Biography & Autobiography : Sports

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong. more...

Price: $25.00

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds. more...

Price: $15.00

Born Dov-Ber Rasofsky to Eastern European immigrant parents, Barney Ross grew up in a tough Chicago neighborhood and witnessed his father’s murder, his mother’s nervous breakdown, and the dispatching of his three younger siblings to an orphanage, all before he turned fourteen. more...

Price: $12.95

On his deathbed, Alex Roy’s father reveals a secret history of the notorious Cannonball Run of the 1970s, the utterly illegal high-speed non-stop races from New York to LA that featured a field of wealthy international participants. Inspired by his father’s dying words, Roy enters the high-octane world of semi-legal road rallies and illegal underground races—trying both to find himself in a mysterious and hazardous world, and to locate “The Driver”—the anonymous organizer of the world’s ultimate illegal race, neither of which may exist. Roy must first become a force to be reckoned with. In this riveting story, Roy straps you into his highly modified BMW M5, takes you on a terrifying 120 mph lap of Manhattan, through the exhilaration of a West Coast professional racing school, then tackles the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun—the two most infamous road rallies in the world. The official line is “It’s not a race, it’s a rally.” But among those who pay $15,000 to enter—millionaire playboys, software moguls, Arab princes, movie stars, leggy Czech supermodels, gearheads, and tech whizzes—a select few, Alex Roy among them, compete as if these are full-on honest-to-god road races. May the best driver win. By day, those secretive few ignore rally rules and the law to race each other city-to-city on public roads, all the while evading police and abiding by an odd code of honor. By night, the drivers and their entourages struggle against fatigue to attend outrageous parties with some of the world’s richest and most glamorous people. Though some drivers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on exotic cars and useless cosmetic modifications, Roy utilizes a far greater weapon: his brain. Armed with his BMW M5 painted like a German police car, with the help of America’s most creative techs and BMW mechanics, deploying myriad radar detectors, laser jammers, police scanners, and a variety of fake uniforms more...

Price: $11.99

A new biography of one of the most controversial figures in sports: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. For 34 years, he berated his players and tormented Yankees managers and employees. He played fast and loose with the rules, and twice could have gone to jail. He was banned from baseball for life�but was allowed back in the game. Yet George Steinbrenner also built the New York Yankees from a mediocre team into the greatest sports franchise in America. The Yankees won ten pennants and six World Series during his tenure. Now acclaimed sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author Peter Golenbock draws on more than a hundred interviews with those who have known Steinbrenner throughout his life to tell the fascinating story of �The Boss,� from his Midwestern childhood and family shipping business background through his decades-long ownership of the Yankees�the longest in the team's history. He gets inside the countless manager hirings and firings (and sometimes rehirings) from Billy Martin to Joe Torre, the legendary feuds and hard feelings involving famous figures such as Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield, and the ever-spiraling players' salaries, as well as the astute business deals�with cable television and others�that transformed the Yankees from a $10 million franchise into a powerhouse worth over $1 billion today. Packed with drama, insight, and fascinating front-office details, George will be essential reading for baseball fans and anyone who loves a terrific story well told. Peter Golenbock (St. Petersburg, FL) is one of the nation's best-known sports authors. He has written five New York Times bestsellers, including Number 1 with Billy Martin, Balls (978-0-671-54389-1) with Graig Nettles, and The Bronx Zoo (978-1-57243-715-9) with Sparky Lyle. His other books include his bestseller on NASCAR, American Zoom (978-0-02-032782-0), and 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel (978-1-5992 more...

Price: $26.95