Publisher Description
The book that made a legend -- and captures America's sport in detail that's never been matched, featuring a foreword by Nicholas Dawidoff and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives.
George Plimpton was perhaps best known for Paper Lion, the book that set the bar for participatory sports journalism. With his characteristic wit, Plimpton recounts his experiences in talking his way into training camp with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the team, and taking snaps behind center. His breezy style captures the pressures and tensions rookies confront, the hijinks that pervade when sixty high-strung guys live together in close quarters, and a host of football rites and rituals.
One of the funniest and most insightful books ever written on football, Paper Lion is a classic look at the gridiron game and a book The Wall Street Journal calls "a continuous feast...The best book ever about football -- or anything!"
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“Narrator Dan Woren brings a cadre of creative voices to one of George Plimpton’s sports journalism books…Plimpton’s reporting recounts off-the-field antics and on-the-field perspectives, and Woren gives the players and coaches quoted fun, assertive, and sometimes gruff voices. Thanks to his attentive narration, each player maintains an identity, including Plimpton…Thanks to Woren, no one looks bad here…and the Lions come off as well-rounded—though sometimes sophomoric—people, not just one-dimensional athletes.”
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AudioFile
About George Plimpton
George Plimpton (1927–2003) was the bestselling author and editor of nearly thirty books, as well as the cofounder, publisher, and editor of the Paris Review. He wrote regularly for such magazines as Sports Illustrated and Esquire, and he appeared numerous times in films and on television.
About the Narrators
Tom Wolfe (1931–2018) was the author of numerous books considered contemporary classics, including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, among others, and several of his books have been made into major motion pictures. He was also a journalist and founder of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is credited with introducing such terms as “the right stuff,” “radical chic,” “the Me Decade,” and “good ol’ boy” into the English lexicon. A native of Richmond, he earned his BA degree at Washington and Lee University and a PhD in American studies at Yale.
Nicholas Dawidoff is the author of several books, including The Fly Swatter, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and another, In the Country of Country, which was named one of the greatest all-time works of travel literature by Conde Nast Traveller, as well as the New York Times bestseller The Catcher Was a Spy. A graduate of Harvard University, he has been a Guggenheim, Civitella Ranieri, and Berlin Prize Fellow, and is a contributor to the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and the American Scholar.
Dan Woren is an American voice actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has worked extensively in animation, video games, and feature films. He is best known for his many roles in anime productions such as Bleach and as the voice of Sub-Zero in the video game Mortal Kombat.