Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe

Maraniss, David

ISBN 10: 1476748411 / ISBN 13: 9781476748412

Published by Simon & Schuster, 2022

About this Item

Jim Thorpe, a Native American, may have been the greatest athlete the world has ever seen. He rose to fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, became the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw's New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was unique. But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe's life was a struggle against daunting odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk, among them his Carlisle coach Pop Warner and U.S. Olympic official James E. Sullivan. At Carlisle, he dealt with the school's racist assimilationist philosophy "Kill the Indian, save the man." His Olympic gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played both Warner and Sullivan knew. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state, trying to earn a living from his celebrity. He took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. Despite all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth. Path Lit by Lightning is a great American story from a master biographer. SIMON & SCHUSTER, HARDCOVER, 1ST EDITION, 1ST PRINTING, 2022 THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.

Seller Inventory # 003237

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1476748411
• ISBN 13: 9781476748412
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

A biography of Jim Thorpe, the Native American sports icon and Olympic champion, that “goes beyond the myth and into the guts of Thorpe’s life, using extensive research, historical nuance, and bittersweet honesty” (Los Angeles Times), by the bestselling author of the classic biography When Pride Still Mattered.

Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. Most famously, he won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw’s New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind.

But despite his awesome talent, Thorpe’s life was a struggle against the odds. At Carlisle, he faced the racist assimilationist philosophy “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball, and his supposed allies turned away from him when their own reputations were at risk. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. But for all his travails, Thorpe survived, determined to shape his own destiny, his perseverance becoming another mark of his mythic stature.

Path Lit by Lightning “[reveals] Thorpe as a man in full, whose life was characterized by both soaring triumph and grievous loss” (The Wall Street Journal).

About the Author

David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post and a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and was a finalist three other times. Among his bestselling books are biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente, and Vince Lombardi, and a trilogy about the 1960s—Rome 1960; Once in a Great City (winner of the RFK Book Prize); and They Marched into Sunlight (winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize and Pulitzer Finalist in History).