Secretariat: The Making of a Champion

Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Laura Hillenbrand · 453 pages

Retraces the journey of Seabiscuit, a horse with crooked legs and a pathetic tail that made racing history in 1938, thanks to the efforts of a trainer, owner, and jockey who transformed a bottom-level racehorse into a legend.

The Horse God Built

Lawrence Scanlan · 304 pages

In The Horse God Built Lawrence Scanlan gives the reader a groom's-eye view of the most exciting time in racing history. But more than anything else, it is a moving portrait of the powerful bond between human and horse.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Daniel James Brown · 416 pages

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 f

The Boys of Summer

Roger Kahn · 445 pages

"A ... narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, working for the Herald Tribune in the Jackie Robinson years ... and what's happened to everybody since."

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

Jonathan Eig · 432 pages

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

Phil Jackson, Hugh Delehanty · 384 pages

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend

Box Brown · 240 pages

Drawing from historical records about Andre's life as well as a wealth of anecdotes from his colleagues in the wrestling world, including Hulk Hogan, and his film co-stars (Billy Crystal, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, etc), Brown has created in Andre the Giant, the first substantive biography of one of the twentieth century's most recognizable figures.

True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson

Kostya Kennedy

True is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's—and America's—most significant figures. For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball’s singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half

Pre!

Tom Jordan · 168 pages

For five years, no American runner could beat him at any distance over a mile. But at the age of 24, with his best years still ahead, long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine finally lost. Driving alone at night after a party, Prefontaine crashed his sports car, putting a tragic, shocking end to the life and career of one of the most influential, accomplished runners of our time. From his humble ori

Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero

Leigh Montville · 560 pages

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever

John Feinstein · 375 pages

When a fistfight broke out between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers one night in 1977, All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich raced to break it up. He was met by Kermit Washington, a good player with a great reputation, and by an astonishingly ferocious punch, a single blow that has reverberated in both men's lives ever since. With his unerring insight into the deeper truths of professional sport

Michael Jordan: The Life

Roland Lazenby · 708 pages

Traces the life of one of the most legendary basketball players in the history of the sport, drawing upon interviews with Jordan's friends, family, and teammates, and following his career from college to the NBA.

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

Michael Lewis · 345 pages

Follows one young man from his impoverished childhood with a crack-addicted mother, through his discovery of the sport of football, to his rise to become one of the most successful, highly-paid players in the NFL.

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation

Elizabeth Letts · 272 pages

"The Eighty-Dollar Champion tells the dramatic odyssey of a horse called Snowman, saved from the slaughterhouse by a young Dutch farmer named Harry. Together, Harry and Snowman went on to become America's show-jumping champions, winning first prize in Madison Square Garden. Set in the mid- to late-1950s, this book captures the can-do spirit of a Cold War immigrant who believed--and triumphed"--Pro

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America

Joe Posnanski · 276 pages

Documents the author's cross-country travels at the side of Negro Leagues champion Buck O'Neil, a journey during which the pair sought to recapture their love of the game, remembered O'Neil's history-making career, and explored the numerous challenges that the sport has overcome.

Rebound: The Odyssey of Michael Jordan

Bob Greene · 288 pages

Michael Jordan is considered the pre-eminent basketball player in the world. He is celebrated for his playing, for his lifestyle, for what he gets paid, and every move he makes is news. This is his story.

Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Then and Now

Gary M. Pomerantz · 472 pages

Drawn from personal interviews with the players themselves, a chronicle of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, who won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years.

King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero

David Remnick · 326 pages

There were mythic sports figures before him - Jack Johnson, Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio - but when Cassius Clay burst onto the sports scene from his native Louisville in the 1950s, he broke the mold. He changed the world of sports and went on to change the world itself. As Muhammad Ali, he would become the most recognized face on the planet. This unforgettable story of his rise and self-cre

The Grand Slam

Mark Frost · 448 pages

In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, as the shadows of depression lengthened into every corner of American life, one ray of light emerged from the world of sports: Bobby Jones. THE GRAND SLAM covers the life of this amateur golfer who mounted his final campaign against the record books, and produced a legacy of excellence that has yet to be matched: In a period of four months, Bobby Jone

Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game that made a Nation

John Carlin · 288 pages

Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award(r)—winning director Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: Use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodi

Summer of '49

David Halberstam · 336 pages

Chronicles the 1949 baseball season, which marked the beginning of the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy

Jane Leavy · 282 pages

In an era when too many heroes have been toppled from too many pedestals, Sandy Koufax stands apart and alone, a legend who declined his own celebrity. As a pitcher, he was sublime, the ace of baseball lore. As a human being, he aspired to be the one thing his talent and his fame wouldn't allow: a regular guy. A Brooklyn kid, he was the product of the sedate and modest fifties who came to define a

When the Game Was Ours

Larry Bird, Earvin Johnson, Jackie MacMullan · 340 pages

With intimate, fly-on-the-wall detail, "When the Game Was Ours" transports readers to an electric era of basketball and reveals for the first time the inner workings of two players--Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson--dead set on besting one another.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

Steve Sheinkin · 288 pages

An astonishing underdog sports story and more. It's an unflinching look at the US government's violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures. Native American Jim Thorpe became a super athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Indomitable coach Pop Warner was a football mastermind. In 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they