Rating: 
Summary: Best Big Picture Yet on Michael Jordan
Review: After reading this book, I can't agree with the other opinions that "it's all been told before". I think it's told more broadly and better by Halberstam who admires MJ very much and it's obvious why. Very little on the private side of MJ, only a paragraph on his wife and family. No attempt by Halberstam to destroy the hero that MJ is as he covers his reluctance to risk damaging his marketability by speaking out on social issues and the negative characterizations contained in Smith's The Jordan Rules (which I didn't think were that negative when you considered where MJ was coming from). Gambling cronies were a stain that MJ overcame and offshore Nike factories an issue that any endorser must deal with in these days of globalization. Great portraits of Jackson, Krause, Dean Smith, David Stern, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Pippen, Horace Grant, David Falk and the rise of big time agents and big time Nike and NBA contracts and spoiled young players. MJ's odyssey into baseball was a brave and wonderful thing which made MJ a more mature and appreciative person. Some sympathy for the devil in the portrayal of Jerry Krause, I thought. Would like to have seen Michael's mom and dad fleshed out a little further but how much can you cram into 400 pages? All in all a well balanced, fair minded book. Wish there was an index, though and how could only one paragraph describe MJ's great "flu" game?
Rating:
Summary: Playing for Keeps Michael Jordan and the Wolrd He Made
Review: This book is the best Jordan book I ever read. Lots of great details about JOrdan was included. This is also my first time reading David Halberstam's book. After I read "Playing for Keeps Michael Jordan and the Wolrd He Made" I think I will read more books by David Hablerstam. This book not only showed about Michael Jordan's life but also mention about how NBA change over time in the 80's and the 90's. This book is just amazing so i highly recommand people to buy this book and read it!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Sports books in recent years by a master!
Review: When David Halberstam undertakes any subject, you can be absolutely sure that it will be exhaustively researched. Having read several other books by Mr. Halberstam I can tell you that once again that he maintains his excellent standards. He is more than fair to all parties concerned. Mr. Halberstam takes us to the board rooms, playgrounds, press rooms, restaurants hallways, corridors and offices where things were set in motion. This book covers so much more than Michael Jordan and the Bulls. He brings to light so many different people and faithfully traces the current sports scene and it's precipators to the source. He does all this in a fascinating manner. This was compelling reading. He covers angles missed entirely in other sports books. You are introduced to the major and the bit players, who are no less compelling. If you enjoyed "The Fifties" and "Breaks of the Game" and are a sports fan. If you want to really know things got to where they are now. This is the book to read. Mr. Halberstam is one of the literary treasures of our time.
Rating:
Summary: Best Sports Book Written
Review: Quite simply the best book about sports written. Halberstam manages to captures the intensity of Jordan's drive, which permitted him to establish himself as the greatest basketball player of all-time; while, keeping an eye on the forces which allowed him to become an international icon. This is not merely a book which focuses on the greatness of Jordan; although, it does that. What Halberstam does even better is capture and capsulize the events and influences that assisted in making Jordan the figure he became. What separates Halberstam from other sports' historians is his detailed attention to, and superb research of the supporting cast and societal influences. Markedly as interesting as the continual rise and perfection of Jordan's own career are the other cultural and societal phenomenons, which simultaneously converged to elevate Jordan's career and change the culture of basketball and other professional sports. For instance, Halberstam fully develops the emergence of ESPN as a cultural and societal change. Not only did the coinciding emergence of ESPN influence and shape Jordan's career, but it changed the way popular America approached sports and reshaped the perception of American athletes. For better or worse, ESPN has changed athletes from mere sports heros into rock-stars. As interesting is the development of sports' agents and their influence on the players, and the resulting players' attitudes influence on the games that they play and we watch; not to mention, the evolution of Nike from merely a successful shoe company into a ubiquitous marketing presence. And as interesting as the symbiotic societal developments are the stories of Jordan's supporting cast. Halberstam spends nearly equal time telling the individual stories of Jordan's supporting cast, who in-turn had a role in shaping the Michael Jordan that emerged. Absolutely fascinating is the tale of Jerry Krause and Jerry Reinsdorf and how their greed, envy and egos not only contributed to creating six world championships, but similarly destroyed the team they created. The light is shown on Jordan's teammates from high-school through the end of his career. We are treated to intimate tales of their relationships and interaction with Jordan, as well as the result that was produced. In particular, Halberstam's treatment of Jordan's high school career and the North Carolina mystique is worth the price of purchase alone. All of the role-players from Jordan's championship teams (including Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Steve Kerr, Horace Grant, Charles Oakley, Dennis Rodman, and Ron Harper) are discussed and introduced from an intensely human perspective. This book is not only a must read for Michael Jordan and basketball fans, but fans of history who are interested in the societal and cultural developments that arose, from 1983-1998, out of un-equaled career of Michael Jordan and the rise in the international popularity of basketball.
Rating:
Summary: The Grandest Jordan Tale
Review: David Halberstam writes the best look into the world wide phenomenom that is, was and will always be Michael Jordan. In depth and detailed stories capturing all sides of the global icon who he his. The True and incomprehensible genius of his Airness, on paper in spellbinding fashion. The greatest sports book I have ever read.
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