A riveting new biography of America's greatest all-around athlete by
the bestselling author of the classic biography When Pride Still
Mattered.
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, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of
Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw's New York
Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a
kind.
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unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball.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. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood,
but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. But
for all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived,
complications and all, and so did the myth.
Path Lit by Lightning is a great American story from a master
biographer.
