{"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":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50120749154577,"sku":"CIN1589880293A","price":5.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50214267650321,"sku":"GOR008781178","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393360367889,"sku":"CIN1589880293G","price":4.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51752157937937,"sku":"CIN1589880293VG","price":5.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52751590523153,"sku":"NIN9781589880290","price":22.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1589880293.jpg?v=1751435409","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/rocky-stories-book-michael-vitez-9781589880290","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}