Native American Son
The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe
The first comprehensive biography of the legendary figure who defined excellence in American sports: Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest all-around athlete the United States has ever seen.
With clarity and a fine eye for detail, Kate Buford traces the pivotal moments of Thorpe’s incomparable career: growing up in the tumultuous Indian Territory of Oklahoma; leading the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team, coached by the renowned “Pop” Warner, to victories against the country’s finest college teams; winning gold medals in the 1912 Olympics pentathlon and decathlon; defining the burgeoning sport of professional football and helping to create what would become the National Football League; and playing long, often successful—and previously unexamined—years in professional baseball.
But, at the same time, Buford vividly…
$8.99
October 26, 2010
Kate Buford has written for The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Film Comment, and Bluegrass Unlimited, among other publications. She has been a commentator on NPR's Morning Edition and American Public Media’s Marketplace, and on Virginia’s NPR affiliate, WMRA. Her biography of Burt Lancaster was named one of the Best Books of 2000 by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Her latest book, Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe (Knopf 2010) was an Editors' Choice of The New York Times, a featured selection of The Book of the Month Club and of The History Book Club, and the winner of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) 2011 Larry Ritter Award. She lives in Lexington, Virginia, and Westchester, New York.
Burt Lancaster
Kate Buford