Evinces some of Robinson’s sweetness and flair, but doesn’t pack as much power.
An examination of the life of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and his influence—both direct and indirect—on athletes who came after.
This digression-laden biography is less an in-depth character study than a prism through which to view the evolution of the modern celebrity athlete. Shropshire (The Business of Sports Agents, 2002, etc.) contends that Robinson’s combination of talent, charisma and style enabled him to attain an iconic status unrealized by previous sports superstars. Born Walker Smith Jr., Robinson grew up in poverty, with boxing one of the few avenues that provided a chance for escape. Despite a slender build, his skill was apparent early on, and he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the greatest (attaining both the welterweight and middleweight championship titles) and prolific (fighting nearly 200 times, a figure that dwarfs the number of bouts fought by Muhammad Ali and other legends) fighters ever. It was Robinson’s influence outside of the ring, however, that the author claims had the greatest cultural impact. With his innate sense of “cool,” flamingo-pink Cadillac and million-watt smile, Robinson influenced celebrities outside of the boxing world (Miles Davis), younger fighters (Ali) and countless future athletes. These qualities, combined with his commitment to building businesses in the black community, made him a beloved icon despite his arrogance, womanizing and later financial difficulties. Paradoxically, his popularity surged as his skills eroded late in his career. Shropshire’s insights aren’t always profound, as he often tracks trends that are readily apparent to even semi-serious sports fans. When he delves deeper, however, and discusses the dearth of star athletes with the charisma, intelligence and awareness to take advantage of their positions to agitate for social change (he cites John Carlos and Tommie Smith as models), his skillful analysis serves to highlight the convergence of sports and culture.
Evinces some of Robinson’s sweetness and flair, but doesn’t pack as much power.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2007
ISBN: 0-465-07803-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
A wonderful page-turner written with humility, immediacy, and great style. Nothing came cheap and easy to McCandless, nor...
The excruciating story of a young man on a quest for knowledge and experience, a search that eventually cooked his goose, told with the flair of a seasoned investigative reporter by Outside magazine contributing editor Krakauer (Eiger Dreams, 1990).
Chris McCandless loved the road, the unadorned life, the Tolstoyan call to asceticism. After graduating college, he took off on another of his long destinationless journeys, this time cutting all contact with his family and changing his name to Alex Supertramp. He was a gent of strong opinions, and he shared them with those he met: "You must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life''; "be nomadic.'' Ultimately, in 1992, his terms got him into mortal trouble when he ran up against something—the Alaskan wild—that didn't give a hoot about Supertramp's worldview; his decomposed corpse was found 16 weeks after he entered the bush. Many people felt McCandless was just a hubris-laden jerk with a death wish (he had discarded his map before going into the wild and brought no food but a bag of rice). Krakauer thought not. Admitting an interest that bordered on obsession, he dug deep into McCandless's life. He found a willful, reckless, moody boyhood; an ugly little secret that sundered the relationship between father and son; a moral absolutism that agitated the young man's soul and drove him to extremes; but he was no more a nutcase than other pilgrims. Writing in supple, electric prose, Krakauer tries to make sense of McCandless (while scrupulously avoiding off-the-rack psychoanalysis): his risky behavior and the rites associated with it, his asceticism, his love of wide open spaces, the flights of his soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-42850-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995
SEEN & HEARD
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