Jesse Owens: An American Life (Sport and Society) - Softcover

Baker, William J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025207369X ISBN 13: 9780252073694

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2006

Synopsis

Unusual book

About this title

Review:

"This book goes far beyond the Jesse Owens of the record books, the legendary winner of four Olympic gold medals and the setter of six world records in a single afternoon's burst of eternal glory. Jesse Owens delves more deeply into Owens the man and, even more significantly, introduces us to his life before and after his brief term as an unforgettable athlete. It is must reading for all who are interested in the man still regarded by most as the greatest track and field athlete in history." -- Bert Nelson

Synopsis:

Born the tenth child of a poor Southern sharecropper and barely able to read or write, Jesse Owens would nevertheless go on to win an unprecedented four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, becoming an international superstar overnight and exploding Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy in the process. William J. Baker's "Jesse Owens" is the most complete and probing biography of Owens ever written, vividly detailing the successes and failures of this complex and troubled but ultimately indomitable figure who transcended his own athleticism and became an American icon.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 025207369X
• ISBN 13: 9780252073694
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304