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Path lit by lightning : the life of Jim Thorpe / David Maraniss.

Van Pelt Library GV697.T5 M27 2022
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Maraniss, David, author.
Contributor:
Rosengarten Family Fund.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Athletes--United States--Biography.
Athletes.
Indian athletes--United States--Biography.
Indian athletes.
Football players--United States--Biography.
Football players.
Thorpe, Jim, 1887-1953.
Thorpe, Jim.
Genre:
Biography.
Biographies.
Physical Description:
x, 659 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition:
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Place of Publication:
New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2022.
Summary:
Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, in the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for the New York Giants. But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe's life was a struggle against the odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk. At Carlisle, he dealt with the racist assimilationist philosophy Kill the Indian, Save the Man. His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. But for all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth.
Contents:
"The stuff his people are made of"
Path lit by lightning
"This is the Indian's home"
High jump
Athletic duties above everything
The newest star
Railroaded
Almost there
Stockholm
Near Custer's tomb
Lo, the poor Indian!
Among the giants
Around the world
The reckoning
The myth of a vanishing race
Never look up
Gains
Losses
Gamblers
Start to finish
Oorang Indians
Letters 1
Letters 2
World famous Indians
Pick and shovel
"A man has to keep hustling"
Akapamata in Hollywood
Never forgotten
Road to utopia
Thunderbirds
"Have you seen the movie?"
Waving good-bye
Epilogue.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 575-628) and index.
Local Notes:
Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.
ISBN:
9781476748412
1476748411
OCLC:
1281585268
Publisher Number:
99991332624

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