Overview
"Sometimes sports mirrors society, sometimes it allows us to understand the larger society a little better. But mostly, it is a world of entertainment of talented and driven young men and women who do certain things with both skill and passion."
--David Halberstam
David Halberstam was a distinguished journalist and historian of American politics. He was also a sports writer. Everything They Had brings together for the first time his articles from newspapers and magazines, a wide-ranging collection edited by Glenn Stout, selected over the full scope of Halberstam's five decades as one of America's most honored journalists. These are dazzling portraits of some of the most compelling sports figures of our era, the superstars of popular sports like basketball, football, and baseball, but also fishing, soccer, and rowing, and the amateur athletes who play for the love of the game.
In "My Dinner with Theodore," Halberstam recounts his long anticipated--and unforgettable--meeting with Red Sox legend Ted Williams. Against the backdrop of 1960s Nashville, he beautifully recounts a lifelong love of football in "How I Fell in Love with the NFL." And "Men Without Women," set on a fishing expedition in Patagonia, is more than a hunt for giant brown trout--it is a story of fishing, friendship, and fellowship. These and many more stories exemplify the breadth and depth of David Halberstam's devotion to diverse sports and his respect and fascination for the men and women who play them so well.
The result is an intimate and personal collection that reveals the issues and the ideals David Halberstam cared about--racial equality, friendship, loyalty, and character--and creates a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the author himself. Everything They Had takes its rightful place alongside Halberstam's bestselling sports titles, which include The Breaks of the Game, The Amateurs, Summer of '49, and The Education of a Coach.
Synopsis
Sometimes sports mirrors society, sometimes it allows us to understand the larger society a little better. But mostly, it is a world of entertainment of talented and driven young men and women who do certain things with both skill and passion.
--David Halberstam
David Halberstam was a distinguished journalist and historian of American politics. He was also a sports writer. Everything They Had brings together for the first time his articles from newspapers and magazines, a wide-ranging collection edited by Glenn Stout, selected over the full scope of Halberstam s five decades as one of America s most honored journalists. These are dazzling portraits of some of the most compelling sports figures of our era, the superstars of popular sports like basketball, football, and baseball, but also fishing, soccer, and rowing, and the amateur athletes who play for the love of the game.
In My Dinner with Theodore, Halberstam recounts his long anticipated and unforgettable meeting with Red Sox legend Ted Williams. Against the backdrop of 1960s Nashville, he beautifully recounts a lifelong love of football in How I Fell in Love with the NFL. And Men Without Women, set on a fishing expedition in Patagonia, is more than a hunt for giant brown trout it is a story of fishing, friendship, and fellowship. These and many more stories exemplify the breadth and depth of David Halberstam s devotion to diverse sports and his respect and fascination for the men and women who play them so well.
The result is an intimate and personal collection that reveals the issues and the ideals David Halberstam cared about racial equality, friendship, loyalty, and character and creates a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the author himself. Everything They Had takes its rightful place alongside Halberstam s bestselling sports titles, which include The Breaks of the Game, The Amateurs, Summer of 49, and The Education of a Coach.
The New York Times - Edward Lewine
At book length, Halberstam could use sports to trace the expansive narratives of American history that always fascinated him. This is much harder to pull off within the confines of a magazine or newspaper article. Halberstam didn't always succeed, but it's to his credit that he always tried to think big, even when he was writing small.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
What made David Halberstam a great sportswriter, indeed a great writer, was perhaps best expressed in what he called his "backup catcher theory": "Most other people doing a book want the top guy. My belief is, you probably learn more from the backup catcher on a baseball team than from the star. Because the backup catcher's smart. He watches the game, he's into the game, he always has to be read, and when it's over, twenty years later, he has a lot of time to talk because not a lot of other people come to see him." In this posthumous collection of his sports pieces, the author of The Best and The Brightest, The Coldest Winter, and Breaks of the Game writes about baseball, football, basketball, soccer, fishing, and the Olympics.Edward Lewine
At book length, Halberstam could use sports to trace the expansive narratives of American history that always fascinated him. This is much harder to pull off within the confines of a magazine or newspaper article. Halberstam didn't always succeed, but it's to his credit that he always tried to think big, even when he was writing small.—The New York Times