The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam
The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam
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The Breaks of the Game

Author: David Halberstam

Narrator: Brian Troxell

Unabridged: 17 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/01/2016


Synopsis

A New York Times bestseller, David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game focuses on one grim season (1979-80) in the life of the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers, a team that only three years before had been NBA champions.
More than six years after his death David Halberstam remains one of this country's most respected journalists and revered authorities on American life and history in the years since WWII. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his groundbreaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves.
The tactile authenticity of Halberstam's knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. Yet he is writing here about far more than just basketball. This is a story about a place in our society where power, money, and talent collide and sometimes corrupt, a place where both national obsessions and naked greed are exposed. It's about the influence of big media, the fans and the hype they subsist on, the clash of ethics, the terrible physical demands of modern sports (from drugs to body size), the unreal salaries, the conflicts of race and class, and the consequences of sport converted into mass entertainment and athletes transformed into superstars -- all presented in a way that puts the reader in the room and on the court, and The Breaks of the Game in a league of its own.

About David Halberstam

David Halberstam was one of America's most distinguished journalists and historians. He covered the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement and reported for the New York Times on the war in Vietnam. The author of fifteen bestsellers, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam reporting. He was killed in a car accident on April 23, 2007, while on his way to an interview for what was to be his next book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeff on January 17, 2009

The late, great David Halberstam followed the Trail Blazers during the 1979-1980 season, two years after their acclaimed victory over the Sixers. The Breaks of The Game, the book that resulted, remains one of the best sports books I have ever read and a work that has easily stood the test of time. T......more

Goodreads review by Sebastien on January 17, 2016

Wow. This is a phenomenal book. Halberstam gets into the nuts and bolts of not just basketball, but people, society, economics, and capitalism. Halberstam is A) a flat out great writer B) a compassionate progressive soul C) smart as heck D) an amazingly astute observer of life and people. Writing abo......more

Goodreads review by Christian on September 02, 2016

I told my dad I was reading this book because its reputation precedes it as one of the best sports books ever written. His matter-of-fact answer: "well, that's because Halberstam is one of the best writers ever." 362 pages later, I can't help but agree. He may not be a hoity-toity modernist prose st......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on October 28, 2009

This book is a masterpiece. It's the best sports lit/sports history book I've ever read. So much was changing in the NBA in 1979; it was the birth of the modern league. Young David Stern. Magic and Bird were rookies. Incorporation of the four ABA teams and its players. Transition to a more "black" s......more

Goodreads review by RC on March 14, 2021

A mandatory read for any true basketball fan. One of the most satisfying and densely pleasurable books I've ever read. The set-up--Halberstam spends a season with the 1979-80 Portland Trailblazers, three years after their championship season, after the transcendent Bill Walton has left the team--may......more