5ive Guys FC

82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Raphael Honigstein

Updated with a new chapter on Klopp's emotional final season at Liverpool 
 
Jürgen Klopp was confirmed as manager of Liverpool FC in October 2015 to a rapturous reception. His super-sized personality and all-or-nothing style of football and management made him the perfect choice to pump up the volume at Anfield and lift Liverpool out of a slump. 
 
Fans and club officials were delighted to get the coach they'd long admired from afar and eager to see the impact he would have on the club and the Premier League. 
 
Klopp is the manager to turn players into winners. He's authentic, approachable and funny, charming media and fans alike. He's also merciless and exceptionally driven, his quick temper bubbling away barely under the surface. Klopp's pitch-side passion has enthralled fans, leading to 2019's triumphant Champions League win and culminating in 2020 Premier League victory 
 
With exclusive access to Klopp's friends, family, colleagues and players, Raphael Honigstein goes behind-the-scenes at Liverpool to tell the definitive story of Klopp's career and how he brought Liverpool to victory.

Klopp: Bring the Noise

Diego Armando Maradona

'Operatically emotional...exceptionally vivid' Martin Amis, Guardian 
 
Celebrate the life of one of the world's greatest footballers. 
 
 Diego Maradona. One thing is certain: he was the greatest footballer of his generation - and perhaps of all time. A poor boy from a Buenos Aires shanty-town, his genius with a ball took him to the heights of European and world football, and his struggle with the pressures of life inside and outside the game pulled him right back down again. 
 
Following his sad passing, read the true story of Maradona's life in his own words. 
 
 'A revealing autobiography of a footballing genius' Sunday Times

El Diego

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Peter Sagan

From 2015 to 2017, Peter Sagan achieved the seemingly impossible: he won three road race World Championships in a row, ensuring his entry into the history books as one of the greatest riders of all time. 
 
But to look at Peter’s record in isolation is to tell only a fraction of his story, because Peter doesn’t just win: he entertains. Every moment in the saddle is an opportunity to express his personality, and nobody else has succeeded in making elite cycling look so much fun. From no-hands wheelies on the slopes of Mont Ventoux to press conference mischief with clamouring journalists, Peter exudes a passion for the sport and a lovable desire to bring smiles to the faces of his fans. 
 
So, for the very first time, you will have the opportunity to glimpse behind the scenes of Peter’s world. You will discover the gruelling training programmes necessary for success, and how Peter copes with the pressure of high expectation. You will feel that sense of elation when crossing the line ahead of the pack, and moments of desperation, like in 2017 when Peter realised he wouldn’t be allowed to challenge for his sixth Tour de France green jersey. But what better tonic than to ensure a third year in rainbow – an achievement which may never be repeated again.

My World

William Fotheringham

How did Great Britain conquer the Tour de France? 
 
In 2012 Bradley Wiggins made history by becoming the first Briton ever to win the Tour de France. Since that moment the UK has been living through the golden era in the world's greatest bike race, with four overall titles for Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas winning for Wales in 2018, and Manxman Mark Cavendish proving the race's most prolific sprinter. 
 
 In Roule Britannia, number one bestselling author William Fotheringham, charts British cycling's rise to the top and provides us with the definitive account of the nation’s Tour de France achievements through exclusive interviews with and profiles of cycling champions - from the early days of Brian Robinson to Bradley Wiggins's dominant ride via Tom Simpson, Robert Millar, Chris Boardman and many others, Roule Britannia celebrates a nation's love affair with the greatest race of all. 
 
‘Brilliant...tells each story with passion and sensitivity’ Sunday Times

Roule Britannia

British Cycling and the Greatest Road Races

Great Britain and the Tour de France

The Secret Cyclist

He's ridden for World Tour teams for ten years. He's achieved top ten finishes in Grand Tours. But who is The Secret Cyclist and why all the secrecy? 
 
&quot;Every public aspect of our lives is so tightly controlled that being truly honest is all but impossible in a newspaper interview, never mind a whole book. You try write a warts-and-all blog about your office. Question how the business is run, make sure you remember to call your boss a moron, and then tell me how it goes.&quot; 
 
What do the riders really make of Team Sky? How does the pay structure work? Why should you never trust a kit endorsement from a professional? Is doping still an issue? 
 
The Secret Cyclist tackles the big questions head-on, revealing a side to cycling that fans have never seen before.

Real Life as a Rider in the Professional Peloton

Marc Skelton

Welcome to Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, in a working-class corner of the Bronx, where a driven coach inspires his teams to win games and championships. 
 
Head coach Marc Skelton tells the thrilling story of an entire season, as the Panthers seek to improve on an early exit from the playoffs the year before. But this is a story which extends far beyond the basketball court. It's a profile of a school that, against the odds, educates kids from the poorest district in the country and sends the majority of them to college; of an unusual coach who studies the game with acute intensity and demands as much of himself as he does of his players. At the very centre is a squad of young men who battle against difficulties in life every day, and who don't know how to quit. 
 
Pounding the Rock is exhilarating, heart-pounding sportswriting of the very highest calibre.

Pounding the Rock

Basketball Dreams and Real Life in a Bronx High School

Marc 'Elvis' Priestley

In the high-octane atmosphere of the Formula One pit lane, the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers. And yet, without the technical knowledge, competitive determination and outright obsession from his garage of mechanics, no driver could possibly hope to claim a spot on the podium. These are the guys who make every World Champion, and any mistakes can have critical consequences. 
 
That's not to say the F1 crew is just a group of highly skilled technical engineers, tweaking machinery in wind tunnels and crunching data through high-spec computers. These boys can seriously let their hair down. Whether it be parties on luxury yachts in Monaco or elaborate photo opportunities in gravity-defying aeroplanes, this is a world which thrills on and off the track. 
 
Join McLaren's former number-one mechanic, Marc 'Elvis' Priestley as he tours the world, revealing some of Formula One's most outrageous secrets and the fiercest rivalries, all fuelled by the determination to win. 
 
This is Formula One as you've never seen it before.

The Mechanic

The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane

John Dennen

Over the last 8 years Anthony Joshua has pounded his way to the top of the boxing world. In April 2017 he faced the legendary Ukrainian, Wladimir Klitschko, in the fight that commentators have labelled the heavyweight fight of the century. Sports fans were gripped as Joshua battled bravely through 11 gruelling rounds, recovering from a sixth round knockout to ultimately defeat Klitschko, setting up a stoppage with an uppercut that thundered around the world. 
 
When 18-year-old Anthony Joshua first stepped into a North London gym in 2008, nobody could have imagined the meteoric rise to superstardom. As an amateur he stunned all observers, claiming a silver medal in the World Championships in Azerbaijan. Then a spectacular victory in front of a home crowd at London 2012 saw him claim Olympic Gold. 
 
The professional ranks called, and Joshua has delivered. Now his first 19 fights: all wins, all by knockout. And so this young fighter has graduated to the top of the division. 90,000 fans saw his fight live in April 2017 which also broke box office records and is destined to be considered an all-time classic. 
 
This is an intimate biography of a champion, charting his journey to face Klitschko at Wembley. It is an account from a writer who has witnessed Joshua’s development from the start, following him from his earliest amateur bouts to major title fights. He reveals a boxer with respect for his predecessors, a level head and an unwavering determination to succeed. The heavyweight division has been lit up by a refreshing new hero. His name is Anthony Joshua.

Joshua

Rob Smyth

1980s Rio de Janeiro. 
 
There’s only one king in this city and he’s got the mullet, swagger and fake ID to prove it. 
 
Introducing Carlos Henrique Raposo, known to all as KAISER. 
 
This guy’s got more front than Copacabana beach. He’s the most loveable of rogues with the most common of dreams: to become a professional footballer. And he isn’t about to let trivial details like talent and achievement stand in his way. . . not when he has so many other ways to get what he wants. 
 
In one of the most remarkable football stories ever told, Kaiser graduates from abandoned slumdog to star striker, dressing-room fixer, superstar party host and inexhaustible lover. 
 
And all without kicking a ball. 
 
He’s not just the king… he’s the Kaiser.

Kaiser

The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football

David Conn

'A superb go-to guide for anyone seeking context on why Qatar won the 2022 World Cup bid' Daily Express 
 
The Fall of the House of Fifa is the definitive story of Fifa's rise and the most spectacular fall sport has ever seen. 
 
For forty years Joao Havelange and then Sepp Blatter presided over a Fifa now plagued with scandal - dawn raids, FBI investigations, allegations of money laundering, industrial-scale bribery, racketeering, tax evasion, vote-buying and theft. Now David Conn, football's most respected investigative journalist, chronicles the extraordinary history and staggering scale of corruption. He paints revealing portraits of the men at the centre of Fifa - the power brokers, the indicted, the legends like Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini - and puts the allegations to Blatter himself in an extended interview.

The Fall of the House of Fifa

How the world of football became corrupt

The Cycling Podcast

Readers as well as listeners can now embark on a journey through the cycling year with The Cycling Podcast, which has been entertaining and informing fans since 2013. 
 
Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe share their diaries from three incident-filled Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España. These take readers behind the scenes and explore the culture and landscape as well as the racing, while the ‘Lionel of Flanders’, complete with beer recommendations, does the same for the Classics in Belgium. 
 
There are appearances, too, by leading journalists and podcast favourites François Thomazeau, who takes responsiblity for the French Tour de France jinx, Ciro Scognamiglio, with a heartfelt love letter to cult favourite Filippo Pozzato, Fran Reyes, who pens a farewell to El Pistolero, Alberto Contador, and Orla Chennaoui, who hits the road to cover La Course in a one-woman karaoke-booth-on-wheels. 
 
Further contributions from professional riders Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Joe Dombrowski and the voice of the Tour de France, Sebastien Piquet, as well as stunning galleries from the podcast world’s first and only dedicated photographer, Simon Gill, make this the perfect celebration of a year in cycling.

A Journey Through the Cycling Year

Gabriele Marcotti

Alberto Polverosi

Leicester City's Premier League victory was the 5,000-1 triumph that delighted the world. 
 
But how did Claudio Ranieri pull off one of the greatest achievements in sport? 
 
 This is the inside story of the rise and rise of the butcher’s son from Rome, whose hard work, passion for the game and ability to learn from his mistakes have earned him the respect of players, fans and owners worldwide. 
 
 Gabriele Marcotti and Alberto Polverosi have known Claudio Ranieri since his early days as a professional footballer. They have closely followed his successes and his failures as he navigated the often topsy-turvy world of football and developed as a player and manager. 
 
 Hail, Claudio! takes an in-depth look into what sets Ranieri apart as a manager, into precisely how the Premier League was won, and what went wrong following that golden season.

Hail, Claudio!

The Manager Behind the Miracle

The Man, the Manager, the Miracle

Nige Tassell

In these days of oligarch owners, superstar managers and players on sky-high wages, the tide is turning towards the lower reaches of the pyramid as fans search for football with a soul. 
 
Plucky underdogs or perennial underachievers, your local non-league team offers hope, drama or at least a Saturday afternoon ritual that's been going for decades. Nige Tassell spends a season in the non-league world. He meets the raffle-ticket seller who wants her ashes scattered in the centre-circle. The envelope salesman who discovered a future England international. The ex-pros still playing with undiluted passion on Sunday mornings. He spends time at clubs looking for promotion to the Football League, clubs just aiming to get eleven players on a pitch every week, and everything in between. 
 
One thing unites them: they all inhabit the heartland of the beautiful game. 
 
'The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age' Barry Davies

The Bottom Corner

Hope, Glory and Non-League Football

A Season with the Dreamers of Non-League Football

David Rensin

There will never be another surfer like Miki 'Da Cat' Dora. For twenty years the dashing and enigmatic dark prince of California surfing dominated the Malibu waves and his peers' imaginations, blazing a trail that would inspire generations to come. But when the sport exploded into the mainstream and surfing changed for ever, Dora's paradise was lost. 
 
Outraged at gridlocked swells and a scene that had grown ever more commodified, Dora eventually fled Malibu, seeking empty waves - and anonymity - beyond America. He'd also run afoul of the law, and he led the authorities on a seven-year chase around the globe. Yet, Dora would never give up searching for the spirit of the Malibu he'd lost. Wherever he made his home - New Zealand, South Africa, France - he personified the rebel heart of surfing and became a legend in his own time. 
 
This brilliant biography, based on interviews with more than three hundred people who knew Dora, finally uncovers the truth about surfing's most seductive and complicated icon.

All For A Few Perfect Waves

The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora

Bobby Charlton

Wembley, 1966. England wins the World Cup to roars of a euphoric home crowd. 
 
Sir Bobby Charlton, England&rsquo;s greatest ever player, was there on the pitch. In 1966, he looks back on the most glorious moment of his life and England's greatest sporting achievement. 
 
He takes us through the build-up to the tournament and to the final itself - what he saw, what he heard, what he felt. He tells us what it was like to be part of Sir Alf Ramsey&rsquo;s team, his memories of his teammates, the matches, the atmosphere; the emotion of being carried on the wave of a nation&rsquo;s euphoria and how it felt to go toe-to-toe with some of the foremost footballers to ever play the game. 
 
His life was forever defined by a single moment: one day when a man stood side-by-side with his best friends, united in a single aim in front of a watching nation. This is his story. 
 
&lsquo;It&rsquo;s gripping stuff&hellip; This is a mellow book, the product of many years&rsquo; contemplation, and emotional in a way that may surprise you&hellip;He has a wonderful story to tell&rsquo; Daily Mail

1966

My World Cup Story

Richard Askwith

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 
 
The definitive biography of one of the greatest, most extraordinary runners and Olympic heroes of all time, from the author of running classic Feet in the Clouds. 
 
 
Emil Zátopek won five Olympic medals, set 18 world records, and went undefeated over 10,000 metres for six years. He redefined the boundaries of endurance, training in Army boots, in snow, in sand, in darkness. But his toughness was matched by a spirit of friendship and a joie de vivre that transcended the darkest days of the Cold War. 
 
His triumphs put his country on the map, yet when Soviet tanks moved in to crush Czechoslovakia’s new freedoms in 1968, Zátopek paid a heavy personal price for his brave defence of ‘socialism with a human face’. Rehabilitated two decades later, he was a shadow of the man he had been – and the world had all but forgotten him. 
 
Today We Die A Little strips away the myths to tell the complex and deeply moving story of the most inspiring Olympic hero of them all.

Today We Die a Little

Emil Zátopek, Olympic Legend to Cold War Hero

Peter Walker

A revolution on the roads is approaching. Is it time for drivers to Give Way? Guardian news correspondent, Peter Walker, takes us on a journey around the world, exploring the varying attitudes to cycling on our highways. 
 
Visit the shining examples of Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where cycling culture is an intrinsic part of the approach of politicians and officials. How have these cities made provision for cyclists and what are the extraordinary benefits? 
 
And then take to the less welcoming roads of Britain, USA and Australia, where cycling can still be a terrifying experience. What are the tragic mistakes being made when planning and developing cities, and how do these mistakes lead to aggression towards the cycling community? 
 
Millions of us find ourselves frustrated by the motor mentality and fighting for our rights to ride. This brilliant, shocking investigation will prepare you with all you need to know to confidently claim your place on the road.

Bike Nation

How Cycling Can Save the World

Jo Pavey

The inspirational story of athlete Jo Pavey, the runner and mum who ran at a record-breaking fifth Olympic Games at Rio 2016. 
 
'Come-back races? I've had more than a few, the night of 10 May 2014 was the ultimate long shot. I was a forty-year-old mother of two who had given birth eight months before. I trained on a treadmill in a cupboard by the back door and I was wearing a running vest older than most of the girls I was competing against. Was I crazy?' 
 
Jo Pavey was forty years old when she won the 10,000m at the European Championships. It was the first gold medal of her career and, astonishingly, it came within months of having her second child. 
 
The media dubbed her ‘Supermum’, but Jo’s story is in many ways the same as every mother juggling the demands of working life with a family – the sleepless nights, the endless nappy changing, the fun, the laughter and the school-run chaos. The only difference is that Jo is a full-time athlete pushing a buggy on her training runs, clocking up miles on the treadmill in a cupboard while her daughter has her lunchtime nap, and hitting the track while her children picnic on the grass. 
 
Heartwarming and uplifting, This Mum Runs follows Jo’s roundabout journey to the top and all the lessons she's learnt along the way. It is the inspiring yet everyday story of a mum that runs and a runner that mums.

This Mum Runs

Derek Lundy

'One of the best books ever written about sailing' 
Time 
 
27,000 miles, three and a half to five months alone at sea, chilling casualty rates, the unrelenting strain of handling 60-foot boats day and night, the absolute certainty of weather and waves that could destroy them. 
 
On 3 November 1996 sixteen sailors set out from the Bay of Biscay to embark on the Vendee Globe - a single-handed yacht race through the world's most treacherous and isolated seas. 
 
Of the sixteen starters only six completed the course, six others withdrew or were disqualified, three were plucked from sinking boats and one disappeared without trace. 
 
This is a book about the sea: how we are dawn to it and how it repels us and about why these men and women risk everything to embark on such a perilous journey. 
 
TWENTIETH ANNIVESARY EDITION, WITH A NEW FOREWORD FROM THE AUTHOR.

The Godforsaken Sea

George Plimpton

From the author of Paper Lion 
 
Following his turn as a Detroit Lions rookie in Paper Lion, George Plimpton returns to the field of American football and focuses on the careers of his Lions teammates, Alex ‘Mad Duck’ Karras and John ‘the Bear’ Gordy. What he uncovers is a fond tribute to the values and follies of this brutal, but captivating game. 
 
Paper Lion was the quintessential look at a football team behind the scenes and its companion, Mad Ducks and Bears, offers an astute exploration into the fascinating lives, thoughts and motivations of the players at home, in the locker room, and on the field.

Mad Ducks and Bears

Football Revisited

After forays into American football, golf and the world of professional boxing, George Plimpton accepts his riskiest assignment yet: taking to the ice as goalie for his beloved National Hockey League team, the Boston Bruins. Signing a release holding the Bruins blameless if he should meet with injury or worse, his initiation into the league’s toughest tribe begins. But when the Bruins find themselves up against the equally fearsome Philadelphia Flyers, a mere five minutes in the rink can seem an eternity. 
 
Told with Plimpton’s characteristic humour and insight, Open Net is at once a celebration of the thrills and grace of the greatest sport on ice, and a probing meditation into the hopes and fears of every man.

Open Net

A Professional Amateur in the World of Big-Time Hockey

From the author of Paper Lion 
 
It began as a fun filled stunt and came to a deeply hellish, nearly humiliating end. George Plimpton had the chance to answer every baseball fan’s question: could I strike out a major league star? Out of My League chronicles what happened next as his inspired idea – to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues – got seriously out of hand. 
 
The original foray into participatory journalism that started it all, Out of my League announced George Plimpton as a giant of sports journalism, able to penetrate deep into the very spirit of sport, with his characteristic wit, charm and grace.

Out of my League

An Amateur's Ordeal in Professional Baseball

From the author of Paper Lion 
 
Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout – and brings back this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer. 
 
 
Shadow Box is one of Plimpton’s most engaging portraits of professional sport seen through the eyes of an inquisitive and astute hopeful. From the gym, the locker room, the ringside, and even in the harsh glare of the ring itself, Plimpton documents what it truly means to be a boxer in some of the finest writing of his career.

Shadow Box

An Amateur in the Ring

From the author of Paper Lion 
 
What happens when a weekend athlete – of average skill at best – joins the professional golf circuit? George Plimpton spent a month of self-imposed torture on the PGA tour to find out, meeting amateurs, pros, caddies, officials, fans and hangers-on along the way. 
 
In The Bogey Man we find golf legends, adventurers, stroke-saving theories, superstitions, and other golfing lore, and best of all, Plimpton’s thoughts and experiences – frustrating, humbling and, sometimes, thrilling – from the first tee to the last green.

The Bogey Man

A Month on the PGA Tour

William Skidelsky

A story of tennis, obsession and Roger Federer for tennis fans and the general reader alike. 
 
For much of the past decade, William Skidelsky has not been able to stop thinking about Roger Federer, the greatest and most graceful tennis player of all time. A devotion has been all-consuming. 
 
 
In Federer and Me, Skidelsky asks what it is about the Swiss star that transfixes him, and countless others. He dissects the wonders of his forehand, reflects on his rivalry with Nadal, revels in his victories and relives his most crushing defeats. 
 
 
But this is more than just a book about Federer. In charting his obsession, Skidelsky explores the evolution of modern tennis, the role of beauty in sport and the psychology of fandom, weaving his own past into the story. 
 
 
Thought-provoking and beautifully written, Federer and Me is a frank, funny and touching account of one fan's life. 
 
‘A splendid deconstruction of Federer’s technique’ Sunday Times

Federer and Me

A Story of Obsession

Simon Lister

WINNER OF THE CRICKET SOCIETY AND MCC BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2016 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 
 
'I doubt there will be a better book written about this period in West Indies cricket history.' 
Clive Lloyd 
 
Cricket had never been played like this. Cricket had never meant so much. 
 
The West Indies had always had brilliant cricketers; it hadn’t always had brilliant cricket teams. But in 1974, a man called Clive Lloyd began to lead a side which would at last throw off the shackles that had hindered the region for centuries. Nowhere else had a game been so closely connected to a people’s past and their future hopes; nowhere else did cricket liberate a people like it did in the Caribbean. 
 
For almost two decades, Clive Lloyd and then Vivian Richards led the batsmen and bowlers who changed the way cricket was played and changed the way a whole nation – which existed only on a cricket pitch - saw itself. 
 
With their pace like fire and their scorching batting, these sons of cane-cutters and fishermen brought pride to a people which had been stifled by 300 years of slavery, empire and colonialism. Their cricket roused the Caribbean and antagonised the game’s traditionalists. 
 
Told by the men who made it happen and the people who watched it unfold, Fire in Babylon is the definitive story of the greatest team that sport has known.

Fire in Babylon

How the West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet

Bernard Hinault is one of the greatest cyclists of all time. He is a five-time winner of the Tour de France and the only man to have won each of the Grand Tours on more than one occasion. 
 
Hinault is the last ‘old-school’ champion: a larger-than-life character from a working-class background, capable of winning on all terrains, in major Tours and one-day Classics. Nicknamed the ‘Badger’ for his combative style, he led a cyclists’ strike in his first Tour and instigated a legendary punch-up with demonstrators in 1982 while in the middle of a race. His battles with teammates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond in the 1986 Tour resulted in one of the greatest races of all time. 
 
Three decades on from his retirement, Hinault remains the last French winner of the Tour de France. Here, William Fotheringham shows that while France may one day find a new champion, there will never be another Bernard Hinault.

The Badger

Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling

David Millar

What is it really like to be a racer? 
 
What is it like to be swept along at 60kmh in the middle of the pack? What happens to the body during a high-speed chute? What tactics must teams employ to win the day, the jersey, the grand tour? What sacrifices must a cyclist make to reach the highest levels? What is it like on the bus? In the hotels? What camaraderie is built in the confines of a team? What rivalries? How does it feel to be constantly on the road, away from loved ones, tasting one more calorie-counted hotel breakfast? 
 
David Millar offers us a unique insight into the mind of a professional cyclist during his last year before retirement. Over the course of a season on the World Tour, Millar puts us in touch with the sights, smells and sounds of the sport. This is a book about youth and age, fresh-faced excitement and hard-earned experience. It is a love letter to cycling. 
 
'Cycling has always been about a great deal more than its winners, and The Racer is quite a ride' Spectator

The Racer

The Inside Story of Life on the Road

Life on the Road as a Pro Cyclist

Tommy Simpson

The cyclist Tom Simpson is a legend. The first British world champion, the first Briton to pull on the fabled yellow jersey of the Tour de France - he brought professional cycling to a nation and inspired generations of riders. His autobiography, Cycling is My Life, was written the year before he died tragically on the barren moonscape of Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour aged just twenty-nine. Forty years on, hundreds of fans still make the pilgrimage to the windswept memorial which marks the spot where he died. 
 
In an age where each Tour de France seems more blighted by scandal than the next, Simpson's story is as relevant now as it was then. A man of contradictions, Simpson was one of the first cyclists to admit to using banned drugs, yet the dapper 'Major Tom' inspired awe and affection from the British public for the obsessive will to win which was ultimately to cost him his life. 
 
First published in 1966, Simpson's autobiography is essential reading for every dedicated cycling fan and an engaging story of the life of an iconic sportsman.

Cycling is My Life

I'm A Little Special: A Muhammad Ali Reader collects 30 of the best pieces ever written about this sporting legend in an anthology by the greatest about the Greatest. Muhammad Ali's story is told by a stellar array of authors, athletes and social commentators, all of them compelled to write about this amazing man. 
 
In addition to pieces by Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer, Floyd Patterson defends Ali's right to criticise America's participation in the Vietnam War; Malcolm X explains how he went from 'entertainer' to 'threat' with his declaration as a 'man of race'; Ali himself contributes with some poetry in his famous interview with Playboy magazine; and Gay Talese gives us a front seat on the 1996 ride to Cuba where Ali met Fidel Castro. 
 
Spanning four decades and including 16 pages of photographs, I'm A Little Special is the ultimate book about one of the true heroes of the twentieth century.

I'm A Little Special

A Muhammad Ali Reader

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter