{"title":"Michael Vitez","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"rocky-stories-book-michael-vitez-9781589880290","title":"Rocky Stories","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Two extraordinarily talented journalists, Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish, have captured this uniquely American phenomenon with whimsy, poignancy, and utter charm.\"--John Grogan, author of \u003ci\u003eMarley \u0026amp; Me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eRocky Stories\u003c\/i\u003e captures the sprawling complexity of life. It's a delight.\"--Mark Bowden, author of \u003ci\u003eBlack Hawk Down\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A book that is an absolute joy and an absolute blast and quintessentially American in its hopes and dreams and sweetness.\"--Buzz Bissinger, author of \u003ci\u003eFriday Night Lights\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Prayer for the City\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePulitzer Prize-winners Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish of the \u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e spent a year visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art to capture the stories of \"Rocky runners,\" who come from all over the world to run up America's most famous steps--just as Sylvester Stallone did in \u003ci\u003eRocky\u003c\/i\u003e. People make the pilgrimage to mark a new beginning, to seek inspiration, to celebrate an accomplishment, to find the perfect backdrop for romance, or simply because they love the movie. As one runner says, \"It gives you the feeling that anything is possible.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe authors have uncovered an enduring cultural phenomenon, one that centers on Philadelphia, and yet, as Michael Vitez writes in his introduction, is a true American, and even international, rite of passage.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe book includes fifty-two profiles and one hundred color photographs, together with a foreword by Sylvester Stallone, and interviews with \u003ci\u003eRocky\u003c\/i\u003e's Academy Award-winning director John G. Avildsen, composer Bill Conti, and cameraman Garrett Brown.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn his foreword, Sylvester Stallone sums up his thoughts on the phenomenon: \"You can't borrow Superman's cape. You can't use the Jedi laser sword. But the steps are there. The steps are accessible. And standing up there, you kind of have a piece of the \u003ci\u003eRocky\u003c\/i\u003e pie.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"[C]harming photo essay of people who retraced Rocky's steps and felt their own exhilaration doing it.\"--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"The extent to which the Rocky myth--that of the perennial loser who proves he's 'not just another bum from the neighborhood'--has resonated is documented in this winning book.\"--\u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"I've only skimmed it, and already I'm in love with the book \u003ci\u003eRocky Stories\u003c\/i\u003e. (It had me at the title.)...It may sound like a movie tie-in, but it's not. It's just a fascinating testament to how the words 'Rocky' and 'underdog' are still interchangeable 30 years after the film's release.\"--\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e's PopWatch column\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"The Rocky steps have become a special place for tourists and Philadelphians alike. Virtually everyone who lives here or comes here wants to say that they ran up the Rocky steps and saw the incredible view down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. When I was Mayor, the city planned 24 hours of millennium celebrations, one each hour. Of course we had to kick it off at the Rocky steps and we did so with 2,000 people all dressed like Rocky running up the steps at the same time. It was awesome.\"--Former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Vitez\u003c\/b\u003e has been a staff writer at the \u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e since 1985. For his series on end-of-life issues, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTom Gralish\u003c\/b\u003e has been at the \u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e since 1983, working as both an editor and photographer. For his photo essay on the homeless, he won both the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49561543573777,"sku":"GOR002511919","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50120749154577,"sku":"CIN1589880293A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50214267650321,"sku":"GOR008781178","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393360367889,"sku":"CIN1589880293G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51752157937937,"sku":"CIN1589880293VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52751590523153,"sku":"NIN9781589880290","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1589880293.jpg?v=1751435409"},{"product_id":"great-americans-book-michael-vitez-9780985525828","title":"Great Americans","description":"Great Americans: Stories of Resilience and Joy in Everyday Life is a collection of 30 of my favorite and most inspiring stories from 30 years at The Philadelphia Inquirer. I was a Pulitzer Prize winning staff writer there until late 2015, and concentrated on human interest stories and narratives. I am a storyteller and believe profoundly in the power of stories to inspire, to bring people together, and to change the world. My compass point as a writer has long been a quote by William Faulkner from his Nobel Prize winning speech. He said that it is the writer's privilege and duty to help man endure by lifting his heart. In my own small way, in a career in daily newspapers, I've tried to do that. I chose these stories in particular because they highlight our spirit and sacrifice and determination and commitment and goodness. Most of these people in this book faced and overcame incredible adversities. They are indeed Great Americans. With a lifetime of stories to choose from, selection was a challenge. I tried to include stories of different lengths, stories that reflected important milestones in my writing life, stories that generated huge responses from readers, stories that just stuck with me. The book also has other features that I think are very important. At the end of virtually every story I've added a postscript. This includes an update on the subject of the profile, and a discussion or focus on one element of the writing. In addition to being a source of pleasure for anyone who loves to read great stories, I hope this book can also serve as an excellent teaching tool for aspiring feature writers. I include a list of many rules and tools of writing and reporting that I've learned over a lifetime. And I expand on many of these writing points at my website, www.michaelvitez.com\/great-americans. There is one other component to this book. I've include five of my own personal stories, short narratives about my life that reflect on and highlight my own development as a writer. I am profoundly grateful to the photographers whose work appeared with the original stories and is included in this book. They are all supremely talented journalists and many of them good friends. Photographers April Saul and Ron Cortes won the Pulitzer Prize with me. I also must thank Bill Marimow, the Inquirer editor, and Gerry Lenfest, the former owner, for giving me permission for using these stories in this book. And I must say one of the greatest joys of putting this book together was working with Gene Foreman, the longtime and much esteemed managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who advised me and edited this book. These stories are a sampling of my life's work, an expression of how I see the world, and I suppose an example of my own resilience and joy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49862798803217,"sku":"CIN0985525827G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0985525827.jpg?v=1751140970"},{"product_id":"road-back-book-michael-vitez-9781475073089","title":"The Road Back","description":"Matthew Miller had just pedaled up a mountain pass. He was 20, a member of the University of Virginia triathlon club, so fit his resting pulse was 42  He was on top of the world in so many ways, in love, with dreams of attending medical school. And then, cycling along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, tragedy struck. The real story is not what happened, but what happened after. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Michael Vitez shares with you the incredible, humbling, miraculous story of Matt's survival and recovery. It is a story, truly, of grace and grit, of an America that shines - families, community, individuals and institutions. The story is as gripping as it is inspiring. Ride along  The author first chronicled Matt Miller's story for his newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer. The response from readers was so overwhelming - and Matt's continued recovery so remarkable - that Vitez immersed himself in Matt's world. The Road Back is not only about a young man's drive to reclaim his life, but about the the people who rode with him, rescued him, helped him heal, and saw up close his amazing comeback.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49879927390481,"sku":"CIN1475073089G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51028358299921,"sku":"NIN9781475073089","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52812412715281,"sku":"CIN1475073089A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52816667050257,"sku":"CIN1475073089VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1475073089.jpg?v=1751147632"},{"product_id":"final-choices-book-michael-vitez-9780940159433","title":"Final Choices","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50372654858513,"sku":"CIN0940159430A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50372657643793,"sku":"CIN0940159430G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50632081178897,"sku":"CIN0940159430VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0940159430.jpg?v=1751363622"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-michael-vitez.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}