Kingdom Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs, and How a Once Swingin' Cow Town Chasedthe Ultimate Comeback
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Fresh off of a gutsy, thrilling 2023 Super Bowl win for the Kansas City Chiefs, two inspiring stories that fit perfectly together—a biography of superstar quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who brought the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl win in fifty years in 2020 as well as a second in 2023, along with the historical struggles and recent resurgence of the former “Paris of the Plains,” Kansas City.
There is nobody like Patrick Mahomes.
In three seasons, he has won a Super Bowl and competed in another, earned the titles of First Team All-Pro, NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and league MVP, and turned the Kansas City Chiefs from famed playoff failures into the most successful team in the NFL. With his unique and groundbreaking playing style, and winning personality both on and off the field, Mahomes has become a truly transcendent quarterback in a journey that mirrors and accentuates the rebirth of the once swingin’ cow town of Kansas City, Missouri.
Once an adventure-filled jazz epicenter and nightlife hub to rival New Orleans, Kansas City’s wild edges and captivating neighborhoods were snuffed out in pursuit of a suburbanized dream that largely left out people of color. It’s been a long road attempting to move past the scars of segregation and overcome the city’s flyover reputation, but Kansas City is now poised to make a comeback, and no other person or team embodies that hope like Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City and Mahomes represent the story of the midwestern American city—how they grew, how they shaped the country, how the sport of football came to mean so much to them, how they failed, and how they are changing.
Kansas City–area natives Mark Dent and Rustin Dodd have written for outlets such as The New York Times, The Kansas City Star, and Texas Monthly, bringing their deep connection to the city, football expertise, and polished writing skills to create a serious book about a very entertaining subject—the rebirth of a city, a team’s triumph, and how Patrick Mahomes, and the team he led, were exactly what was needed to bring Kansas City back together again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalists Dent and Dodd's outstanding debut weaves the story of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes into a warts-and-all history of the Missouri city. The son of a former major league pitcher, Mahomes's passing skills while playing at Texas Tech University caught the attention of the Chiefs, who drafted him in 2017. He became the team's starting quarterback in 2018 and brought the franchise to new heights, including Super Bowl titles in 2020 and 2023. The authors, both Kansas City natives, contextualize what Mahomes's achievements meant to the city with a colorful look at its past, discussing Prohibition-era political boss Tom Pendergast's corrupt dealings, the racial covenants that segregated the city for much of the 20th century, and downtown's fight to retain residents and business amid widespread migration to the suburbs beginning in the 1950s and '60s. Dent and Dodd suggest that Mahomes's success has reinvigorated Kansas City's spirit and that his activism in support of Black Lives Matter has drawn attention to how racism has shaped the metropolis for centuries, though the authors are careful to note that problems persist, including a lack of affordable housing and discrimination faced by people of color seeking home loans. It's a riveting look at the plight of a midwestern city through the prism of a star athlete.
