David Halberstam on Sports

Four New York Times bestsellers by the "remarkable" Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist capture and celebrate America's passion for sports (The Seattle Times).

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Halberstam, preeminent chronicler of the American experience, focuses his meticulous narrative gifts on some of Major League Baseball's most iconic moments, training for the Olympics, and a remarkable profile of hoops legend Michael Jordan.

Summer of '49: In this #1 New York Times bestseller, a nation in transition is gripped by a pennant race for the ages: the Boston Red Sox, led by Ted Williams's unearthly bat skills, versus the New York Yankees and Joe DiMaggio's legendary heroics.

October 1964: The 1964 World Series pitted the established Yankees against the upstart St. Louis Cardinals in an epic, seven-game seesaw battle that seemed to reflect the tensions of a nation in turmoil. The barnburner included a cast of legends—Mantle, Maris, Ford, Gibson, Brock—and enough game-changing plays to last a lifetime.

The Amateurs: Introducing a cast of highly driven athletes at the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton, Halberstam delves deep into their struggles, motivations, and failures—but in the end only one will represent the United States at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Playing for Keeps: A wildly entertaining and revealing portrait of global icon Michael Jordan and the rise of the NBA. With his usual impeccable research and gripping storytelling, Halberstam covers the whole court, from the transformative rivalry of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to the invention of ESPN to Spike Lee's Nike commercials to every unforgettable playoff game that built Jordan's legend.