Promotional Information

Now with an introduction by David Maraniss (New York Times bestselling author of When Pride Still Mattered), Pulitzer Prize-winner David Halberstam's bestseller takes you inside the football genius of Bill Belichick for an insightful profile in leadership.

About the Author

David Halberstam was one of America's most distinguished journalists and historians. After graduating from Harvard in 1955, he covered the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, then was sent overseas by the New York Times to report on the war in Vietnam. The author of fifteen bestsellers, including The Best and the Brightest, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam reporting at the age of thirty. He was killed in a car accident on April 23, 2007, while on his way to an interview for what was to be his next book. David Maraniss is an associate editor at the Washington Post. He is the winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. He has written four New York Times bestsellers: They Marched Into Sunlight (Vietnam), When Pride Still Mattered (Vince Lombardi), First in His Class (Bill Clinton), and Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. The author lives in Washington, DC, and Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews

"Halberstam takes the classic sports-bio formula--one stellar performer's rise to the pinnacle of American sport--and transforms it into a nuance-rich story of individual triumph and social history."--Booklist

"If you want to learn about schooling and allegiance and leadership and, most of all, football, by all means--slip inside the sweatshirt."--Wall Street Journal

"In describing the triumph of 'an unadorned man, ' a coach without artifice, Halberstam has created a tale of excellence."--New York Times Book Review

With the snappy delivery of a play-by-play commentator, Conger ably performs Halberstam's reverent biography of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Chronicling Belichick's tutelage at the hands of his sharp college coach father, Halberstam moves through Belichick's trail of internships and promotions, augmenting his narrative with engaging anecdotes and succinct illustrations of the tactical genius that propelled him through the ranks of the NFL. Conger doesn't have to stretch much in terms of characterization; he's simply a good choice for the project, with a smart, clean delivery that goes just as well with a description of a tender exchange between Belichick and his father as it does with a detailed breakdown of the Patriots' unorthodox defensive strategy in the Super Bowl. The production's one shortcoming is the strange choice of musical snippets for the beginnings and endings of different sections. None of the widely varied music fits in very well with the reading and proves to be much more of a puzzling distraction than an effective accompaniment. Still, it's not enough to overshadow an engrossing portrait of one of the NFL's best coaches, or a reading that hits just the right note. Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 10). (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"Halberstam takes the classic sports-bio formula--one stellar performer's rise to the pinnacle of American sport--and transforms it into a nuance-rich story of individual triumph and social history."--Booklist
"If you want to learn about schooling and allegiance and leadership and, most of all, football, by all means--slip inside the sweatshirt."--Wall Street Journal
"In describing the triumph of 'an unadorned man, ' a coach without artifice, Halberstam has created a tale of excellence."--New York Times Book Review