Paper Lion

Confessions of a last-string quarterback

George Plimpton author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:4th Aug '16

Should be back in stock very soon

Paper Lion cover

The book that made a legend, and a classic of sports writing - George Plimpton's Paper Lion is published in the UK on its 50th anniversary.

In the mid-1960s, George Plimpton talked his way into the Detroit Lions’ pre-season training camp and in doing so set the bar for participatory sports journalism.

In the mid-1960s, George Plimpton talked his way into the Detroit Lions’ pre-season training camp and in doing so set the bar for participatory sports journalism. With his characteristic wit, Plimpton recounts his experience of a month practising and living with the team – getting to know the pressures and tensions rookies confront, the hijinks, taking behind the scenes snaps and capturing a host of American football rites and rituals.

Plimpton might not have made it as a quarterback, but fifty years after its first publication, Paper Lion remains one of the most insightful and entertaining classics of sports literature.

A continuous feast... The best book ever about football - or anything! * Wall Street Journal *
A great book that makes football absolutely fascinating to fan and non-fan alike...a tale to gladden the envious heart of every weekend athlete... Plimpton has endless curiosity, unshakable enthusiasm and nerve, and a deep respect for the world he enters * New York Times *
The agility and imaginativeness of his prose transforms his account of this daydream into a classic of sports reporting * New Yorker *
Possibly the most arresting and delightful narrative in all of sports literature * Book Week *
With his gentle, ironic tone, and unwillingness to take himself too seriously, along with Roger Angell, John Updike and Norman Mailer he made writing about sports something that mattered. * Guardian *

ISBN: 9780224100229

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 24mm

Weight: 266g

384 pages