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“Fascinating…Vivid…A
first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of
a horse but a fascinating slice of American history as well.”
— New York Times
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Fascinating . . . Vivid . . . A first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a horse but a fascinating slice of American history as well.
— The New York Times
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Engrossing . . . Fast-moving . . . More than just a horse’s tale, because the humans who owned, trained, and rode Seabiscuit are equally fascinating. . . . [Hillenbrand] shows an extraordinary talent for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the rider.
— Sports Illustrated
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REMARKABLE . . . MEMORABLE . . . JUST AS COMPELLING TODAY AS IT WAS IN 1938.
— The Washington Post
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“Remarkable…Memorable…Just
as compelling today as it was in 1938.”
— Washington Post
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“More than a tale of
a great horse. It’s a window on an era in American history…Hillenbrand also
proves to be a wonderful storyteller, with a graceful style that can be
appropriately witty, serious, or taut with suspense.”
— Baltimore Sun
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“Eloquent…Seabiscuit
was a comeback kid for a comeback time, and in the course of this scrupulously
researched recounting, Hillenbrand manages to tell not only an inspiring horse
story but also an engrossing human one…Deftly resurrects Depression-era U.S.
racing in all its dramas, jubilation, tragedies, risks, and dark secrets…Seabiscuit is a winner.”
— Miami Hearld
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“Seemingly written
from the saddle…Even if you’re not a racing fan—especially if you’re not—this self-possessed
animal comes across so sharply…that it hurts to lose him again, even after all
this time.”
— Newsday
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“A fascinating
account of one of the sport’s most alluring icons.”
— San Diego Union-Tribune
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“Engrossing…Fast-moving…More
than just a horse’s tale, because the humans who owned, trained, and rode
Seabiscuit are equally fascinating…[Hillenbrand] shows an extraordinary talent
for describing a horse race so vividly that the reader feels like the rider.”
— Sports Illustrated
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“Hillenbrand, a
contributing writer at Equus
magazine, is a deft storyteller whose descriptions of such races are especially
good, filled with images of pounding hooves and splattering mud.”
— BusinessWeek
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“Wonderful…Astounding…The
stories of the races in which Seabiscuit shattered speed records are…almost
unbearably suspenseful…The heart of [this book’s] appeal is in its seamless
combination of triumph and melancholy.”
— Salon.com
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“You don’t have to
like horses to respond to such a rousing story. Why? Because Hillenbrand doesn’t
just tell the story; she recreates it…[She] knows horses, knows racing, knows
training, and knows riding, and she relays the skill and sweat and sweet
intuition that go into it…Guess what you end up with? A book that’s brilliant
and convincing. Seabiscuit belongs in
the winner’s circle.”
— Austin-American Statesman
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“Terrific…Illuminating
a forgotten piece of American history, Seabiscuit
brings alive the drama, the beauty, the louche charm, and the brutality of
horse racing.”
— USA Today
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“Laura Hillenbrand
knows racehorses, riders, and trainers. She knows our history. She knows how
the two combine. Seabiscuit was a great horse, perhaps the best ever, running
in one of the worst decades ever, the Great Depression, bringing excitement and
pleasure to millions of Americans when they needed those emotions desperately.
This is more than a fine piece of writing about the sport of racing; it is also
about our history.”
— Stephen Ambrose
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“The research is
meticulous, the writing elegant and concise…[It] transports you back to the
period…This is a remarkable tale well told by a writer who deftly blends
history and sport.”
— Economist
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“Compelling…It is the
story of a time when the heroic generation of the following decade was itself
being nurtured, and when unsuspected strength and endurance were still values
to champion.”
— New York Daily News
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“This is a terrific
biography of what might have been the greatest racehorse that ever lived—and you
don’t have to know anything about racing to enjoy it.”
— Arizona Republic
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“Dazzling…Seabiscuit does for the world of horse
racing what Into Thin Air did for
mountain climbing. In daredevil prose that sprints along at a breakneck pace,
Hillenbrand tells [an] incredible tale…In the final stretch, it hurtles towards
its climax.”
— NPR, Fresh Air
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“Hillenbrand’s detailed
and dramatic recreation of Seabiscuit’s life and times is a remarkable
testament to what four years of meticulous research and a writer’s gift for
storytelling can accomplish.”
— Booklist (starred review)