Leigh Montville

Montville lets the reader get to know Robert "Evel" Knievel through stories and recollections. While Montville keeps his distance from the now dead daredevil by never speculating on Evel's thoughts or feelings, there is no mistaking Evel's motivations and desires. Montville paints a very clear if colorful picture of the man on the motorcycle, and it isn't a very sympathetic one. The story is told with a bit of a smirk, a nudge and a raised eyebrow that says, "Can you believe this guy?"

Witty show more and well written, as you read the book you will get the feeling that you know Evel, even if only in passing and from across the room.

Liar, cheat, braggart, showman, legend, American icon. Montville will introduce you to an American Hero, and show you the real man who lurks in the hero's shadow with a cocksure grin and a twinkle in his eye. show less

This book shows that all the caricatures of Ruth pale next to the real thing. He was the first superstar, bigger than anyone around today, even Michael Jordan. I strongly recommend the book, even for non-sports fans. Ruth's story makes an interesting contrast to today's pampered athletes. It's interesting too that the Babe's womanizing, drinking, and gambling was kept out of the press by the sports writers who followed him. It was certainly a different era.

As a Brit, I cam to baseball late. I cannot remember what brought me to Boston in the early 1990s but I had discovered baseball in Durham NC at the Durham Athletic Park and fell in love with game. I loved the Bulls but back then it was impossible to follow minor league baseball from across an ocean. My wife supported the Braves but I did not engage with any major league team until I went to Fenway Park and found a new home in right field. I could follow the Sox on TV, in the press, and later show more online. For more than ten seasons I would follow the shared trajectory of initial optimism to dashed dreams. I had no family tradition of decades of disappointment but I head the stories in bars, restaurants, and family homes. I assimilated the despair. Then, in 2004, the world was turned upside down. The Red Sox finally won. This book captures the excitement and catharsis of that victory. show less

Leigh Montville's biography of Ted Williams is exhaustive in its analysis of one of baseball's greatest hitters. At times childish and self-absorbed, but always focused upon his art, Ted Williams emerges as a troubled genius in this wonderful book. Some of the anecdotes about Williams' intensity evoke a character who loves a few things in life to obsessive delight while ignoring almost everyone and everything else. An absolute master in the science of hitting a baseball, Williams loves his show more talent and nourishes it in a way that illuminates how beautiful, powerful, and fragile is the human desire to achieve greatness. A must for baseball fans. show less