Next book

MANY RIVERS TO CROSS

OF GOOD RUNNING WATER, NATIVE TROUT, AND THE REMAINS OF WILDERNESS

Trekking and fishing what's left of the wilderness of the American West, Montgomery pronounces ``elegies for dead rivers'' but is hopeful for the ``few special trout left'' in the remote, unsullied streams of the high country. The last of the real West ``is more vertical than horizontal,'' writes Montgomery (The Way of the Trout, 1991): It's found in the mountains, at least a mile above sea level. Rivers such as the East Fork of the Bitterroot in Montana have been disfigured and diverted to provide rich grazing land. But even the East Fork has a tiny, unaltered tributary so conspicuously untouched that Montgomery ``can hardly bear to look at it anymore.'' As he traverses the West, he visits Utah's Green River and the Hoodoo Creek in Wyoming; crisscrosses the Lewis and Clark Trail in Montana; studies the ``mud volcanoes'' on the banks of the Yellowstone; hunts for arrowheads in Harney County, Oreg., near Steens Mountain; scorns the tourism of Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and fishes the Snake River ``to make the acquaintance of another wild western trout,'' an unclassified cutthroat. His digressions on the history of certain areas will prove of more interest to some than his often uninspired fishing sequences. He pauses for an eloquent reflection on the writer C.E.S. Wood, who, as aide-de-camp to Gen. O.O. Howard during his campaign against the Nez Perce, transcribed- -or perhaps authored—Chief Joseph's famous ``I Will Fight No More Forever'' speech. Montgomery also examines Gen. George Crook's frustrating battle at Rosebud Creek, when he simply ``called it a day...went back to Big Goose Creek, and started fishing'' even as Custer engaged the Sioux in a more famous battle. Interesting and informative, but Montgomery's prose often lacks the zest that informs the best nature writing. (6 line drawings, not seen)

Pub Date: March 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-671-79286-5

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995

Next book

WHEN THE GAME WAS OURS

Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.

NBA legends Bird and Johnson, fierce rivals during their playing days, team up on a mutual career retrospective.

With megastars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and international superstars like China’s Yao Ming pushing it to ever-greater heights of popularity today, it’s difficult to imagine the NBA in 1979, when financial problems, drug scandals and racial issues threatened to destroy the fledgling league. Fortunately, that year marked the coming of two young saviors—one a flashy, charismatic African-American and the other a cocky, blond, self-described “hick.” Arriving fresh off a showdown in the NCAA championship game in which Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans defeated Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores—still the highest-rated college basketball game ever—the duo changed the course of history not just for the league, but the sport itself. While the pair’s on-court accomplishments have been exhaustively chronicled, the narrative hook here is unprecedented insight and commentary from the stars themselves on their unique relationship, a compelling mixture of bitter rivalry and mutual admiration. This snapshot of their respective careers delves with varying degrees of depth into the lives of each man and their on- and off-court achievements, including the historic championship games between Johnson’s Lakers and Bird’s Celtics, their trailblazing endorsement deals and Johnson’s stunning announcement in 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV. Ironically, this nostalgic chronicle about the two men who, along with Michael Jordan, turned more fans onto NBA basketball than any other players, will likely appeal primarily to a narrow cross-section of readers: Bird/Magic fans and hardcore hoop-heads.

Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-547-22547-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009

Next book

BACK FROM THE DEAD

One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.

A basketball legend reflects on his life in the game and a life lived in the “nightmare of endlessly repetitive and constant pain, agony, and guilt.”

Walton (Nothing but Net, 1994, etc.) begins this memoir on the floor—literally: “I have been living on the floor for most of the last two and a half years, unable to move.” In 2008, he suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse. “My spine will no longer hold me,” he writes. Thirty-seven orthopedic injuries, stemming from the fact that he had malformed feet, led to an endless string of stress fractures. As he notes, Walton is “the most injured athlete in the history of sports.” Over the years, he had ground his lower extremities “down to dust.” Walton’s memoir is two interwoven stories. The first is about his lifelong love of basketball, the second, his lifelong battle with injuries and pain. He had his first operation when he was 14, for a knee hurt in a basketball game. As he chronicles his distinguished career in the game, from high school to college to the NBA, he punctuates that story with a parallel one that chronicles at each juncture the injuries he suffered and overcame until he could no longer play, eventually turning to a successful broadcasting career (which helped his stuttering problem). Thanks to successful experimental spinal fusion surgery, he’s now pain-free. And then there’s the music he loves, especially the Grateful Dead’s; it accompanies both stories like a soundtrack playing off in the distance. Walton tends to get long-winded at times, but that won’t be news to anyone who watches his broadcasts, and those who have been afflicted with lifelong injuries will find the book uplifting and inspirational. Basketball fans will relish Walton’s acumen and insights into the game as well as his stories about players, coaches (especially John Wooden), and games, all told in Walton’s fervent, witty style.

One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.

Pub Date: March 8, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4767-1686-2

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Close Quickview