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Tennis & Racquet Sports - General & Miscellaneous, Tennis - Players
Levels of the Game by John McPhee — book cover

Levels of the Game

by John McPhee
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Overview

This account of a tennis match played by Arthur Ashe against Clark Graebner at Forest Hills in 1968 begins with the ball rising into the air for the initial serve and ends with the final point. McPhee provides a brilliant, stroke-by-stroke description while examining the backgrounds and attitudes which have molded the players' games.

Synopsis

This account of a tennis match played by Arthur Ashe against Clark Graebner at Forest Hills in 1968 begins with the ball rising into the air for the initial serve and ends with the final point. McPhee provides a brilliant, stroke-by-stroke description while examining the backgrounds and attitudes which have molded the players' games.

About the Author, John McPhee

John McPhee -- a writer with The New Yorker since 1965 -- writes about most anything that piques his interest, from California geology to the arc of a tennis ball to the construction of a birch-bark canoe. His beautifully articulated structures, clear prose, and participatory voice have become a model for other literary journalists, Norman Sims wrote in the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"This may be the high point of American sports journalism." —Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

"McPhee has produced what is probably the best tennis book ever written. On the surface it is a joint profile of . . . Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, but underneath it is considerably more—namely, a highly original way of looking at human behavoir . . . He proves his point with consummate skill and journalistic artistry. You are the way you play, he is saying. The court is life." —Donald Jackson, Life

"John McPhee's Levels of the Game . . . alternates between action on the court and interwoven profiles of the contestants. It is a remarkable performance—written with style, verve, insight and wit." —James W. Singer, Chicago Sun-Times

Book Details

Published
November 1, 1979
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages
152
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780374515263

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