Amy has selected our January 2014 book: Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. I'm so excited. I've had this book on my shelf and I've been meaning to read it for over 10 years!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in
sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938,
receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success
was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the
crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed
Seabiscuit’s fortunes:
Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle
repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and
became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new
racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the
Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a
bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed
boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting
passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely
partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and
severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically
indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.
Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.
Amazon.com Review
He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature,
knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow
pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an
admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells
the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend.
Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate:
owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that "the
day of the horse is past"; trainer Tom Smith, a man who "had cultivated
an almost mystical communication with horses"; and jockey Red Pollard,
who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his
calm demeanor and a sugar cube. Hillenbrand details the ups and downs
of "team Seabiscuit," from early training sessions to record-breaking
victories, and from serious injury to "Horse of the Year"--as well as
the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral. She also describes the
world of horseracing in the 1930s, from the snobbery of Eastern
journalists regarding Western horses and public fascination with the
great thoroughbreds to the jockeys' torturous weight-loss regimens,
including saunas in rubber suits, strong purgatives, even tapeworms.
Along the way, Hillenbrand paints wonderful images: tears in Tom
Smith's eyes as his hero, legendary trainer James Fitzsimmons, asked to
hold Seabiscuit's bridle while the horse was saddled; critically
injured Red Pollard, whose chest was crushed in a racing accident a few
weeks before, listening to the San Antonio Handicap from his hospital
bed, cheering "Get going, Biscuit! Get 'em, you old devil!"; Seabiscuit
happily posing for photographers for several minutes on end; other
horses refusing to work out with Seabiscuit because he teased and
taunted them with his blistering speed.
Though sometimes her
prose takes on a distinctly purple hue ("His history had the ethereal
quality of hoofprints in windblown snow"; "The California sunlight had
the pewter cast of a declining season"), Hillenbrand has crafted a
delightful book. Wire to wire,
Seabiscuit is a winner. Highly recommended.
--Sunny Delaney
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
HGifted sportswriter Hillenbrand unearths the rarefied world of
thoroughbred horse racing in this captivating account of one of the
sport's legends. Though no longer a household name, Seabiscuit enjoyed
great celebrity during the 1930s and 1940s, drawing record crowds to his
races around the country. Not an overtly impressive physical
specimenD"His stubby legs were a study in unsound construction, with
huge, squarish, asymmetrical 'baseball glove' knees that didn't quite
straighten all the way"Dthe horse seemed to transcend his physicality as
he won race after race. Hillenbrand, a contributor to Equus magazine,
profiles the major players in Seabiscuit's fantastic and improbable
career. In simple, elegant prose, she recounts how Charles Howard, a
pioneer in automobile sales and Seabiscuit's eventual owner, became
involved with horse racing, starting as a hobbyist and growing into a
fanatic. She introduces esoteric recluse Tom Smith (Seabiscuit's
trainer) and jockey Red Pollard, a down-on-his-luck rider whose
specialty was taming unruly horses.
In 1936, Howard united Smith,
Pollard and "The Biscuit," whose performance had been spottyDand the
horse's star career began. Smith, who recognized Seabiscuit's potential,
felt an immediate rapport with him and eased him into shape. Once
Seabiscuit started breaking records and outrunning lead horses,
reporters thronged the Howard barn day and night. Smith's secret
workouts became legendary and only heightened Seabiscuit's mystique.
Hillenbrand deftly blends the story with explanations of the sport and
its culture, including vivid descriptions of the Tijuana horse-racing
scene in all its debauchery. She roots her narrative of the horse's
breathtaking career and the wild devotion of his fans in its
socioeconomic context: Seabiscuit embodied the underdog myth for a
nation recovering from dire economic straits.
(Mar.) Forecast: Despite
the shrinking horse racing audienceDand the publishing adage that books
on horse racing don't sellDthis book has the potential to do well, even
outside the realm of the racing community, due to a large first printing
and forthcoming Universal Studios movie. A stylish cover will attract
both baby boomers and young readers, tapping into the sexiness and
allure of the "Sport of Kings." Hillenbrand's glamorous photo on the
book jacket won't hurt her chances, and Seabiscuit should sell at a
galloping pace.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
