American Kings
A Biography of the Quarterback
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
Pull back the curtain on the most powerful position in all of sports.
The New York Times bestselling author of It's Better to be Feared examines football's QB lifecycle: high school, college, the NFL, retirement—and all that comes with it.
"An instant classic—not just a great sports book but a great cultural history."
—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life
The quarterback: the American equivalent of royalty, long glamorized, mythologized, and worshipped. Still, long before the Super Bowl trophies, massive contracts, brand deals, and millions of social media followers comes the dream. From the backyard to Pop Warner, from high school to college, from the NFL to the Hall of Fame, becoming the country's ultimate idol requires single-minded focus while navigating a maze of bad breaks, insecurities, jealousy, pressure, and fame.
Long known as the outsider's guide into this elite world, Seth Wickersham's fresh reporting goes deep into the quarterback journey, measuring the distance between what the men who have traveled it expected and what they found at the end of the road. Through unprecedented access into the lives of dozens of quarterbacks and generational greats such as Johnny Unitas, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Warren Moon, Steve Young, and others, as well as those figures striving to be remembered, like Caleb Williams and Arch Manning, Wickersham reveals how this one position has become emblematic of success in American life.
As an inside look into a uniquely American job and a uniquely American obsession with football, American Kings is a must-read for sports fans and anyone who wants to understand what the price of ambition tells us about the quest for achievement and status.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Sportswriter Seth Wickersham once dreamed of being a quarterback; now he’s channeled those aspirations into this detailed look at what makes an NFL signal caller tick. He digs into the life cycle of a quarterback, from Friday night high school glory to the ominous “What now?” of retirement. The examination is far flung, taking in largely forgotten legends (Bob Waterfield), more recent Super Bowl heroes (John Elway), and up-and-coming hopefuls (Arch Manning), with everything in between accounted for. Fathers, both good and bad, are as ubiquitous in their stories as throwing a football. Similar to the military, the mindset needed to be successful at the highest levels doesn’t always translate to real life. Broken families and addictions are common, but so is religious devoutness. American Kings is a deep dive into a unique subset of sports stars—and what can happen when you become one of them.
