For fans of The Boys in the Boat, and marking the 100th anniversary of the Paris Olympics, the never-before-told story of three athletes who defied the odds to usher in a golden age of sports
Even today, it's considered one of the most thrilling races in Olympic history. The hundred-meter sprint final at the 1924 Paris Games, featuring three of the world's fastest swimmers--American legends Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller, and Japanese upstart Katsuo Takaishi--had the cultural impact of other milestone moments in Olympic history: Jesse Owens's podiums in Berlin and John Carlos's raised, black-gloved fist in Mexico City. Never before had an Olympic swimming final prominently featured athletes of different races, and never had it been broadcast live. Across the globe, fans held their breath.
In less than a minute, an Olympic record would be shattered, and the three men would be scrutinized like few athletes before them. For the millions worldwide for whom swimming was a complete unknown, the trio did something few could imagine: moving faster through water than many could on land. As sportsmen, they were godlike heroes, embodying the hopes of those who called them their own, in the US and abroad. They personified strength and speed, and the glamour and innovation of the Roaring Twenties. But they also represented fraught assumptions about race and human performance. It was not only East vs. West--as newspapers in the 1920s described the competition with Japan--it was also brown versus white. Rich versus poor. New versus old. The race was about far more than swimming.
Each man was a trailblazer and a bona fide celebrity in an age when athletes typically weren't famous. Kahanamoku was Hawaii's first superstar, largely responsible for making the state the popular travel destination it is today. Weissmuller, a poor immigrant, put Chicago on the sports map and would make it big as Hollywood's first Tarzan. Takaishi inspired Japan to compete on the world stage and helped turn its swimmers into Olympic powerhouses. He and Kahanamoku in particular shattered the myth of white superiority when it came to sports, putting the lie to the decade's burgeoning eugenics movement.
Three Kings traces the careers and rivalries of these men and the epochal times they lived in. The 1920s were transformative, not just socially but for sports as well. For the first time, athletes of color were given a fair (though still not equal) chance, and competition wasn't limited to the wealthy and privileged. Our modern-day conception of athleticism and competition--especially as it relates to the Olympics--traces back to this era and athletes like Kahanamoku, Weissmuller, and Takaishi, whose hard-won victories paved the way for all who followed.
Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.
The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious
From the best-selling author of Baseball 100
Posnanski offers an eloquent reminder that the great Cincinnati Reds teams--especially the '75 Reds--deserve a place of prominence in our memory, same as this book demands a place of prominence on your shelf. --New York Post
There are great teams in baseball--and then there are classic teams like the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. From 1972 to 1976, the franchise known as the Big Red Machine dominated the National League, and their 1975 season has become the stuff of sports legend.
In The Machine, award-winning sports columnist Joe Posnanski captures all of the passion and tension, drama and glory of this extraordinary championship team considered to be one of the greatest of all time. Helmed by Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, the lineup for the '75 Reds is a Who's Who of baseball greats, including Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Sr., and Joe Morgan.
But that remarkable year was not without controversy: feuds, fights, insults, and run-ins with fans were as much a part of the season as hits, runs, steals, and strikeouts. Capturing this rollicking thrill-ride of a story, Posnanski brings to life the excitement, hope, and high-expectations that surrounded the players from the beginning of spring training through the long summer and into a nailbiting World Series, where, in the ninth inning of the seventh game, the Big Red Machine fulfilled its destiny, defeating the Boston Red Sox 4-3.
The collaborative effort of Timothy Jacobs and Russell Roberts, 100 Athletes Who Shaped Sports History is a compilation of one hundred single-page biographies summarizing the lives and achievements of great athletes ranging from Ted Williams, Patty Berg, and Sugar Ray Leonard, to Jackie Robinson, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky. A black-and-white photograph or a simple sketch of each of the great sports figures accompanies the brief narrative describing their role in the particular sport they embraced. 100 Athletes Who Shaped Sports History is recommended as a quick and easy read for sports trivia buffs, as well as being a great book to introduce young people to the varied and diverse world of sports legends.
From the author Robert Lipsyte calls the best young sportswriter in America, a rollicking, rebellious, myth-busting history of sports in America that puts politics in the ring with pop culture
In this long-waited book from the rising superstar of sportswriting, whose blog Edge of Sports is read each week by thousands of people across the country, Dave Zirin offers a riotously entertaining chronicle of larger-than-life sporting characters and dramatic contests and what amounts to an alternative history of the United States as seen through the games its people played. Through Zirin's eyes, sports are never mere games, but a reflection of--and spur toward--the political conflicts that shape American society.Half a century before Jackie Robinson was born, the black ballplayer Moses Fleetwood Walker brandished a revolver to keep racist fans at bay, then took his regular place in the lineup. In the midst of the Depression, when almost no black athletes were allowed on the U.S. Olympic team, athletes held a Counter Olympics where a third of the participants were African American.
A People's History of Sports in the United States is replete with surprises for seasoned sports fans, while anyone interested in history will be amazed by the connections Zirin draws between politics and pop flies. As Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop, puts it, After you read him, you'll never see sports the same way again.