Ivan R. Dee
Pages: 304
Trim: 5¾ x 8¾
978-1-56663-755-8 • Paperback • September 2007 • $16.95 • (£12.99)
Ira Berkow has been a sports columnist and feature writer for the
New York Times for more than twenty years. In 2001 he shared the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with his article on "The Minority Quarterback," later published by Ivan R. Dee in a book of the
same name. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including the best-sellers
Red: A Biography of Red Smith and
Maxwell Street: Survival in a Bazaar. He lives in New York City.
A sheer delight...Berkow proves that nothing can hold him back. And the result is a home run.
— Rick Telander, author, Heaven Is a Playground
A classy writer, no matter what his domain.... Berkow is a master of his trade.
— Studs Terkel
He belongs to that rare breed...a writer who specializes in sports but whose subjects represent a broad range.
— Gay Talese, author of A Writer's Life
A jewel in the New York Times' writing crown.
— Joe Goddard; Chicago Sun-Times
A champion of the counterargument, Berkow reveals in Full Swing what it's like to pose tough questions to legendary athletes.
— Lauren Murrow; Chicago
What a brimming bouquet Ira Berkow has delivered in Full Swing...a home run.
— Dave Hoekstra; Sunday Sun-Times
Beyond this memoir's revealing insights into a cast of characters…this book is a paean to writing, a craft which Berkow only discovered in his last year of high school.
— Saturday Evening Post
Full Swing is like a great ballpark conversation, where everything and anything is fair game.
— Allen St. John; The New York Times
If there's anyone doing sports who is even close, I haven't read him.
— Mike Royko
I follow Ira Berkow in the Times with unfailing interest.
— Saul Bellow
Ira Berkow over the years has regularly given us sportswriting of the most elegant kind....
— David Halberstam
Sports at its best is a kind of music...Ira Berkow is among the best—a Sondheim of the sports page.
— George F. Will, Washington Post columnist
Ira Berkow is simply one of America's best writers, sports or otherwise.
— Jim Bouton
A genial, leisurely...memoir from the veteran New York Times sports columnist.
— Kirkus Reviews
Not only do his words yield a fine read, but journalistic issues he raises merit attention in newsrooms and classrooms.
— Jim Kaplan; Nieman Reports
Berkow is affable and very funny, often taking a breezy tone except when he's being passionate about justice and truth.
— Jewish Book World
Such a treasure....Berkow raises sports writing to a new level.
— David Rothenberg; Wbai 99.5 Fm
The book...can be read not just as an enjoyable memoir, but a career manual of sorts.
— Carl Sessions Stepp; American Journalism Review
Like a great ballpark conversation, where everything and anything is fair game.
— Allen St. John; The New York Times
From Maxwell Street to the New York Times, with all the stops in between