The Whore of Akron: One Man's Search for the Soul of Lebron James - Hardcover

Raab, Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062066366 ISBN 13: 9780062066367

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011

Synopsis

Revealing the “manchild” behind the legend who made a bold career move, this candid look at LeBron James, who, both a hero and villain, is one of the most influential--and controversial--athletes since Tiger Woods. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

"Spellbinding. . . . . Compelling. . . . . Gleefully vulgar. . . . . Raab does not merely insert himself [into the narrative], he envelops it. "The Whore of Akron" bears little resemblance to any sports book I've ever read. It is far more similar to Charles Bukowski's "Hollywood" than anything David Halberstam or John Feinstein has ever written."--"Cavs: The Blog"

"Hilarious."--"Christian Science Monitor"

"Indelicate and unhinged..."The Whore of Akron" soars because Raab is unflinchingly honest, naked with emotions and embarrassments most of us keep penned inside.....at its heart, this is a book about loyalty, and why attachments count. Basketball could use a little more of Raab's disorderly passion."--Jason Gay, "Wall Street Journal"

"A (very heated) "Fan's Notes". . . . . Rollicking and profane. . . . . Raab's sustained attack on James is diverting, [but] it is the author's self-portrait of a man and a fan of serious extremes, one who loves his wife and son as fiercely as he hates most of the rest of the world, that engrosses."--"Sports Illustrated"

""The Whore of Akron" isn't really about basketball. It's about addiction and sobriety, marriage and divorce, childhood and parenthood, loyalty and autonomy."--"The Awl.com"

"A modern-day "Portnoy's Complaint". Standing in for the piece of liver is LeBron James."--"Slate"

"Visceral and raucously funny. . . . . Perhaps the best book ever written about the ragged world of sports obsession. . . . . Raab recounts, with electrifying insight, past and present instances of remorse, reconciliation, relapse, revulsion and, inevitably, a dare-not-to-mention-too-loud longing for simply the possibility of redemption."--"The Cleveland Leader"

""The Whore of Akron" is hilarious, heartfelt and wincingly honest. This is the best kind of book, one that surprises."--Buzz Bissinger

""The Whore of Akron" reads like Frederick Exley's "A Fan's Notes" on brown acid. Raab is a bastard, but he's a funny bastard."--"The Onion"

A powerful storyteller in full command of his game...wonderfully immoderate. --"New York Times""

From the Back Cover:

"If there was an opportunity for me to return to Cleveland and those fans welcomed me back, that'd be a great story."—Lebron James

Scott Raab is a last vestige of Gonzo Journalism in an era when sanitary decorum reigns. Crude but warmhearted, poetic but raving, Raab has chronicled—at GQ and Esquire—everything from nights out with the likes of Tupac and Mickey Rourke to a moral investigation into Holocaust death-camp guard Ivan the Terrible to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, but the book you hold in your hands is neither a story nor a job: The Whore of Akron is the product of lifelong suffering, and a mission bound with the meaning of existence.

Raab sat in the lower bowl of Cleveland Stadium on December 27, 1964, when the Browns defeated the Colts for the NFL World Championship—the last sports title the declining city has won. He still carries his ticket stub wherever he goes, safely tucked within a Ziploc bag. The glory of that triumph is an easy thing to forget—each generation born in Cleveland is another generation removed from that victory; an entire fan base "whose daily bread has forever tasted of ash."

LeBron James was supposed to change all that. A native son of Akron, he was already world famous by the age of seventeen, had already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, was already worth $90 million to Nike. He seemed like a miracle heaven-sent by God to transform Cleveland's losing ways. That the Cavaliers drafted him, the hometown prodigy, with the first pick of the 2003 draft, seemed nothing short of destiny. But after seven years—and still no parade down Euclid Avenue—he left. And he left in a way that seemed designed to twist the knife: announcing his move to South Beach on a nationally televised ESPN production with a sly title ("The Decision") that echoed fifty years of Cleveland sports futility.

Out of James's treachery grew a monster. Raab, a fifty-nine-year-old, 350-pound, Jewish Santa Claus with a Chief Wahoo tattoo, would bear witness to LeBron's every move, and in doing so would act as the eyes and ears of Cleveland itself. (He did not keep this intentions a secret and was promptly banned by the Miami Heat.)

The Whore of Akron is an indictment of a traitorous athlete and the story of Raab's hilarious, profane (and profound) quest to reveal the "wee jewel-box" of LeBron James's very soul.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0062066366
• ISBN 13: 9780062066367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 302