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Table of Contents
About The Book
The first definitive biography of basketball legend LeBron James, by the acclaimed author of Tiger Woods.
LeBron is unquestionably the greatest basketball player of the 21st century. Off the court, LeBron's political activism, outspoken stance on racism and social injustice have helped build a social media presence that includes 117 million followers on Instagram and 51 million followers on Twitter. He is an international brand worth billions of dollars. He doesn’t just have huge endorsement deals with some of the biggest corporations in the world; LeBron sits on boards of directors and has an equity stake in the companies he sponsors. He has forged a close friendship with President Barack Obama and clashed publicly with President Donald Trump.
As a child, LeBron was a lost little boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was just sixteen, would disappear for days at a time. Scared and alone, LeBron rarely attended school. He was dirt poor and fatherless. And he had never played organised basketball. Yet he would become the most successful and most popular athlete that the United States has produced this century, bringing success to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
To tell this epic story, Benedict has done exhaustive research, digging through thousands of pages of primary source documents, articles, books and hundreds of hours of video footage. He’s also conducted hundreds of interviews with the people who were intimately involved with LeBron from the beginning of his life to the present. He shows the initial slow rise of a star that suddenly transformed into a speeding comet during his senior year of high school. It is a unique and unmissable insight into one of the world's greatest athletes.
LeBron is unquestionably the greatest basketball player of the 21st century. Off the court, LeBron's political activism, outspoken stance on racism and social injustice have helped build a social media presence that includes 117 million followers on Instagram and 51 million followers on Twitter. He is an international brand worth billions of dollars. He doesn’t just have huge endorsement deals with some of the biggest corporations in the world; LeBron sits on boards of directors and has an equity stake in the companies he sponsors. He has forged a close friendship with President Barack Obama and clashed publicly with President Donald Trump.
As a child, LeBron was a lost little boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was just sixteen, would disappear for days at a time. Scared and alone, LeBron rarely attended school. He was dirt poor and fatherless. And he had never played organised basketball. Yet he would become the most successful and most popular athlete that the United States has produced this century, bringing success to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
To tell this epic story, Benedict has done exhaustive research, digging through thousands of pages of primary source documents, articles, books and hundreds of hours of video footage. He’s also conducted hundreds of interviews with the people who were intimately involved with LeBron from the beginning of his life to the present. He shows the initial slow rise of a star that suddenly transformed into a speeding comet during his senior year of high school. It is a unique and unmissable insight into one of the world's greatest athletes.
About The Author
Jed Wells
Jeff Benedict is the bestselling author of sixteen non-fiction books, as well as a television and film producer. His latest book, The Dynasty, is the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots. A special features writer for Sports Illustrated, he has also written for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and his stories have been the basis for segments on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, CNN and the Discovery Channel among others. In 2018, Jeff co-wrote the William Hill Prize shortlisted Tiger Woods, and he was an executive producer on the HBO documentary Tiger that was based on the book and aired in 2021.He lives with his wife and four children in Connecticut.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (April 11, 2023)
- Length: 480 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398517288
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Raves and Reviews
'Masterful . . . Propulsive . . . This is a fast break of a book, slicing into the many mini-narratives that James has lived and artfully tying them together to create a portrait of a man who has, by his own design, remained an enigma except to those he decides to trust. Benedict has constructed a sort of sports opera fueled by the drama and emotion surrounding his subject, but never sensationalistic or unfair. . . Benedict’s greatest feat here might be the way he cuts through both the public hysteria surrounding James and the superstar’s own protective field to paint a portrait of a man in full. . . . LeBron isn’t just great sportswriting, it’s also vivid narrative journalism'
– Los Angeles Times
'Inspiring . . . An absorbing chronicle of talent, character, pluck, and luck'
– Wall Street Journal
'The definitive biography of LeBron James . . . [Readers] will appreciate the perspective Benedict provides when it comes to just how much James changed the perception of what it means to be a modern athlete'
– Associated Press
'The definitive biography . . . It’s fantastic. . . . So rich in granular detail'
– Sports Illustrated
'LeBron is fantastic. Add it to your list'
– Jon Bon Jovi
'An absolutely consumable book. It’s the kind of in-depth reporting and context that you just don’t get. . . . I thought I knew just about everything about LeBron. But the details and the digging here are so fun'
– Colin Cowherd
'Jeff Benedict knows how to begin and tell a story. . . . He’s a master of his craft. . . . The vividness and execution of his writing . . . is almost cinematic, like watching an episode of Succession'
– Irish Examiner
'A skilfully confected and readable book that does very well with James’s childhood'
– Times Literary Supplement
Resources and Downloads
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