Coach; 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a difference

New York: Warner Books, 2005. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Benoit Jeanneton (Jacket photograph). x,[2], 285, [7] pages. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Contents include: Foreword by Bill Bradley; George Vecsey--"The Old Man"; E. M. Swift--"Why Be Last, Son?''; Pat Conroy--"My Losing Season"; Buzz Bissinger--"When I was Young"; John Edgar Wideman-- "Passing It On"; Andrew Solomon--"Prudent Fitness; A Panegyric"; John McPhee--"VBK"; Francine Prose--"Physical Education"; John Irving--"Underdog"; Thomas Beller--"Something Special"; Charles McGrath--"Ironing"; David Maraniss--''The Coach Who Wasn't There"; Frank Deford--"The Depression Baby""; Darin Strauss--"Long Island Shaolin"; George Plimpton--"Golf Lessons"; Lauren Slater--"Tripp Lake"; Toure--"The Last of the Great Dreamers"; Benjamin Cheever--"The Boy They Cut"; Robert Lipsyte--"To Althea, From the New"; Jane Leavy--"Coaching Bob"; Jonathan Ames--"The Duel"; Christine Brennan--"Our Miss O"; Bob Wolff--"Making It to the Majors"; Ira Berkow--"Back to Basics"; and Bud Collins--"FIt to Be Tied". Andrew Blauner has a B.A. from Brown University, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University School of Business. He founded Blauner Books in 1995. As an anthologist, he is the editor of: Coach: 25 Writers Reflect on People Who Made a Difference; Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and Rivalry; Central Park: An Anthology; Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs; The Peanuts Papers: Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life; Now Comes Good Sailing: On Henry David Thoreau and the Meaning of Life. He is also the co-editor of For the Love of Baseball: A Celebration of the Game that Connects Us All. A range of celebrated writers share the inspiring stories of athletic coaches who influenced their lives with powerful advice or encouragement, in a collection of original and previously published essays by such contributors as John Irving, John McPhee, Christine Brennan, Ira Berkow, John Irving, David Maraniss, Frank Deford, George Plimpton, Jane Leavy, Bill Bradley, and Pat Conroy. Derived from a Kirkus review: An often stellar anthology examining the impact of coaches. Sportswriter Frank Deford profiles Marquette basketball coach Al Maguire, a man of extraordinary color and velocity who works a grand con of madman/fool to get the most out of his squad. Irving honors the wrestling coach who counseled him to become a student of the sport to compensate for his shortcomings. "Talent is overrated," he told Irving. "[T]hat you're not very talented needn't be the end of it." Charles McGrath, former editor of the New York Times Book Review, writes that Aunt Gert was his best golfing coach. On the green, she kicked his butt with short drives while teaching him that calm and humility go a long way, even if he was too testosterone-laden to listen. McPhee offers a cool, elegant portrait of Princeton's Willem van Breda Kolff, who felt "that mere winning is far less important than winning with style." And it is not surprising that Buzz Bissinger was asked to weigh in on the subject, with the recent success of his book-turned-movie Friday Night Lights, though here it is a tribute to his baseball coach. Novelist Prose, in a superb entry about the gym coach she couldn't stand, reminds us that not all coaches are heroes. Other contributors—John Edgar Wideman, George Vecsey, Robert Lipsyte, and others—share equally memorable stories. A solid, entertaining collection recognizing great coaches, and a Beelzebub or two.