The Best American Sports Writing of the Century
| The Best American Sports Writing of the Century |
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
UPC:
978039594513 Retail Price: $30.00 Avg. Rating:
|
|
The The Best American Sports Writing of the Century is no longer in stock at any of the 20,000 stores listed on GoSale.
Below is a list of possible auctions for this product. Be sure to view the auction details carefully to verify the model and condition of the product.
 "Outstanding collection but a small part of what is out there" | 2008-01-20 |
| - Reviewed By shalomfn |
Years ago I read a piece included in this book, called 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu' by John Updike. I was reading a lot of Updike at that time, and found it strangely to be the most moving, the best thing he had written. I will venture to say it is one of the best things in this book.
Other sports - writing I loved a lot came not from the daily papers or columns or magazines but from longer often fictional works. For my money Zane Grey's 'The Shortstop' and Charles Einstein's 'The Only Game in Town' are two of the greatest pieces of sportswriting. I would also say that Hemingway in his writing about fishing and boxing and bullfighting- and Lardner ( who is included here but in a small selection) were at the highest level of the game. And Sherwood Anderson too for a story he has about horses and a young person's love of the track. Bernard Malamud in 'The Natural' also wrote about baseball and its dreams and disappointments in a way a real fan could take to heart. I would also add a selection Laura Hillebrand's great book on 'Seabiscuit'. And of course another masterpiece of writing Frederick Exley's 'A Fan's Notes'.
That said I believe this present collection a rich one.The opening piece on Joe D. by Guy Talese has about it something of the class and hidden mystery of the Yankee Clipper himself. The last selection of Norman Mailer on Muhammed Ali is as big as the egos of both of these two master- self- promoters. But there is also much here for those on the other side, the losers as in Murry Kempton's column on Sal Maglie who lost after pitching outstanding ball in the game Don Larsen was perfect in- in the 1956 World Series.
For some reason Baseball and Boxing are the sports most written about. Baseball is a world in itself, with its own special character. I would have liked to see a selection from Philip Roth in which he describes I believe it is in 'American Pastoral' the feeling of playing center- field. Boxing has the drama of the man- against- man combat. Perhaps a piece by Joyce Carol Oates on Mike Tyson might have been included here.
When I was a child one of my heroes was Grantland Rice. And I am happy to see a selection from his columns here.
Again there is a great deal of wonderful stuff here but I am not sure it has most of the great sports- writing of the century in it. I think of some of the sports-biographies which have been written and are truly outstanding. Tom Meany's old books on Joe D. and the Babe are I believe even out- of-print but they told the story of their heroes in a way a young person could be inspired by and identify with.
What I am saying I guess is that this very good selection is still only a small part of what there is out there.
The game is long , and the life too short to read. |
| |
| "Great Read!" | 2008-01-07 |
| - Reviewed By blucas2001 |
| I purchased this book last year, and found it to be so enjoyable that I gave my copy to a friend, and then ordered two more copies for Christmas gifts. If you, or someone you know, likes to read short stories that cover all sports written by the best of our generation, buy this. You won't regret it... |
| |
| "I Didn't Think I Was A Sports Fan Till I Picked Up This Book" | 2007-10-11 |
| - Reviewed By scramola2 |
| I recently took a friend to a doctor's appointment and this book was in the collection of waiting room reading material. So I picked it up, thinking what the heck and discovered an entire chapter is devoted to stories about Ali. Well, let me tell you, I was instantly hooked. When my friend returned to the waiting room, instead of being relieved to be out of there, I was actually disappointed to not be able to finish one of the stories. So, I went right out and bought my own copy. The story on Joe DiMaggio is splendid. I never knew much about Ted Williams, but sure do now after reading the terrific story by Richard Ben Cramer . What a great read this book is. It is excellent. You don't have to be a jock to enjoy it. The collection is some of the best writing I've had the pleasure to read this year. |
| |
 "Some Good, Some Better, Some Best" | 2004-04-09 |
| - Reviewed By keehn9 |
| Congratulations to David Halberstam and Glenn Stout for putting together their choices for "The Best American Sports Writing of the Century". As with any anthology of "the best of", there are selections that will make one wonder about its' inclusion while there are others whose omission will seem equally unjust. However, such arguments only occur when somebody puts out their choices for public consumption. Having said that, I offer the following criticisms. First of all, Halberstam, in his introduction, heaps a bit too much praise on Gay Talese's story about Joe Dimaggio. One reads it thinking that, yes this is good, but it's not THAT good. There was a fairly lengthy story about Bobby Fischer that was interesting but kept me wondering if chess was a sport. There were a number of short articles and feature articles that were good but still made you wonder why they were included. However, there was plenty of the better and some of the best. The book gave me a good introduction to an excellent sports writer I had not previously known of; W C Heinz. There was the fascinating "Outside" magazine article by Jon Krakauer, "Into Thin Air" that led to the later (equally excellent) book of the same name. There is a touching story about Tommy LaSorda's son, Al Stump on Ty Cobb, an interesting story about a hockey "enforcer", a disturbing article about the steroid madness of body building, the obligatory yet interesting article about Tiger Woods, and a closing section on Muhammed Ali. Unfortunately, the latter section includes an endless article about the Champ by Norman Mailer ironicly titled "Ego". There's lots more but, to be honest, by the time I finished the book, a lot of the earlier selections were by then forgotten. My nomination for the most egregious omission, Frank DeFord's "Sports Illustrated" article "The Toughest Coach the Ever Was". This is an enjoyable book. Some articles may not have merited inclusion in a book of this title but they were still fairly interesting. |
| |
| "excellent collection" | 2003-10-21 |
| - Reviewed By gwfeds0 |
| What surprised me about this collection was that some of the most enjoyable stories were the ones about sports I don't have much interest in. The mountain climbing, chess and horse racing stories were some of the best in this collection. As the title suggests, these are well-written stories, which cover a lot of ground. I normally wouldn't waste my time reading about something like chess, but I read and enjoyed every story in this collection. I knew I would enjoy the stories about the major sports, but some of the others surprised me. |
| |
 "Should be a lot better" | 2003-06-05 |
| - Reviewed By j_daly |
| Best thing about the yearly "Best American Sportswriting" series is the one great story about an non-major sport like handball or body-building. Sure you get your baseball,basketball, football stories but there's usually one or two off the beaten path. Not so with the Best of the Century, mostly basebal and boxing. One chess one, one golf one, the rest solidly predictable. Boring choices, nothing funny either. |
| |
| "Super Sports Stories" | 2002-11-30 |
| - Reviewed By zrb2 |
| This is an excellent book for several reasons--it is convenient in that you can quickly read one story and put the book aside without having to go back to get back into the story, it is full of excellent writing, and it gives beautiful glimpses into a very diverse group of sports. The book advertises itself as containing the "best" sports writing of the century and for the most past I would certainly agree, and disagreement has to be expected when you declare something the best, so it is great reading. It is fine journalism, telling captivating stories about people and games, but it is also does an excellent job of showing the importance of sports beyond the fields of play. I would highly recommend the book to sports loves, aspiring journalists, and I would also recommend many of the pieces for people who cannot understand why sports lovers really love sports. |
| |
| "Pleasing even to a non-sports person" | 2000-03-15 |
| - Reviewed By jadepearl |
| The selection are excellent (they'd have to be for best writing of the century). The essays show a love of sports but also deeper meditations on the art of writing, as well as society. Endless amounts of ink have been used in describing seasons' worth of stats and hyperbole but it is the quiet nature of the essay that allows a deeper glimpse behind the stats or beyond the glare of the media. The essays on DiMaggio and Williams are examples of showing life after baseball and at the same time the influence of these men on the sport. The only drawback I saw to the book was no information about the writers themselves. I am looking through the prism of a writer -- catching facets of light and form. Through the writer I am seeing someone who is seen by millions. I can speculate on the writer or if the writer is upfront about their views of the person but the writer is a mystery at the same time they are revealing the mystery of the sport or sportsmen. I would recommend this book not only for the lover of sports but also to anyone who appreciates good writing in general. As a newbie to reading sportwriting it was a very welcome introduction. |
| |
