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Product Description
Product Description
"Astonishing . . . Moving . . . One of the best books ever written about a sport."
*Walter Clemons
Newsweek
"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE."
*David Guy
Chicago Tribune
In The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the unique brand of reportage, both penetrating and supple, that distinguished his bestselling The Best and the Brightest and October 1964. This time he has taken for his subject the dramatic and special world of amateur rowing. While other athletes are earning fortunes in salaries and-or endorsements, the oarsmen gain fame only with each other and strive without any hope of financial reward.
What drives these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they regard themselves and their competitors? What have they sacrificed, and what inner demons have they appeased? In answering these questions, David Halberstam takes as his focus the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton. The man who wins will gain the right to represent the United States in the 84 Olympiad; the losers will then have to struggle further to gain a place in the two- or four-man boats. And even if they succeed, they will have to live with the bitter knowledge that they were not the best, only close to it.
Informative and compelling, The Amateurs combines the vividness of superb sportswriting with the narrative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent.
"RIVETING."
*Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times
"[A] MASTERFUL JOB . . . Maintains the suspense to the very last stroke . . . Halberstam makes us care about the four men, their disappointments and the brutal testing of their friendships."
*Dan Levin
Sports Illustrated
*Walter Clemons
Newsweek
"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE."
*David Guy
Chicago Tribune
In The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the unique brand of reportage, both penetrating and supple, that distinguished his bestselling The Best and the Brightest and October 1964. This time he has taken for his subject the dramatic and special world of amateur rowing. While other athletes are earning fortunes in salaries and-or endorsements, the oarsmen gain fame only with each other and strive without any hope of financial reward.
What drives these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they regard themselves and their competitors? What have they sacrificed, and what inner demons have they appeased? In answering these questions, David Halberstam takes as his focus the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton. The man who wins will gain the right to represent the United States in the 84 Olympiad; the losers will then have to struggle further to gain a place in the two- or four-man boats. And even if they succeed, they will have to live with the bitter knowledge that they were not the best, only close to it.
Informative and compelling, The Amateurs combines the vividness of superb sportswriting with the narrative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent.
"RIVETING."
*Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times
"[A] MASTERFUL JOB . . . Maintains the suspense to the very last stroke . . . Halberstam makes us care about the four men, their disappointments and the brutal testing of their friendships."
*Dan Levin
Sports Illustrated
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
It was not a celebrated event. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was not a celebrated event. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Halberstam really gets into the minds & hearts and gives names and faces and histories to these traditionally anonymous competitors. Very deep and probing and moving, and the racing/action scenes are well-written. Glad to see a focus on a minor sport, where the athletes aren't stars or icons (unlike Halberstam's latest offering on Jordan).I compete in lifeguard rowing events--much different style of rowing than sculling, but I use an ergometer to help train. While reading this book my 2500 meter erg times dropped by 10 seconds or more, not from any form or style tips but just by recalling the focus, dedication and motivation of Halberstam's rowers.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Halberstam poignantly captures the beauty, grace, intensity, zen and agony of the sport. I gave the book to my girlfriend to read so she'd understand why I get up before dawn in rain, snow or perfect calm to sit on my bottom in a boat and go backwards. It's also a fabulous portrait of amateur athletes, especially Olympic athletes, who push themselves to their limits not because they seek wealth, or glory or fame, but because they seek excellence. Fans of sports, biography and great writing will love this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I first started rowing in 1987 I happened across a copy of the Amateurs at a local bookstore. thrilled with the fact I found a book on my new sport and written by one of our best journalists I devoured it in a scant five hours. Even though I was a novice to the sport I found that Habelstram captured the pain, fears, joys, and dissapointments of boat racing perfectly. Later as a coach I would reccomend this book to my rowers so they could see that the feelings they were experiencing are not unique to them, but also shared by even the elite scullers that Halberstram observed. I also reccomended this book to the parents of my rowers so they could better understand the level of commitment it takes to row . Halberstram has done a rare thing, he has written about a subject so precisley that it will not be scoffed at by those who row, and those who do not row will not be lost in the explanation of technique and rowing history.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A fantastic read
Reading this book gives one a complete idea on what it is like row and how it can take over one's life. It shows what dedication a rower has to this sport. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 1999
Wow
This is easily the best "sports" book I have ever read. On the recommendation of a close friend and former Harvard rower, I dove into this book thinking only that I... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 1998
Another rower's opinion
I'm in the middle of my rowing career at Harvard right now, and David Halberstam's evaluation of rowing as an experience and as a way of life is right on. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 1998
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