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Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A riveting new biography of America’s greatest all-around athlete by the bestselling author of the classic biography When Pride Still Mattered.
Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw’s New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind.
But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe’s life was a struggle against the odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk. At Carlisle, he dealt with the racist assimilationist philosophy “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. But for all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth.
Path Lit by Lightning is a great American story from a master biographer.
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"Well researched and written book that covers Thorpe well and a number of other issues of the time period. Treatment of Indians in general was well done. This is a good read. "
— Bob O (5 out of 5 stars)
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“A masterful, in-depth portrait of a monumental figure.”
— Boston Globe -
“Goes beyond the myth and…does justice to the struggles and triumphs of a truly great man.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“[A] complicated man who sought to shape his own destiny, yet was bedeviled by larger forces of racism and hypocrisy…Paints a portrait with both heroic and tragic shadows.”
— Washington Post -
“[Reveals] Thorpe as a man in full, whose life was characterized by both soaring triumph and grievous loss.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“A sensitive and compelling life of the great, ill-treated athlete Jim Thorpe."
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“This essential work restores a legendary figure to his rightful place in history.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Beyond bringing Thorpe to life, Maraniss also delves heavily into issues of race and culture.”
— Library Journal -
“Emphasizes that whatever life took from him, Thorpe persisted and trained and worked and learned and succeeded.”
— New York Times Book Review
Awards
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An AudioFile Best Audiobooks Pick of the Month
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
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A #1 Amazon bestseller
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A Barnes & Noble bestseller
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A Literary Hub Pick of the #1 Best Book Out This Week
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick in Biographies
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About David Maraniss
David Maraniss is an associate editor at the Washington Post and a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and was a finalist three other times. Among his bestselling books are biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente, Jim Thorpe, and Vince Lombardi. He has also written a trilogy about the 1960s: Rome 1960; Once in a Great City, winner of the RFK Book Award; and They Marched into Sunlight, winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.