Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Last updated
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Seabiscuit An American Legend.jpg
The cover of the paperback version
Author Laura Hillenbrand
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Random House
Publication date
June 30, 1999
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeVarious
Pages416 (hardcover)
399 (softcover)
ISBN 978-0-375-50291-0 (hardcover)
ISBN   978-0-449-00561-3 (softcover)
OCLC 46369186
798.4/0092/9 21
LC Class SF355.S4 H56 2001b

Seabiscuit: An American Legend is a non-fiction book written by Laura Hillenbrand, published in 1999. The book is a biography of the Thoroughbred racehorse Seabiscuit. It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and was adapted as a feature film in 2003. It has also been published under the title Seabiscuit: The True Story of Three Men and a Racehorse. The author has been praised for her ability to convey a sense of historical times. [1] The 2003 film Seabiscuit was adapted from the book.

Contents

Reception

Seabiscuit: An American Legend enjoyed near universal acclaim, with most praise centering on the compelling nature of the story and expert storytelling of Hillenbrand, who had done much research. Praising her accounts of the races, the Sports Illustrated writer Ron Fimrite said, "She writes about the confusion, turbulence and artistry of a race with the same grasp of sound and movement that Whitney Balliett brings to jazz in his 'New Yorker' profiles [...] no mean accomplishment." [2] The Economist found "the research is meticulous, the writing elegant and concise, so that every page transports you back to the period," [3] and Jim Squires of the New York Times likewise called her research "meticulous." [4] Newsweek noted that "what chiefly distinguishes this account is the straightforward pleasure Hillenbrand takes in the accomplishments of her heroes, two-footed and four-footed alike." [5] People magazine said that "Hillenbrand's jargon-free language makes the races--and the period--exhilarating." [6] More conservatively, Karen Valby with Entertainment Weekly found "Hillenbrand's account ... saddled by loosely connected anecdotes and confused scene-setting," finally giving the book a grade of a "B". [7] William Nack, the author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, stated: "You had clearly created a world, and you had done so with a distinctly lyrical feel and touch." [8]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. Since October 12, 1931, The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and electronic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seabiscuit</span> American champion thoroughbred racehorse (1933–1947)

Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War Admiral</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

War Admiral was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fourth winner of the American Triple Crown. He was also the 1937 Horse of the Year and well known as the rival of Seabiscuit in the "Match Race of the Century" in 1938. War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts with earnings of $273,240 and was the leading sire in North America for 1945. He was also an outstanding broodmare sire whose influence is still felt today in descendants such as Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify.

<i>Seabiscuit</i> (film) 2003 American film

Seabiscuit is a 2003 American sports film co-produced, written and directed by Gary Ross and based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is loosely based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit received seven nominations, including Best Picture, but ultimately lost all seven, including six to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Sparks</span> American writer and novelist (born 1965)

Nicholas Charles Sparks is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He has published twenty-three novels, all New York Times bestsellers, and two works of nonfiction, with over 115 million copies sold worldwide in more than 50 languages. Among his works are The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle all of which, along with eight other books, have been adapted as feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Hillenbrand</span> American writer (born 1967)

Laura Hillenbrand is an American author. Her two bestselling nonfiction books, Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001) and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010), have sold over 13 million copies, and each was adapted for film. Her writing style is distinct from New Journalism, dropping "verbal pyrotechnics" in favor of a stronger focus on the story itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Skloot</span> American writer

Rebecca L. Skloot is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine. Her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), was one of the best-selling new books of 2010, staying on The New York Times Bestseller list for over 6 years and eventually reaching #1. It was adapted into a movie by George C. Wolfe, which premiered on HBO on April 22, 2017, and starred Rose Byrne as Skloot, and Oprah Winfrey as Lacks's daughter Deborah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Smith (horse trainer)</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer of Seabiscuit

Robert Thomas Smith was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in a log cabin in the backwoods of northwest Georgia, as a young man he trained horses for the United States Cavalry and worked on a cattle ranch. In 1934, he was hired as a trainer by the wealthy businessman Charles S. Howard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Bergen</span> American journalist (born 1962)

Peter Lampert Bergen is an American journalist, author, and producer who is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America, a professor at Arizona State University, and the host of the Audible podcast In the Room with Peter Bergen.

The 21st century in literature refers to world literature produced during the 21st century. The measure of years is, for the purpose of this article, literature written from (roughly) the year 2001 to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike D'Orso</span> American journalist

Mike D'Orso is an American author and journalist based in Norfolk, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Scheeres</span> American writer

Julia Scheeres is a journalist and nonfiction author. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Scheeres received a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a master's in journalism from the University of Southern California. Now living and working in San Francisco, California, she has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired News, and LA Weekly. She is a 2006 recipient of the Alex Awards.

Christopher Peter Andersen is an American journalist and the author of 35 books, including many bestsellers.

Robert A. Kurson is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, Shadow Divers, the true story of two Americans who discover a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabel Wilkerson</span> American journalist (born 1961)

Isabel Wilkerson is an American journalist and the author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (2010) and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020). She is the first woman of African-American heritage to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

<i>Columbine</i> (book) 2009 non-fiction book written by Dave Cullen

Columbine is a non-fiction book written by Dave Cullen and published by Twelve on April 6, 2009. It is an examination of the Columbine High School massacre, on April 20, 1999, and the perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The book covers two major storylines: the killers' evolution leading up to the attack, and the survivors' struggles with the aftermath over the next decade. Chapters alternate between the two stories. Graphic depictions of parts of the attack are included, in addition to the actual names of friends and family.

<i>Unbroken</i> (book) Biography of Louis Zamperini by Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken is a biography of World War II veteran Louis Zamperini, a former Olympic track star who survived a plane crash in the Pacific Theater, spent 47 days drifting on a raft, and then survived more than two and a half years as a prisoner of war (POW) in three Japanese POW camps.

<i>Absolutely American</i>

Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point is a 2003 book by American author David Lipsky. It was placed on several top book lists, including Amazon's Best Books of the Year (2003). The work became a New York Times Notable Book and a New York Times bestseller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisid Hajari</span> Indian-American writer

Nisid Hajari is an Indian-American writer, editor and foreign affairs analyst. He is the author of Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition, winner of the 2016 Colby Award.

Maureen Callahan is an American columnist for the Daily Mail known for her vitrolic opinion pieces regarding politics, pop culture, and current events.

References

  1. "Review of Seabiscuit". Archived from the original on 2010-02-07. Retrieved 2010-05-19.<-This is not a legitimate source of information. This opinion was offered by a student in a creative writing class. Though you will find no paraphrased account here.
  2. Fimrite, Ron (March 05, 2001), "If looks were everything, this great champion would have been pulling a cart". Sports Illustrated. 94 (10):24
  3. (February 24, 2001), "Three men and a pony," Economist. 358 (8210):87
  4. Jim Squires (March 11, 2001), "Can Do!", New York Times :12
  5. Jones, Malcolm (March 12, 2001), "Neck and Neck With Glory," Newsweek. 137 (11):73
  6. Sanders, Erica (May 14, 2001), "Seabiscuit (Book Review)". People. 55 (19):54
  7. Valby, Karen (March 16, 2001), "SEABISCUIT (Book Review)". Entertainment Weekly. (587):62
  8. Seabiscuit: A Reader's Guide - A Conversation with Laura Hillenbrand

See also