Most Popular Books by George Plimpton

The book that made a legend -- and captures America''s sport in detail that''s never been matched, featuring a foreword by Nicholas Dawidoff and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives. George Plimpton was perhaps best known for Paper Lion, the book that set the bar for participatory sports journalism. With his characteristic wit, Plimpton recounts his experiences in talking his way into training camp with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the team, and taking snaps behind center. His breezy style captures the pressures and tensions rookies confront, the hijinks that pervade when sixty high-strung guys live together in close quarters, and a host of football rites and rituals. One of the funniest and most insightful books ever written on football, Paper Lion is a classic look at the gridiron game and a book The Wall Street Journal calls "a continuous feast...The best book ever about football -- or anything!"

George Plimpton''s follow-up to Paper Lion, one of his personal favorites among his classic books -- repackaged and including a foreword from Steve Almond and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton archives. In Mad Ducks and Bears, George Plimpton''s engaging companion to Paper Lion, Plimpton focuses on two of the most entertaining and roguish linemen and former teammates -- Alex Karras ("Mad Ducks") and John Gordy ("Bears"), both of whom went on to achieve brilliant post-football success. A more reflective, less madcap book than Plimpton''s other work, Mad Ducks and Bears is no less truthful and searching. In this fond exploration of football''s values and follies, Plimpton rejoins his two teammates to discuss their careers in this brutal but captivating game. The result is an astute exploration into the fascinating lives and motivations of the players at home, in the locker room, and on the field.

George Plimpton chronicles his month spent on the PGA tour in The Bogey Man, repackaged and including a foreword by Rick Reilly and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives. What happens when a weekend athlete -- of average skill at best -- joins the professional golf circuit? George Plimpton, one of the finest participatory sports journalists, spent a month of self-imposed torture on the tour to find out. Along the way, he meets amateurs, pros, caddies, officials, fans, and hangers-on. In The Bogey Man, we find golf legends, adventurers, stroke-saving theories, superstitions, and other golfing lore, and best of all, Plimpton''s thoughts and experiences -- frustrating, humbling and, sometimes, thrilling -- from the first tee to the last green. This intriguing classic, which remains one of the wittiest books ever written on golf, features Arnold Palmer, Dow Finsterwald, Walter Hagan, and many other golf greats and eccentrics, all doing what they do best.

Featuring such classic pieces as "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" and "The Plimpton Small-Ball Theory of Sports Writing" - the smaller the ball the better the writing - this is a rich mix of profiles, essays, and articles from a most talented and unique American literary personality. Photographs.

Cover title: Fireworks: a history and celebration.

A collection of George Plimpton''s finest pieces on the contemporary sports scene.

George Plimpton makes his riskiest foray into participatory journalism -- stepping into the ring against a champion boxer -- in Shadow Box, repackaged and including never-before-seen content from the Plimpton archives. Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout -- and lives to tell, in this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer. Shadow Box is one of Plimpton''s most engaging studies of professional sport, told through the eyes of an inquisitive and astute amateur. From the gym, the locker room, ringside, and even in the harsh glare of the ring itself, Plimpton documents what it is like to be a boxer, an artist of mayhem.

This baseball classic that Ernest Hemingway called "beautifully observed and incredibly conceived" includes a foreword from Jane Leavy and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton archives. The first of Plimpton''s remarkable forays into participatory journalism, Out of My League chronicles with wit, charm, and grace what happens when a self-professed amateur has the chance to answer every fan''s question: could he strike out a major league star? Plimpton''s inspired idea -- to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues -- begins as a fun-filled stunt and comes to a deeply hellish, nearly humiliating end. This honest and hilarious tale features Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Ralph Houk, and other baseball greats and is "a baseball book such as no one else ever wrote, and one of the best ever."-New York Herald Tribune

When Edie was first published a decade ago, it quickly became an international bestseller. In the sixties Edie Sedgwick exploded into the public eye like a comet--aristocratic, glamorous, and Andy Warhol''s superstar. Then at 28 her light fizzled and died from a drug overdose. Alternately thrilling, tragic and horrifying, this book shatters many myths about the American sixties. Photographs.

George Plimpton needed no encouragement. If there was a sport to play, a party to throw, a celebrity to amaze, a fireworks display to ignite, Plimpton was front and center hurling the pitch, popping the corks, lighting the fuse. And then, of course, writing about it with incomparable zest and style. His books made him a legend. The Paris Review, the magazine he founded and edited, won him a throne in literary heaven. Somehow, in the midst of his self-generated cyclones, Plimpton managed to toss off dazzling essays, profiles, and New Yorker “Talk of the Town” pieces. This delightful volume collects the very best of Plimpton’s inspired brief “excursions.” Whether he was escorting Hunter Thompson to the Fear and Loathing movie premiere in New York or tracking down the California man who launched himself into the upper atmosphere with nothing but a lawn chair and a bunch of weather balloons, Plimpton had a rare knack for finding stories where no one else thought to look. Who but Plimpton would turn up in Las Vegas, notebook in hand, for the annual porn movie awards gala? Among the many gems collected here are accounts of helping Jackie Kennedy plan an unforgettable children’s birthday party, the time he improvised his way through amateur night at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater, and how he managed to get himself kicked out of Exeter just weeks before graduation. The grand master of what he called “participatory journalism,” George Plimpton followed his bent and his genius down the most unbelievable rabbit holes–but he always came up smiling. This exemplary, utterly captivating volume is a fitting tribute to one of the great literary lives of our time.

Sixteen disabled artists talk about their lives and how art has made a difference to them.

George Plimpton takes to the ice with the Boston Bruins in this memorable portrait of the rough-and-tumble world of professional hockey, repackaged and featuring a foreword from Denis Leary and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives. In Open Net, George Plimpton takes to the ice as goalie for his beloved Boston Bruins. After signing a release holding the Bruins blameless if he should meet with injury or death, he survives a harrowing, seemingly eternal five minutes in an exhibition game against the always-tough Philadelphia Flyers. With reflections on such hockey greats as Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, and Eddie Shore, Open Net is at once a celebration of the thrills and grace of the greatest sport on ice and a probing meditation into the hopes and fears of every man.

The latest issue of "the biggest ''little magazine'' in history" (Time magazine) is devoted to playwrights and the theater. Paris Review defines where the theater stands today. It includes interviews with three of the world''s best writers for the stage, all Pulitzer Prize-winner, and showcases work from up-and-coming playwrights. Photos and illustrations throughout.

"Beloved by readers of all ages, this is the timeless and uproarious story of Hayden "Sidd" Finch - an eccentric Buddhist monk pitcher and New York Mets phenom who throws at the unhittable speed of 168 mph. Sidd first exploded onto the scene in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated, in an article that left readers around the world holding their breath. At the time, Sidd couldn''t decide if he wanted to pursue a pitching career. And other questions remained: Was it even possible to throw a baseball at such speeds? Or was it all some kind of cruel joke. If the story were true, what would it mean for the future of the game?" "Here, from the author of such classics as Paper Lion and Out of My League, is the complete and definitive story of Sidd ("two D''s for Siddhartha") Finch. This new edition features the original Sports Illustrated article that started the frenzy and a preface by Jonathan Ames."--BOOK JACKET.

For more than a century, The Explorers Club has been the meeting place for some of the most daring adventurers on the planet. It''s a legendary oasis, where a man just back from the Gobi Desert might kick back and, over some port, have a chat with a fellow off to Bandung.This updated edition includes a new foreword by Richard Wiese, the 44th president of The Explorers Club, and an all-new photo insert that takes readers inside the exclusive club and its world-famous adventure archives. Here then, are some of the best tales ever swapped at that capital of adventure, including: Anthony Fiola on being in close quarters with a polar bear Charles Lindbergh on his famous flight Felix Reisenberg on the Arctic Anne Keenleyside, Ph. D. on cannibalism Roald Amundsen on the explorer Stefansson Mervyn Cowie on hunting killer lions Jean-Marc Boivin on hang-gliding Curtis and Kathleen Saville on oceanic rowing E. W. Deming on Sitting Bull''s mysterious death It''s some of the finest writing on some of the most hair-raising journeys ever made, all selected by the late George Plimpton, himself a member of The Explorers Club.

A series of letters written to Dr. Rawff, a pet-problem advice columnist and veterinarian, holds the clues to his mysterious disappearance, and it is up to readers to use the letters to figure out his location.

The inside story of Hank Aaron''s chase for the home run record, repackaged and with a foreword by Bob Costas and new material from the Plimpton Archives. In One For the Record, George Plimpton recounts Hank Aaron''s thrilling race to become the new home run champion. Amidst media frenzy and death threats, Aaron sought to beat Babe Ruth''s record. In 1974, he finally succeeded. A fascinating examination of the psychology of baseball players, One For the Record gives an absorbing account of the men on the mound who had to face Aaron. But the book''s true genius lies in the portrait of Aaron himself, and his discussions on his philosophy on hitting and the game of baseball.

Every one of his Antarctic expeditions ended in failure. His life "off the ice" was a series of failed get-rich-quick schemes. And yet the name of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) remains a byword for charismatic leadership, raw courage, and endurance in the face of overwhelming odds. Perhaps the greatest hero of the heroic age of polar exploration, Shackleton''s crowning achievement was to bring all 28 of his men home safely after their ship was crushed in pack ice in 1915 -- an epic journey capped by an 800-mile small-boat voyage through some of the planet''s roughest waters. In Ernest Shackleton, writer and media personality George Plimpton not only tells Shackleton''s story, but recounts his own recent adventures following Shackleton''s footsteps through the bleak, beautiful seas and islands at the bottom of the world.

Depicts in text and illustrations the fanciful adventures of rabbits with umbrellas.

Includes articles on Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Nolan Ryan, Henry Aaron and his record, Willie Mays, Roger Maris, among others.

Using oral biography, a technique that perfectly matches the style of his subject, George Plimpton blends the voices of Capote''s lovers, haters, acquaintances, and colleagues into a highly readable narrative. Here we are present for the entire span of Capote''s life: his Southern childhood and his early days in New York; his first literary success with the publication of Other Voices, Other Rooms; his highly active love life; the groundbreaking excitement of In Cold Blood, the first "nonfiction novel"; his years as a jet-setter; and his final days of flagging inspiration, alcoholism, and isolation. All his famous friends and enemies are here: Katherine Graham, Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, Lee Radziwill, John Huston, John Knowles, William F. Buckley, Jr., and dozens of others.