Franklin Foer

Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame Franklin Foer

Marc Notes: ; 8; The sports figures profiled in 'Jewish Jocks' go beyond athletes to include coaches, broadcasters, owners, trainers and even statisticians.. Table of Contents: Introduction / Franklin Foer, Marc Tracy -- Daniel Mendoza: The King's Pugilist / Simon Schama -- Max Nordau: Philosopher of the Muscle Jews / Timothy Snyder -- Barney Sedran: Tiny Bailer / Rebecca Newberger Goldstein -- Benny Leonard: Mama Said Knock You Out / Franklin Foer -- Mose Solomon: The Hunt for the Hebrew Ruth / Robert Weintraub -- Whitey Bimstein: Gutman / Douglas Century -- Sidney Franklin: Matador from Flatbush / Tom Rachman -- Arnold Rothstein: American Shylock / Ron Rosenbaum -- Barney Ross: Kaddish for a Welterweight / Buzz Bissinger -- Marty Reisman: Ping-Pong Wizard / Howard Jacobson -- Hank Greenberg: The Plot Against Greenberg? / Ira Berkow -- Helene Mayer: Fencing for Hitler / Joshua Cohen -- Al Rosen: I'm Not Greenberg / David Margolick -- Sid Luckman: Hebrew Mind, Cossack Body / Rich Cohen -- Grigory Novak: Soviet Strongman / David Bezmozgis -- Jack Molinas: The Point-Shaver / Chad Millman -- Dolph Schayes: Power Forward / Marc Tracy -- Red Auerbach: The Coach Who Never Paid Retail / Steven Pinker -- Shirley Povich: Conscience of the Capital / Noam Scheiber -- Sandy Koufax: Best Bar Mitzvah Guest Ever / Jane Leavy -- Bennie Muller: Voetbal After Auschwitz / Simon Kuper -- Marvin Miller: Three Strikes and a Walkout / Dahlia Lithwick -- Jimmy Jacobs: Mike Tyson's Four-Wall Rabbi / Mark Singer -- Joel Silver: Ultimate Producer / Mark Oppenheimer -- Art Shamsky: Miracle Met / David Brooks -- Red Holzman: The Constant Gardener / Todd Gitlin -- Bobby Fischer: The Unnatural / Jonathan Safran Foer -- Yossef Romano: Martyrs of Munich / Deborah Lipstadt -- Ron Mix: The Righteous Tackle / Josh Levin -- Mark Spitz: Pool Shark / Judith Shulevitz -- Robert Lipsyte: Lippy and Me / Sam Lipsyte -- Howard Cosell: The Mouth / David Remnick -- Nancy Lieberman: Lady Magic / Kevin Arnovitz -- Renee Richards: Cross-Court Winner / Emily Bazelon -- Shep Messing: Keeper of the Cosmos / David Hirshey -- Daniel Okrent: Every Man's Fantasy / Jonathan Mahler -- Harold Solomon: The Moon-Bailer / Lawrence Summers -- Al Davis: The Raider / Ben Wallace-Wells -- Harvey Sifu Sober: Harvey the Sensei / Shalom Auslander -- Mathieu Schneider: Lord Stanley's Kiddush Cup / Jonah Keri -- Bud Selig: A Defense / David Leonhardt -- Corey Pavin: Putting for Jesus / L. Jon Wertheim -- Kerri Strug: My Left Foot / David Plotz -- Bill Goldberg: Hezbollah's Favorite Wrestler / Jeffrey Goldberg -- Tamir Goodman: The Jewish Jordan / Avi Zvi Zenilman -- Eyal Berkovic: Soccer Sabra / Etgar Keret -- Don Lerman: The Ben Franklin of Competitive Eating / Liel Leibovitz -- Adam Greenberg: Once-Hit Wonder / Stephen J. Dubner -- Mark Cuban: The Twelve-Year-Old Owner / George Packer -- Theo Epstein: The Baseball Genius Who Didn't Save the World / Mark Leibovich -- Acknowledgments -- The Editors and Contributors. Review Quotes: Editor's Choice: "Fifty well-written brief portraits." "The New York Times Book Review""Review Quotes: "Jewish Jocks' ends up convincing you of its theme: The history of Jews in sports is, in important ways, the history of sports." Will Leitch, ""Wall Street Journal"""Review Quotes: "A must for the bookshelf of any Jewish sports fan." "" Kirkus Reviews"""Review Quotes: "Belies the cheap punch line [to] prove that the Jewish sporting tradition is as rich as it is varied. Jewish Jocks features notable writers in peak form." ""Sports Illustrated"""Review Quotes: "A skillfull collection... through its sheer comprehensiveness, JEWISH JOCKS also makes the argument that the Jewish athlete isn't an anomaly." ""Los Angeles Times"""Review Quotes: "Marc Tracy and Franklin Foer have compiled JEWISH JOCKS: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame, essays on 'the most influential Jews in sports, ' from athletes, coaches, and owners to broadcasters and statisticians. David Remnick, David Brooks, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jane Leavy, and Steven Pinker are among the heavyweight contributors. You'll laugh, you'll cry." ""Publishers Weekly," Top 10 Sports Books Fall 2012""Biographical Note: Franklin Foer is editor of the" New Republic" and a Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the author of "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization."Marc Tracy is a staff writer at the "New Republic." Previously, he was a staff writer at "Tablet" magazine; the blog he edited there, The Scroll, won the 2011 National Magazine Award. Review Quotes: "The history of Jews in sports is, in important ways, the history of sports." ""Wall Street Journal"""Publisher Marketing: "2012 National Jewish Book Award Winner" JEWISH JOCKS: AN UNORTHODOX HALL OF FAME is a timeless collection of biographical musings, sociological riffs about assimilation, first-person reflections, and, above all, great writing on some of the most influential and unexpected pioneers in the world of sports. Featuring work by today's preeminent writers, these essays explore significant Jewish athletes, coaches, broadcasters, trainers, and even team owners (in the finite universe of Jewish Jocks, they count!). Contributors include some of today's most celebrated writers covering a vast assortment of topics, including David Remnick on the biggest mouth in sports, Howard Cosell; Jonathan Safran Foer on the prodigious and pugnacious Bobby Fischer; Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson writing elegantly on Marty Reisman, America's greatest ping-pong player and the sport's ultimate showman. Deborah Lipstadt examines the continuing legacy of the Munich Massacre, the fortieth anniversary of which coincided with the 2012 London Olympics. Jane Leavy reveals why Sandy Koufax agreed to attend her daughter's bat mitzvah. And we learn how Don Lerman single-handedly thrust competitive eating into the public eye with three pounds of butter and 120 jalapeno peppers. These essays are supplemented by a cover design and illustrations throughout by Mark Ulriksen. From settlement houses to stadiums and everywhere in between, JEWISH JOCKS features men and women who do not always fit the standard athletic mold. Rather, they utilized talents long prized by a people of the book (and a people of commerce) to game these games to their advantage, in turn forcing the rest of the world to either copy their methods-or be left in their dust. " Review Citations:

Publishers Weekly 09/24/2012 (EAN 9781455516131, Hardcover)

Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2012 (EAN 9781455516131, Hardcover)

New York Times Book Review 12/02/2012 pg. 49 (EAN 9781455516131, Hardcover)

New York Times Book Review 12/09/2012 pg. 30 (EAN 9781455516131, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Foer, Franklin Franklin Foer is the editor of The New Republic. He lives in Washington, D. C.