Giant Steps [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem; Knobler, Peter

Published by Bantam Books, New York, 1983

About this Item

Fine condition beige boards, beige cloth spine, and gold spine lettering contained in a good condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes Author Dedication; Acknowledgments and Foreword. Illustrated with a section of black-and-white photographic plates. A 2 inch repaired closed tear at upper rear jacket, a 1/2 inch repaired closed tear at lower rear jacket edge, and upper jacket spine edge chip/wear (see photographs). All pages are in fine unmarked condition and the spine/binding is in exceeding tight and square condition (see photographs. "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. To millions of sports fans, the ane conjures up the image of a reticent loner, withdrawn from the public, hostile to the press. Now the basketball legend steps out from behind his mask to reveal the man behind the stormy public image. From Harlem to UCLA and beyond, here is the fascination evolution of middle-class Lew Alcindor - the good boy who did all the right things until they seemed wrong - into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, devout Muslim and angry, articulate spokesman for his race. With remarkable honesty, humor and insight, Kareem shows us the tall, gangly child forever being challenged and often being beaten up on Manhattan's mean streets; the shy adolescent who took to sports as a means of developing badly needed confidence and self-esteem; and the celebrated high school athlete who learned the rules of the game from a mentor who gave him his first taste of humiliation. In Giant Steps, Kareem reveals the motives for choosing UCLA, and the culture shock he was to undergo in the "blond surfer" world of Southern California. He talks about the decision not to participate in the 1968 Olympics, and the scandal and hate mail that resulted. He speaks candidly about his experiences with drugs in college, and the conversion to Islam that changed his life. And for the first time, he explains the full story behind the tragedy that made national headlines - when several fellow Muslims were found murdered in his Washington, D.C. townhouse. Of course Giant Steps is also the exhilarating story of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, superstar center and NBA legend. Here are the shocking facts of big-league drugs and sex; the smoldering anger that triggered his one-punch knockout of Kent Benson in the opening moments of the 1977 season; his life on the road and his rocky battles with the press. Kareem takes this opportunity to set the record straight on his long, well-publicized friendship with fellow basketball great, Wilt Chamberlain. From the late-night card games at Chamberlain's osh Central Park penthouse to the famous "wide body" airlines commercial that brought an end to years of bitter silence, here is the story of one of basketball's most touching frienships. Finally, Kareem's most personal revelation of all: why his own marriage failed, and how he achieved the hard-won maturity that has brought him a meaningful love at last. At 7'2" there has always been something of a natural barrier between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the rest of the world. Now at last in Giant Steps he lets down that barrier to explore fully the public and private world of the superstar and the man, and to take us on a fascinating tour not only of his fifteen years of professional basketball but of three turbulent decades in America." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps.

Seller Inventory # 008300

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Giant Steps [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]
• Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
• Publication Date: 1983
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Mazzella, Nicola (book design); Ressmeyer, Roger (cover photographs)
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good