"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
That he would now turn his considerable abilities to exploring Michael Jordan is not surprising. Halberstam loves hoops, and Jordan not only defines the game, he defines an era. His fame crosses international borders as easily as he dribbles past half-court lines. In focusing on Jordan--as athlete and force of nature--and his osmosis from a young hoop dreamer to product pitchman to the world, Halberstam is really examining intangibles like myth and legend, celebrity and fame, wealth and image, excellence and genius, race and style, the qualities of heroism and the pursuit of perfection. "That there had been even one Michael Jordan seemed in retrospect something of a genetic fluke," he writes, "and the idea that anyone would arrive in so short a span of time and do what he did both on and off the court seemed highly unlikely." But the phenomenon that is Jordan did just that.
Understanding, even admiring, what he did, how he did it, and what it means in a basketball context and a larger one is Halberstam's goal, and, despite Jordan's lack of cooperation--or maybe because of it--Halberstam's muscular prose and thinking scores powerfully. Yet, there is a wistfulness, in the end, to Playing for Keeps; the game doesn't seem as much fun and collegial as it used to for Halberstam, and Jordan, great as he may be, emerges with less of the historic grace exhibited by Jackie Robinson, Ali, and Arthur Ashe than with a quality that Halberstam deems the athlete-explorer "in terms of going beyond previously accepted limits of what was humanly possible, and somehow by dint of physical excellence and unmatched willpower, pushing those limits forward that much more." Dazzling, certainly, but not necessarily heroic. Playing for Keeps is also available on audiocassette. --Jeff Silverman
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.49
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # mon0000187451
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made 0.8. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780767904445
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New! Not Overstocks or Low Quality Book Club Editions! Direct From the Publisher! We're not a giant, faceless warehouse organization! We're a small town bookstore that loves books and loves it's customers! Buy from Lakeside Books!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780767904445
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 349105-n
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780767904445
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. 1st Broadway Books trade pbk. ed. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! Ships same or next business day.�UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes). Seller Inventory # 000463325N
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0767904443xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2416190171068
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780767904445
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00F2HT_ns