Michael
Jordan by Matt Christopher
Paperback from Little Brown & Company
Book Published: 01 September, 1996
Michael
Jordan by Bill Gutman
Library Binding from Millbrook Press
Book Published: 01 October, 1995
Michael
Jordan and the New Global Capitalism by Walter Lafeber
Not everyone embraces the "American Way." But as historian Walter LaFeber
demonstrates in this highly original look at the effects of global capitalism,
not everyone has a choice. Using powerful communications satellites in
the 1980s and, later, unbridled capital, transnational corporations such
as McDonald's and Nike and their media-mogul counterparts have infiltrated
cultures from Paris to Beijing, understanding perfectly that what the world
sees the world buys (in this case, Big Macs and anything plastered with
a Nike swoosh). Of course, it helps when hoops legend Michael Jordan--the
world's most idolized athlete--is pitching your products. His influence
is pervasive: "McDonald's, blaring Michael Jordan's endorsement, operated
in 103 nations and fed one percent of the world's population each day.
'Within the East Asian urban environment,' one historian of the firm notes,
'McDonald's fills a niche once occupied by the teahouse, the neighborhood
shop, the street-side stall, and the park bench.'"
LaFeber transitions smoothly from Michael Jordan biography to socioeconomic
commentary, first exploring Jordan as the great American hero, then turning
a critical eye on Nike and its shoddy overseas labor practices. Jordan
can certainly sell shoes, but at what cost? In the final chapter heading,
LaFeber asks whether Michael Jordan is the "Greatest Endorser of the Twentieth
Century" or "An Insidious Form of Imperialism." He presents evidence of
both, but ultimately The New Global Capitalism becomes less about Jordan's
marketing prowess than America's influence over the world's consumer habits,
and, subsequently, the havoc that power can wreak. LaFeber's short (164
pages), lucid study gives readers a fresh perspective on the battle between
capital and culture. Recommended. --Rob McDonald - Amazon.com Paperback from W.W. Norton & Company
Book Published: September, 2002
Michael
Jordan ....In His Own Words by Geoffrey Giuliano, Michael Jordan
Audio Cassette from B & B Audio Inc
Book Published: September, 2002
Playing
for Keeps : Michael Jordan and the World He Made by David Halberstam One of the finest nonfiction writers in any lineup, Halberstam likes
to alternate what he's deemed his serious work--books like The Best and
the Brightest, The Fifties, and The Children--with his sporting interludes,
though in his hands, sports are much, much more than fun and games. Books
like The Breaks of the Game and October 1964 use sports as a prism. Culture,
race, society, and history are all filtered through it, and Halberstam
refocuses--and interprets--what comes out the other side. That he would
now turn his considerable abilities to exploring Michael Jordan is not
surprising. Halberstam loves hoops, and Jordan not only defines the game,
he defines an era. His fame crosses international borders as easily as
he dribbles past half-court lines. In focusing on Jordan--as athlete and
force of nature--and his osmosis from a young hoop dreamer to product pitchman
to the world, Halberstam is really examining intangibles like myth and
legend, celebrity and fame, wealth and image, excellence and genius, race
and style, the qualities of heroism and the pursuit of perfection. "That
there had been even one Michael Jordan seemed in retrospect something of
a genetic fluke," he writes, "and the idea that anyone would arrive in
so short a span of time and do what he did both on and off the court seemed
highly unlikely." But the phenomenon that is Jordan did just that. Understanding,
even admiring, what he did, how he did it, and what it means in a basketball
context and a larger one is Halberstam's goal, and, despite Jordan's lack
of cooperation--or maybe because of it--Halberstam's muscular prose and
thinking scores powerfully. Yet, there is a wistfulness, in the end, to
Playing for Keeps; the game doesn't seem as much fun and collegial as it
used to for Halberstam, and Jordan, great as he may be, emerges with less
of the historic grace exhibited by Jackie Robinson, Ali, and Arthur Ashe
than with a quality that Halberstam deems the athlete-explorer "in terms
of going beyond previously accepted limits of what was humanly possible,
and somehow by dint of physical excellence and unmatched willpower, pushing
those limits forward that much more." Dazzling, certainly, but not necessarily
heroic. Playing for Keeps is also available on audiocassette. --Jeff
Silverman - Amazon.com Paperback from Broadway Books
Book Published: 01 February, 2000
M J Unauthorized: A Collection of Quotes in Four Quarters by David Whitaker, Michael Jordan
Paperback from Bonus Books
Book Published: December, 1997
Out of Print - Try Used Books
Salt
In His Shoes by Kadir Nelson, Deloris Jordan, Roslyn M. Jordan
Hardcover from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Book Published: 01 November, 2000
