet, they helped their beloved Dalai Lama escape the 1959 massacre of Lhasa, to speak for his people in exile. Paljor Thondup’s diehard Khampa family also rose up to repel the invaders. They fought their way west through the whole thousand-mile length of Tibet, withdrawing to sanctuary in the Mustang region of Nepal. The Chushi Gangdruk, with modest CIA support, also regrouped their guerrilla army in Mustang. Eventually, certain new leaders became corrupt and gave up the fight, content with inaction to keep supplies coming. They hated the ongoing heroic raiding by Paljor’s family, and finally slaughtered them all—only Paljor and his close cousin Dupa survived. Hearing his father’s dying wishes, Paljor put down his weapons and changed his life, migrating to India to seek help from the Dalai Lama. Paljor and Dupa then began a modern education, to continue the struggle for Tibet as businessmen. Inspired by the Dalai Lama, Paljor renounced his tribal duty of blood vengeance, became a peace warrior, and conquered the inner enemy. He brings help to Tibet in its agony, sustaining the livelihoods of his long-suffering compatriots.

This epic story recounts the exceptional valor and endurance of American troops that battled Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II. Bill Sloan, “a master of the combat narrative” (Dallas Morning News), tells the story of the outnumbered American soldiers and airmen who stood against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, and continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs. For four months they fought toe to toe against overwhelming enemy numbers—and forced the Japanese to pay a heavy cost in blood. After the surrender came the infamous Bataan Death March, where up to eighteen thousand American and Filipino prisoners died as they marched sixty-five miles under the most hellish conditions imaginable. Interwoven throughout this gripping narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines, based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors. Undefeated chronicles one of the great sagas of World War II—and celebrates a resounding triumph of the human spirit.

“[Freeman is] an excellent storyteller.” —Sports Illustrated The 1972 Miami Dolphins, under the expert leadership of legendary coach Don Shula, remain to this day the only team in the National Football League ever to enjoy a perfect season with no defeats and no ties. Now, 40 years after sports history was made, acclaimed sports writer Mike Freeman celebrates the Dolphins’ singular achievement in Undefeated. A riveting story filled with heartbreaking injuries, miraculous finishes, and tested relationships—featuring a roster of gridiron greats, including Bob Griese, Earl Morrall, Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, Mercury Morris, Nick Buoniconti and others—Undefeated follows a underdog team on its remarkable run: 14 regular season victories, 2 postseason wins, and a Super Bowl championship. It is a book no football fan will want to miss.