Review of “The Front Runner”

While I cannot say I am a big track and field fan, I do recognize the name Steve Prefontaine and knew that he is considered a legend in the sport. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 50 years - and was very glad to be able to obtain a copy of this book. Here is my review of “The Front Runner.” 

Title/Author: “The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine” by Brendan O’Meara

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Steve Prefontaine holds an almost godlike status in the sport of track and field. This despite the fact that he did not win a medal of any type in the one Olympics event in which he competed as Olympic medals are usually the standard by which the legend of a runner will be set. This book by Brendan O’Meara, published 50 years after his tragic death at age 24 in a car accident, does a fantastic job of describing WHY “”Pre”, as he was called by his many fans, attained such status and also delves into his short life in great detail. 

Prefontaine’s early life was marked by divorce and abuse but there was a special bond between him and his half sister Neta (he also has a full blooded sister Linda) in which Neta protected the younger Steve. When Neta left home, Steve started running and from that time Steve was a running machine. In junior and senior high school, Steve very rarely lost a race, was maniacal about his training and his goal and was brash enough to announce what records he’ll break and what he will do (strategy) to accomplish this. 

It helped that aside from travel for international meets, Steve’s residence his entire life was in Oregon, a state where track and field is as important a sport as football is in Texas or basketball is in Indiana. His high school career, as well as that at the University of Oregon, is covered in great detail by O’Meara. This is aided by the many fascinating stories that friends, teammates and opponents of Prefontaine shared. 

It should also be noted that Prefontaine was the first star athlete featured by an upstart shoe company making mostly running shoes with a new name: Nike. Long before Michael Jordan, Phil Knight realized the power that a star like Prefontaine would bring to sales and O’Meara gives the reader a good portrayal of that aspect of Prefontaine and the start of the Nike brand with its famous “swoosh.” It’s called that because it’s the sound of a runner passing by others.

The one Olympics event for Steve, the 5000 meters, was and still is considered both a triumph and a defeat. The latter, of course, because he finished fourth and out of medal contention. But given his strong running that briefly gave him the lead and the will to exert himself so much when his body was not cooperating was considered to be greatness seen and upon reflection, he took that view away. This is in line with the training and runs he would do regularly. The description of these is another excellent aspect of the book.

Readers already knowledgeable about Prefontaine, whether old enough to have seen him or through hearing stories about him, might be familiar with much of the material, but not matter one’s knowledge or fandom of “Pre”, this is a book that is well worth the time to read about a runner whose name still represents greatness 50 years after his death. 

I wish to thank Mariner Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063348969/?bestFormat=true&k=the%20front%20runner&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_de_k0_1_12&crid=3BSE1L97VG3QD&sprefix=The%20front%20ru  

Review of "The Last Folk Hero"

Jeff Pearlman came on my radar a few years ago with his excellent book on the history of the first edition of United States Football League.  That made me want to read more of his books and while I have read a few of his earlier works, this is his most recent and so far one of his best.  Here is my review of his book on Bo Jackson, "The Last Folk Hero." 

Title/Author:

“The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson” by Jeff Pearlman

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

Whenever an athlete can compete at the highest level in two (or more) sports, it is a very noteworthy accomplishment.  When that athlete can do certain feats that even most stars in that particular sport only dream of accomplishing, that is when stories of incredible feats are told and passed down through the years.  Vincent “Bo” Jackson is one of those athletes in which this was accomplished, and his story is told in this excellent book by Jeff Pearlman 

Pearlman has made a very good career on writing sports biographies of famous athletes who may have a flaw or two, but has had either outstanding success in their sport, some great stories to share, a compelling story on the way to fame or, in Jackson’s case, a bit of all three traits.  The “great stories” are feats of amazing athleticism by Jackson shared by those who have claimed to have seen them.  This goes from his youth to high school sports (track and field as well as baseball and football) to college sports at Auburn (again, all three, although his fame there was for football) to the professional ranks.  Because many of these stories have a “you have to see it to believe it” aura, that was the inspiration for the title which is very appropriate.

The book also does an excellent job of portraying Jackson’s life and personality without the benefit of input directly from him.  Pearlman does write that he did contact Jackson about the project and certainly wanted to talk to him, but Jackson declined.  However, he did not give Pearlman any objections to writing the book, so the author went ahead and between his research and over 700 interviews, he ended up with a very entertaining and detailed book.

Among these details are plenty of discussion about Jackson’s accomplishments at Auburn, the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders and in major league baseball, primarily with the Kansas City Royals, but he also spent some time with the Chicago White Sox and California Angels.  He suffered a devastating hip injury that required a hip replacement and given the medical knowledge at the time, it was considered a near-miracle that he was able to resume his baseball career (his football career was not resurrected) with the White Sox.  Mainly because his football career, especially with the Raiders, was shortened due to the injury, more of the sports accomplishments described are in baseball.  That doesn’t diminish either the writing about nor the stories telling about Jackson’s feats in that sport as well as track and field.

There is plenty of text about Bo off the field as well.  Of course, the “Bo Knows” campaign by Nike is covered and that is quite entertaining as well as informative.  The feeling of Bo being used for business purposes is not unique to him, but his views (as told by others such as teammates or friends) about team owners such as Hugh Culverhouse of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Ewing Kaufman of the Royals was very interesting.  Jackson’s personality also makes for interesting reading.  The easiest way to describe it would be complex as many people of all types of relationships with him have stories to share and they range from him getting very angry at people for seemingly minor issue to being very generous to strangers with his time, money or both.  Something that is very consistent, however, is his dedication to family.  This is true for both his mother and later with his wife and children.  He vowed to ensure that his children did not grow up with an absent father like he did and he is keeping that promise, at least according to those who spoke to Pearlman.

This is a complete book on the man that is all the more remarkable when one considers none of this information came from Jackson himself.  Any reader who “knows Bo”, no matter if it is from sports, TV commercials or some other means, will find this book one that will be hard to put down and well worth the time to read.

I wish to thank Mariner Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Link: The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson: Pearlman, Jeff: 9780358437673: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "An Economist Goes to the Game"

In order to be interested in a book, I usually need more than just the title to pick it up.  However, this title was so different and so interesting that I took a chance and ended up liking this short and informative book. 

Title/Author:

“An Economist Goes to the Game: How to Throw Away $580 Million and Other Surprising Insights from the Economics of Sports” by Paul Oyer

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: There have been many books published about the business of sport – just about all sports – in various formats, but this one was very different and very informative.  Written in several short chapter on various sports topics, this book by Paul Oyer is not only one in which a reader will learn about a different line of thinking for economics and sports, but will also be entertained as well.

While I thought the entire book was good, the best part came at the beginning when Oyer explained how some of the action on the field of play comes from theories of economics.  His example of why Michael Jordan passed up the shot that would win the 1997 NBA championship for his Chicago Bulls and instead passed the ball to Steve Kerr who hit that shot is brilliant in how it ties economic thinking and the risk versus reward logic worked for that instant. Similar scenarios and different theories are sprinkled throughout the book.

However, the bulk of the stories are written about the topics that one would expect in a book on economics and sports – ticket sales and brokers, publicly financed stadiums, and why cities are not as excited to host the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup like they used to be.  Oyer writes about these topics in a manner that anyone who has an interest in either topic will enjoy but also in plain language without a lot of advanced vocabulary in either sports or economics.  This combination, plus the variety of topics addressed, made this a book that will be enjoyed by a wide variety of readers.

I wish to thank Yale University Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Link: Amazon.com: An Economist Goes to the Game: How to Throw Away $580 Million and Other Surprising Insights from the Economics of Sports: 9780300218244: Oyer, Paul: Books

Review of "Path Lit by Lightning"

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 20^th 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.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Lit-Lightning-Life-Thorpe-ebook/dp/B09JPFYQY2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1662597914&sr=8-1

 

Review of "Doping"

Happy Independence Day to those in the United States who are celebrating today.  It feels ironic to be posting a review about a sports book that is international and not US-centric today.  This book on doping and PED use in international competition is one of the better books I have read so far in 2022 - and sorry, there is only a very brief mention of baseball in it.  Here is my review of "Doping." 

Title/Author: “Doping: A Sporting History” by April Henning and Paul Dimeo

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:  The use of various types of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in various sports is not a relative new phenomenon.  Methods of doing so have been around about has long as the modern Olympic games, which started in 1896.  This book by April Henning and Paul Dimeo takes a complete look at this issue from many different angles.

One of the most striking features of the book is that while it is a scholarly work in which they present theories and possible resolutions, the language and format is very easy to follow and a reader will notice that aside from the scientific names of some of the drugs, it is written in plain language.  That will help the non-scholarly reader to comprehend and absorb the points the authors are making.

The variety of sports is far-reaching and international.  While much of the international competition in which the authors describe are the Olympic Games (both Summer and Winter) there are other international competitions included as well.  This is especially true for two sports that internationally have been ripe with drug issues, track and field and cycling. There is an entire chapter devoted to Ben Johnson’s disqualification from the 1988 Olympics, for example. 

There is also extensive research and text on the use of PEDs in communist nations during the Cold War era.  Most notably, that of East Germany, whose athletes would regularly earn more medals than the United States despite having a significantly smaller population. The stories of their athletes requiring the use of these drugs or else they could not compete were compelling.

Although their work on the use of PEDs was very good, the criticism and suggested solutions of the enforcing agencies, current the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) made the book one that was hard to put down.  Just about any critical idea one can think of for these enforcers was included.  The determination of what was a PED and the science behind these decisions was questioned at times. This included things like banning cold medicines that were taken for illness but resulted in an athlete’s disqualification because it contained trace amounts of a banned substance. The lack of communication of what these banned substances would be and what products would contain them was criticized by the authors, as were the punishments as individual athletes would suffer from draconian measures. These included  bans from competition or awards taken away while larger organizations and nations would either receive light warnings or even nothing at all. The authors then conclude the book on their suggestions on how to right this matter, striking a balance between fair enforcement and keeping the competition fair for all.

From the first Olympic games to the 2016 scandal that plagued the team from Russian, this book is a wonderful and complete look at the use of various drugs and other scientific advancements to improve the performance of various athletes.  No matter one’s sports interest or interest in this topic, it is a book that is well worth the time to read.  

I wish to thank Reaktion Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Links:  Amazon.com: Doping: A Sporting History eBook : Henning, April, Dimeo, Paul: Kindle Store

Review of "The Irish Whales"

This was certainly the first book that I have read about these particular events in the Olympics, especially about the now-discontinued 56-pound weight throw.  No, despite the name, this is not about whaling, but instead about some terrific athletes who represented the United States in the early 20th century.  Here is my review of "The Irish Whales."

Title/Author:

“The Irish Whales: Olympians of Old New York" by Kevin Martin

Tags:

Summer Olympics, track, hammer throw, discus, history

Publish date:

September 1, 2020

Length:

238 pages

Rating:

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Some of the most successful American athletes in some of the early modern Olympic games were immigrants from Ireland, either first or second generation.  These men all competed in track and field events such as the hammer throw, the discus throw and the now-discontinued 56-pound weight throw. The stories of these men and their histories are told in this well researched and informative book by Kevin Martin.

To give a complete background of the athletes, the book starts by describing the conditions that Irish immigrants faced in the latter part of the 19^th century in the United States. Having just left their homeland due to a famine, these immigrants often lived in abject poverty, taking menial jobs and enduring discrimination.  It is against this backdrop that these athletes rose above these conditions to excel at their sport. The Irish Whales, as they were called, got the moniker from their large size which was certainly a factor in the success they enjoyed.

While the first of the Irish Whales, Jim Mitchell, did not win medals at any Olympics as his legacy of success took place before the advent of the modern Olympics, he is credited as probably being the best of the Whales, with complete dominance of his events from 1891-1896.  Following him, there was John Flanagan, who today remains the only athlete to win a gold medal in three consecutive Olympic games for the same event as he took the gold in the hammer throw in 1904, 1908, and 1912.  These three Olympic games is where he and the other Irish Whales enjoyed their greatest success.

It should also be noted that there is good material in the book about the trials and tribulations of these early Games, especially the poor organization of those who ran the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis.  This is very interesting information and while it reads a bit slow at times (as does the history of the Irish immigration wave), it is an important part of the overall story of these athletic heroes to both America and Ireland.  Thiers is a story that needs to be told in order to prevent it from being forgotten.  

I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Irish-Whales-Olympians-Old-York/dp/1538142309/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1607962604&sr=1-1

 

Review of "The Greatest Athlete (You've Never Heard Of)"

Not every great athlete will achieve a lot of fame and recognition, but it would be hard to find any successful athlete who has been in relative obscurity than George Orton, the first native of Canada to win an Olympic gold medal.  The story of his life in sports and beyond is one that should be read.  Here is my review of an upcoming book on this remarkable man.

Title/Author:

“The Greatest Athlete (You’ve Never Heard Of): Canada’s First Olympic Gold Medalist” by Mark Hebscher

Tags:

Track and Field, Summer Olympics, biography, ice hockey

Publish date:

March 12, 2019

Length:

240 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

George Washington Orton was paralyzed by an accident until he was 10 year old, but once he gained use of his limbs, he rarely stood still again as he became a world-class athlete, winning a gold medal in the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris. His event was the steeplechase, which is no longer an Olympic event. He was competing at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, and was mistaken as an American competitor even though his native country was Canada.  His life story, including his life outside track and field, is a fascinating read and journalist Mark Hebscher brings it to life.

Orton achieved much of his success in track while attending Penn, becoming an elite runner and setting many records in several events.  He did participate in other sports and yet was able to keep his amateur status and participate in the 1900 Olympics. This drew comparisons by the author to Jim Thorpe, who later had to forfeit his Olympic medals because he played semi-professional baseball. Orton had no such issues with his Olympic amateur status, but instead he won his gold medal in a shroud of confusion. Was he American since he competes for Penn (and was instrumental in founding the world famous Penn Relays) or was he Canadian since that was the nation of his birth?

Along with this confusion, there was the matter of the lack of publicity for the Olympics at this time. The 1900 edition was only the second time the modern games were held and they took second fiddle in Paris to the World’s Fair.  Because of this, most fans and people who were interested in the Olympics did not obtain the information as they would later when the Olympics grew in size and stature. 

While just the story of Orton’s rise in the world of track and field would be an interesting topic by itself, the complete life of the man is captured by Hebscher as he discusses many of the sports innovations inspired by Orton, such as putting numbers on the jerseys of football players. Orton was a tireless promoter, especially of hockey, as he was continuously working on making the sport popular in Philadelphia. He was instrumental in getting indoor rinks built in the city and even ran the Philadelphia Quakers, the first professional team in the City of Brotherly Love. While the team struggled in its only season, Orton is given credit for planning the seeds of interest in hockey as the Philadelphia Flyers are a very successful franchise in today’s professional game.

Orton’s accomplishments both in athletics and in other occupations such as teaching, writing books and sports business are all noted in fine detail in the book. All of this information came about because the author wanted to produce a documentary on the life of Orton as many Canadians did not know of his legacy and historical importance in the Olympics.  This was the only drawback of the book and only because the description of the author’s endeavors were scattered throughout the book.  All of this information would read very well in a foreword or afterword as it was important to the telling of the story. It just was inserted in places that interrupted the important information and that story – the story of George Washington Orton – is one that everyone with any interest in athletics should read.

I wish to thank Dundurn Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Athlete-Youve-Never-Heard/dp/1459743350/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1545611091&sr=8-1

Review of "Before Jackie Robinson"

This is a book that was a treat to read because it contained so much information about athletes that were unknown to me. Any book about any sport or issue connected to sports in which I learn a lot more than what I knew before reading the book is certainly a winner to me.  Here is my review of "Before Jackie Robinson."

Title/Author:

“Before Jackie Robinson: The Transcendent Role of Black Sporting Pioneers” by Gerald R. Gems

 

Tags:

Horse Racing, Football (American), track and field, golf, baseball, race, history, tennis, basketball

Publish date:

February 1, 2017

 

Length:

324 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Jackie Robinson is the most celebrated athlete in American sports when one discusses the integration of African-American athletes into the mainstream of sports.  However, there were many individuals who helped change the course and thinking of the black athlete in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, decades before Robinson. 

Their stories and the hardships they endured are captured in this engrossing book by Gerald R. Gems. The stories are as varied as the sports that these people played as there were black pioneers in sports such as horse racing (Isaac Murphy), golf (John Shippen Jr.) and airplane flying (Bessie Coleman) as well as the more “traditional” sports such as baseball (Moses “Fleetwood” Walker) and football (Sam Ransom).  The people are not limited to the playing field as others such as Rube Foster and Bob Douglas.

What sets this book apart from the pack is the meticulous research that Gems does to not only obtain information but to give proper credit to an athlete who might otherwise be never recognized for his or her accomplishment.  The story of Isadore Channels and her success in tennis and basketball is one such example of this detail to attention.  Gems notes that at the beginning of the chapter about Channels that the information was difficult to obtain and that there may gaps in the information. While it was proper for him to note that tidbit, just the idea that this woman whose accomplishments have been long neglected finally gets some recognition is commendable.

 

That is what makes this book an outstanding account of these people – interesting stories, information that is not well-known and proper credit for what these athletes contributed to both sports and society.  This book should be read by any reader interested in the integration of sports, no matter which sport he or she follows.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing an advance review copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Link:

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Before-Jackie-Robinson,677305.aspx

Review of "Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens"

Having recently seen the movie "Race" about the story of Jesse Owens, I wanted to find a book that, like the movie, would cover more than just what he did in the 1936 Olympics. This book by ESPN journalist Jeremy Schapp, which was first published in 2007, does just that and reads like it could have been the book that the movie was based upon.  Here is my review of "Triumph" 

Title/Author:

“Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics” by Jeremy Schapp

Tags:

Track and Field, history, Olympics, race

Publish date:

March 3, 2015 (electronic version – original publication date February 1, 2007)

Length:

308 pages

Rating: 

4 ½ of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

The accomplishments of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Summer Olympics is still revered and celebrated now, eighty years later.  Not just for the athletic achievement of earning four gold medals, but also for dispelling the myth of Adolf Hitler’s notion of Aryan superiority is this feat remembered.  In this excellent book by Jeremy Schapp, the reader will learn more about what made a humble black man from Ohio turn into the fastest man on Earth.

There are many aspects about Owen’s story that Schapp writes about beyond the wins on the track.  From the coaching of Larry Snyder at Ohio State to the story about how Owens became one of the members of the 4 x 100-yard relay team to the alleged “snub” by Hitler after Owns won his first medal, there are many different subplots that are recalled in great detail.  The story of the “snub” is very interesting in that the myth is dispelled by Owens himself by recalling that Hitler waved at him after his first medal.  It was only later during the lecture circuit did the story of the snub become well known.

Not everything written is about Owens, either. Schapp wrote very good pieces about filmmaker Leni Reifenstahl, the American boycott of the games that almost happened and the controversy about leaving the two American Jewish runners off of the relay team in which Owens replaced one of them and won his fourth medal.  Avery Brundage is also prominently portrayed in the book. These and other aspects of the 1936 Olympics make the book complete and an excellent source of information on this topic.

The only thing that could have made this better would have been a little more coverage of life after the Olympics for Owens as the book does not make it clear what really became of Owens after that historic event.  But if the reader wants to learn about the Jesse Owens story of how he became a person who singlehandedly dispelled a dictator’s vision of domination through the simple acts of running and jumping, then this is the book to read.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying links:

http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Untold-Story-Hitlers-Olympics-ebook/dp/B00TNT9HFI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1457142665&sr=1-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/triumph-jeremy-schaap/1100692093?ean=9780618919109

Review of "The Perfect Mile"

When Roger Bannister broke the four minute barrier in the mile run, it was one of those sports moments that will live forever in history.  Much like when Hank Aaron hit home run #715, or when the US Olymipic hockey team defeated the Soviet Union, Bannister's famous run will be replayed, talked about and read about for a long time.   This is an interesting book about that run and a subsequent meeting with the man who would break Bannister's record in an epic showdown.

Title/Author:

“The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less than Four Minutes to Achieve It” by Neal Bascomb

Tags:

Track and Field, running, mile, records, history

Published:

April 6, 2005

Length:

336 pages

Rating:

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review

Sports records can generate a lot of buzz – whether it is a seemingly unattainable mark, a star athlete is threatening a record, or if it is set at a famous venue, these events not only leave their mark in history, but may also have a very interesting story.   Such is the case for May 6, 1954 when Englishman Roger Bannister became the first man to run one mile in less than four minutes.  The barrier was seemingly never going to be broken until Bannister did so with the help of other runners who helped set his pace.  

 This book covers that race and Bannister’s background and training leading up to that race in a very detailed and well researched manner.   However, Bannister was only one of three elite mile runners of that time who were attempting to break the record.  American Wes Santee and Australian John Landy were also training hard and racing in events attempting to shatter that barrier.  It happened that Bannister did it first.   Landy then broke Bannister’s record by more than a full second (a large margin in the track and field world) and the stage was set for the two of them to meet head on in the Empire Games held later in 1954 in Vancouver. 

Santee, however, could not compete in this race because of his commitment to the US Marines.   His story was the most heartbreaking of the three, especially in Bascomb’s account of how Santee felt he could beat both of them by running a certain style of race.  This was illustrated by Santee thinking of this strategy while watching the race in the studio and providing commentary.  Santee’s rise to elite miler status and his subsequent events did make me think of a promising career derailed by circumstances that were mostly out of his control.

Landy’s story is also interesting, especially those with his coach involved and his single-minded determination to break this record.  Bannister’s story is the most well known of the three, especially that of the training leading up to the race as it was limited due to his medical studies.  He did complete them as well, becoming a doctor soon after the “Perfect Mile” race.

This book reads much like a mile run – slower at first, getting the reader accustomed to the three athletes and setting the pace.  Then when Bannister takes his starting position in what would be the run that makes history, the book is a blur, just like the last lap for each of these runners – a fast paced story that the reader will have a hard time putting down. 

Did I skim?

No

Did I learn anything new?

Yes.  While I have read about Bannister’s race with pacers to break the four minute barrier before, I learned more about the man and the “Perfect Mile” race against Landy.   I had never heard of Santee before reading this book and very little about Landy, so learning their stories was also interesting.

Pace of the book: 

As mentioned in the review, I felt the beginning was slow and I had trouble keeping track of the stories of the three runners.  But by the time Bannister was in the blocks for his record setting mile, the book took off from there and was a fast read.

Positives:

Two aspects struck me as outstanding in this book.  One was the recap of Bannister’s record setting race and his interaction with each of the pacers.   The detail in which these were written was excellent.  I felt like I was running alongside them on the track during these passages.  

Some of the prose in this book was also outstanding.  Here is an example – my favorite passage in the book and it came early.  It was a description of Bannister’s running style: “Bannister had terrific grace, a terrific long stride, he seemed to ooze power. It was as if the Greeks had come back and brought to show you what the true Olympic runner was like.”

Negatives:

While the detail in the research will help the reader understand the lives and thoughts of the three athletes, at times I felt those dragged down the book and made it a tougher read.  That was more than made up, however, in the last half of the book, when the competition and description of the famous races are excellent.

There was one odd editing problem with the Nook edition.  Every time the word “often” was used, there was a period in front of the word.  It would .often drive me crazy, especially when the sentence began with “.Often.” 

Do I recommend?

Yes, for people who enjoy reading about sports history. This book covers not only the historical race well, but many running events of the 1950’s well.  A touch of historical context also should attract readers who may not be sports fans.

Book Format Read:

Ebook (Nook)

 

Author Media Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Bascomb/e/B001IU2RRA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Buying links:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/perfect-mile-neal-bascomb/1102805039?ean=9780547525068

http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Mile-Athletes-ebook/dp/B003UD8KD8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1376768651&sr=1-1&keywords=the+perfect+mile