As a legendary figure in American athletics, Jim Thorpe has had many stories told about him, some of mythological proportions. This book not only sets them straight but also gives a lot of insight into his complex life. Here is my review of "Path Lit by Lightning"
Title/Author: “Path
Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe” by David Maraniss
Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review: Jim Thorpe was unquestionably
the greatest male American athlete in the first half of the 20th
century. Having achieved success in both college and professional football as
well as baseball and track and field, his life and career would seem to be one
filled with glory. Sadly, that was not
the case and this very good biography written by David Maraniss brings Thorpe’s
life into focus complete with the many downfalls into the myths around the Sac
and Fox indigenous American.
Having read Maraniss’s excellent biography on Roberto
Clemente, I expected more of the same in this book. Many sections lived up to
that expectation, especially when it came to describing Thorpe’s baseball
career. This was of particular interest
for me since it was his participation in the lower levels of professional
baseball that led to Thorpe being stripped of his gold medals for track and
field in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Maraniss’s writing on the part of the Games’
officials to ensure that the amateurism of the games remained was both brilliant
and maddening as was the description of the responses by the football coach of the
Carlisle School, Pop Warner.
Other parts of the book that deserve special mention for
their excellent writing and research were those on the Carlisle School, where
Thorpe and other Native Americans were being taught how to live in the America
that was being shaped by white leaders.
It did not make for happy reading, nor did the sections on Thorpe’s
personal struggles with alcoholism. Also
troubling for Thorpe was trying to hold his marriage together with his first
wife and their children. While life for
any professional athlete’s family is hard, Thorpe’s life of playing both
professional baseball and football made it even harder on that family. Especially for baseball, where Thorpe was
often released from a team before the family had a chance to settle.
The writing on his athletic career mirrors how Maraniss
covered every other aspect of the book – very detailed and mostly informative,
but at times it felt bogged down in too much detail. This was also the feeling
I had while reading of the many injustices suffered by Thorpe and others at
Carlisle. It needed to be told but at
times it felt like just too much after understanding what was being said. This
is not to say that it was bad, but just that the message came across easily without
extra minutia.
Even at this length, this is a book that is certainly worth
the time to read if one has any interest in Thorpe, the history behind his loss
of his Olympic winnings or even the treatment of Native Americans at that point
in American history. Just be prepared to
spend a lot of time with the book.
I wish to thank Simon and Schuster for providing a copy of
the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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