Namath: a Biography
By (Author) Mark Kriegel
Penguin Putnam Inc
Penguin USA
26th July 2005
United States
General
Non Fiction
B
Paperback
544
Width 140mm, Height 215mm, Spine 31mm
522g
In between Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan there was Joe Namath, one of the few sports heroes to transcend the game he played. Novelist and former sports-columnist Mark Kriegel's bestselling biography of the iconic quarterback details his journey from steel-town pool halls to the upper reaches of American celebrity-and beyond. The first of his kind, Namath enabled a nation to see sports as show biz. For an entire generation he became a spectacle of booze and broads, a guy who made bachelorhood seem an almost sacred calling, but it was his audacious "guarantee" of victory in Super Bowl III that ensured his legend. This unforgettable portrait brings readers from the gridiron to the go-go nightclubs as Kriegel uncovers the truth behind Broadway Joe and why his legend has meant so much to so many.
"Brilliant ... definitive and hugely entertaining."Chicago Sun-Times
"Elegantly told ... Kriegel has written a remarkable book: a feel-good sports story still abundant with insight and social commentary."Publishers Weekly, starred
"...a story so taut and true it pulls at your heart."Richard Ben Cramer, author of Joe DiMaggio: The Heros Life
"Mark Kriegel has written an extraordinary biography of an extraordinary American."Pete Hamill
"Irreverent and highly entertaining."Los Angeles Times Book Review
Mark Kriegel is a former sports columnist for the New York Daily News and author of the novel Bless Me, Father.