{"title":"Kostya Kennedy","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the insightful sports writing of Kostya Kennedy. From baseball's legends to the human stories behind the games, Kennedy captures the heart of American sport with compelling narratives and keen observations.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"pete-rose-book-kostya-kennedy-9781618930965","title":"Pete Rose","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eKennedy's book on the tarnished and enigmatic Rose is exceptional. Like the best writing about sport--Liebling, Angell--it qualifies as stirring literature. I'd read Kennedy no matter what he writes about. --Richard Ford\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame? has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHow do we evaluate the Hit King now, at a time when steroid cheats appear on the Hall of Fame ballot even as Rose is denied? What do we make of this happily unrepentant gambler, this shameless but beguiling showman whose postbaseball journey has led him to a curious reality show and to the streets of Cooperstown to hawk his signature, his story, himself? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBest-selling author Kostya Kennedy delivers an evocative answer in his fascinating re-examination of Pete Rose's life; from his cocky and charismatic early years through his storied playing career to his bitter war against baseball's hierarchy to the man we find today--still incorrigible, still adored by many. Where has his improbable saga landed him in the redefined, post-steroid world? Do we feel any differently about Pete Rose today? 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Starting that day, the vaunted Yankee center fielder kept on hitting--at least one hit in game after game after game.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the summer of 1941, as Nazi forces moved relentlessly across Europe and young American men were drafted by the millions, it seemed only a matter of time before the U.S. went to war. The nation was apprehensive. Yet for two months in that tense summer, America was captivated by DiMaggio's astonishing hitting streak. In \u003ci\u003e56\u003c\/i\u003e, Kostya Kennedy tells the remarkable story of how the streak found its way into countless lives, from the Italian kitchens of Newark to the playgrounds of Queens to the San Francisco streets of North Beach; from the Oval Office of FDR to the Upper West Side apartment where Joe's first wife, Dorothy, the movie starlet, was expecting a child. In this crisp, evocative narrative, Joe DiMaggio emerges in a previously unseen light, a 26-year-old on the cusp of becoming an icon. He comes alive--a driven ballplayer, a mercurial star and a conflicted husband--as the tension and the scrutiny upon him build with each passing day.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDiMaggio's achievement lives on as the greatest of sports records. Alongside the story of DiMaggio's dramatic quest, Kennedy deftly examines the peculiar nature of hitting streaks and with an incisive, modern-day perspective gets inside the number itself, as its sheer improbability heightens both the math and the magic of 56 games in a row.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49531236942097,"sku":"CIN1603201777G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393773080849,"sku":"CIN1603201777A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50440577351953,"sku":"CIN1603201777VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50922449338641,"sku":"GOR008383829","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1603201777.jpg?v=1751151077"},{"product_id":"56-book-kostya-kennedy-9781603209137","title":"56","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49657599852817,"sku":"GOR004873501","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49949583507729,"sku":"CIN1603209131VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393870434577,"sku":"CIN1603209131A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417450938641,"sku":"CIN1603209131G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51709424730385,"sku":"GOR014373088","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1603209131.jpg?v=1751246213"},{"product_id":"true-the-four-seasons-of-jackie-robinson-book-kostya-kennedy-9781250274045","title":"True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e True\u003c\/i\u003e is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's--and America's--most significant figures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball's singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half-century since Robinson's death, letters come to his widow, Rachel, by the score. But Robinson's impact extended far beyond baseball: he opened the door for Black Americans to participate in other sports, and was a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about inequality.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTrue: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson\u003c\/i\u003e by Kostya Kennedy is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Kennedy examines each of these years through details not reported in previous biographies, bringing them to life in vivid prose and through interviews with fans and players who witnessed his impact, as well as with Robinson's surviving family. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero--a new window on a complex man, tied to the 50th anniversary of his passing and the 75th anniversary of his professional baseball debut.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49700692164881,"sku":"CIN1250274044G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50703716221201,"sku":"CIN1250274044VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1250274044.jpg?v=1750754645"},{"product_id":"lasting-impact-book-kostya-kennedy-9781618931573","title":"Lasting Impact","description":"\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author Kostya Kennedy sets this captivating, character-rich story against the back-drop of one of the most pressing questions in sports: Should we let our sons play football? At the high end of America's most popular game is the glittering NFL, a fan-stoked money machine and also an opaque enterprise under scrutiny for the physical dangers imposed on its players. Then there's high school football, unrivaled for the crucial life lessons it imparts-discipline, leadership, cooperation, humility, perseverance-yet also a brain-rattling, bone-breaking game whose consequences are at best misunderstood, and, at the very worst, deadly. What is the parent of a young athlete to make of that? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe New Rochelle High School team in suburban New York is like many across the country: a source of civic pride, a manhood workshop for a revered coach and an emotional proving ground for boys of widely different backgrounds. In the fall of 2014, New Rochelle's season unfolded alongside watershed NFL head injury revelations and domestic abuse cases (remember Ray Rice?), as well as fatalities on nearby fields. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe dramatic story of that season, for players, parents and coaches, underscores fundamental questions. Are football's inherent risks so great that the sport may not survive as we know it? 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The tension of the times is matched by the pressure of the streak.\" --\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e It was the baseball season of 1941, and with Babe Ruth retired and Lou Gehrig ailing, the Yankees weren't playing like the Yankees anymore. The team seemed vulnerable--just like the rest of the world, as war loomed and an American military draft seemed imminent. Even Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper himself, was in a slump.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Then, on a May afternoon at Yankee Stadium, DiMaggio lined a hard single to left field. It was the quiet beginning to the most resonant baseball achievement of all time. Starting that day, the vaunted Yankee center fielder kept on hitting--at least one hit in game after game after game.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Even as apprehension about the nation's entry in the war intensified, Americans found themselves captivated by DiMaggio's astonishing hitting streak. In Kostya Kennedy's evocative account, Joe DiMaggio comes alive as a twenty-six-year-old on the brink of becoming the greatest baseball player of his time, even as the spotlight on his celebrity--and the public scrutiny that comes with it--grows with each game.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Alongside the story of DiMaggio's dramatic feat, Kennedy deftly examines the nature of hitting streaks and the sheer improbability of DiMaggio's, which only heightens the magic of his stunning accomplishment--one of the greatest sports records of all time.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"The best baseball book in many a season.\" --Roger Kahn, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Boys of Summer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Kennedy combines the sweep of a historian, the narrative power of a novelist and the passion of a fan.\" --\u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53637648154897,"sku":"NLS9798337202112","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53661223518481,"sku":"NIN9798337202112","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798337202112.jpg?v=1781005310"},{"product_id":"pete-rose-book-kostya-kennedy-9798337202341","title":"Pete Rose","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Better than any previous account. Kennedy leaves no doubt about Rose's greatness as a player or his guilt as a gambler.\" --Allen Barra, \u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Pete Rose had 4,256 hits in his Major League career. But despite being MLB's all-time leader in base hits, Rose isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Banished from the game in August 1989 amid accusations of gambling, he was ruled ineligible for Cooperstown. Today, the question of whether Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame remains one of the most provocative in sports history.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In his intriguing examination of the Hit King's life, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times-\u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author Kostya Kennedy explores the polarizing, charismatic Rose from his early years through his singular career to his long battle to be reinstated, a fight he did not win before his death in 2024 at age 83.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Kennedy analyzes how we should evaluate Rose in an era when players accused of taking performance enhancing drugs have regularly appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot. How does the saga of \"Charlie Hustle\" stand up in modern baseball history? Is it time for Rose--unrepentant gambler, beguiling showman, and deeply talented athlete--to be reconsidered?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Exceptional. Like the best writing about sport--Liebling, Angell--[Kennedy's book] qualifies as stirring literature.\" --Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning author\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Even readers who know who Mr. Rose is will learn much from . . . this book's stacked roster of interviews and anecdotes [and] fascinating and well-chosen tangents.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"A remarkable book about a fascinating, vexing figure.\" --\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53639733575953,"sku":"NLS9798337202341","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53661220733201,"sku":"NIN9798337202341","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798337202341.jpg?v=1781012719"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-kostya-kennedy.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}