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One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing
of the American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over
the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in
the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by
the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all
of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities
eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf
Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of
any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet, due to bad press
and the government's unwillingness to heartily defend Powers, a
cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. Now
his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr. and acclaimed historian Keith
Dunnavant have written this new account of Powers's life based on
personal files that had never been previously available. Delving
into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while
imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father's
debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about
the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot's
contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. The
result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. This is also a
book about a son's journey to understand his father, pursuing
justice and a measure of peace. Almost sixty years after the fact,
this will be the definitive account of one of the most important
events of the Cold War.
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Bart Starr (Paperback)
Keith Dunnavant
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R615
R524
Discovery Miles 5 240
Save R91 (15%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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A powerful biography of one of the greatest football players of
all time, in the spirit of "Namath" and "Johnny U"
No quarterback in the history of the NFL can match Bart Starr's
record of achievement. In an unprecedented seven-season run from
1961-67, Starr led the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships
and the first two Super Bowl titles, while revolutionizing the
position and laying the foundation for the quarterbacks of today.
Yet until now this quiet man's remarkable career has often been
obscured by the Lombardi mystique.
Acclaimed author Keith Dunnavant brings Starr's dramatic journey
to life in vivid detail, sketching the definitive portrait of an
iconic figure who defined the quarterback position during the
1960s, when professional football stormed out of the shadows to
capture the nation's imagination. A remarkable blend of personal
memory and historical narrative, "Bart Starr "is a compelling
biography of an American hero and the perfect companion to the
classic "When Pride Still Mattered."
"A definitive biography of the best man ever to take a snap from
center." --Allen Barra, "Dallas Morning News"
"One of the best sports history books you will read." --NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell
"An ode to stoicism, modesty and discipline--the virtues that
made the Packers' dynasty." --Mark Kriegel, "New York Times"
bestselling author of "Namath"
"Allowing no room for debate, Dunnavant shows that Starr was the
indispensable man in the creation of the Green Bay Packers
dynasty." -- Dave Kindred, author of "Morning Madness"
"An absolute masterpiece .... Hands down, the best sports book
of the year." --Paul Finebaum, Radio Talk Show Host
"Keith Dunnavant's triumph is that he takes us into the heart of
Alabama, into the darkness and the light, and there we see Joe
Namath, Kenny Stabler, Ray Perkins, and their band of brothers play
football for Bear Bryant the way life should be lived, at full
throttle, indomitably."
---Dave Kindred, author of "Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One
Fateful Friendship"
The Missing Ring" is more than a football book. It is both a story
of a changing era and of an extraordinary team on a championship
quest."
Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring
excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a
wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has
claimed twelve national championships, captured twenty-five
conference titles, finished thirty-four times among the country's
top ten, and played in fifty-three bowl games.
Especially dominant during the era of the legendary Paul "Bear"
Bryant, the larger-than-life figure who towered over the landscape
like no man before or since, Alabama entered the 1966 season with
the chance to become the first college football team to win three
consecutive national championships. Every aspect of Bryant's
grueling system was geared around competing for the big prize each
and every year, and in 1966 the idea of the threepeat tantalized
the players, pushing them toward greatness. Driven by Bryant's
enthusiasm, dedication, and perseverance, players were made to
believe in their team and themselves. Led by the electrifying force
of quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler and one of the most punishing
defenses in the storied annals of the Southeastern Conference, the
Crimson Tide cruised to a magical season, finishing as the nation's
only undefeated, untied team. But something happened on the way to
the history books.
"The Missing Ring" is the story of the one that got away, the one
that haunts Alabama fans still, and native Alabamian Keith
Dunnavant takes readers deep inside the Crimson Tide program during
a more innocent time, before widespread telecasting, before
scholarship limitations, before end-zone dances. Meticulously
revealing the strategies, tactics, and personal dramas that bring
the overachieving boys of 1966 to life, Dunnavant's insightful,
anecdotally rich narrative shows how Bryant molded a diverse group
of young men into a powerful force that overcame various obstacles
to achieve perfection in an imperfect world.
Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the
still-escalating Vietnam War, and a world and a sport teetering on
the brink of change in a variety of ways, "The Missing Ring" tells
an important story about the collision between football and
culture. Ultimately, it is this clash that produces the Crimson
Tide's most implacable foe, enabling the greatest injustice in
college football history. "Keith Dunnavant has written yet another
fabulous book about the fabled Alabama football program. You will
be amazed at how one of the great injustices in the history of
college football cost them their rightful place in history. And you
just thought the system was screwed up now."
---Jim Dent, author of "The Junction Boys"
"Keith Dunnavant nails it: all the sacrifices the 1966 Alabama team
made to win three national championships in a row, and how we were
robbed at the ballot box."
---Jerry Duncan, one of the boys of 1966
"Dunnavant infuses reportage and passion into a tale that every
Alabamian of a certain age knows: For all the crying about Penn
State in 1969, Penn State in 1994, or Auburn in 2004, no team ever
got shafted the way the 1966 Crimson Tide did. It's all here: the
churning legs, the churning stomachs, and the dreaded gym classes
where Bear Bryant's boys made the sacrifices he demanded in order
to become champions. They conquered their opponents on the field,
but proved to be no match for the politics of the day off the
field. The '66 Tide is still waiting for the Missing Ring." "Thanks
to Dunnavant, we don't have to."
---Ivan Maisel, senior writer, ESPN.com, and co-author of "A War in
""Dixie"""
"Absolutely stunning. "The Missing Ring" left me breathless. Keith
Dunnavant has proven again why he is one of America's greatest
sports authors and historians. With so much having been written
about Bryant and Alabama, I had my doubts going into this book that
there was something I didn't know or hadn't read. Yet Dunnavant has
managed to strike gold with "The Missing Ring" in every way and
shape imaginable. His quiet prose goes down as effortlessly as
bourbon and branch water. Fans of college football will marvel at
his painstaking research. Dunnavant turned the clock back forty
years and it was 1966 all over again. The pain and the glory, the
pride and the prejudice, all brought to life in the pages of this
extraordinary book."
---Paul Finebaum, Paul Finebaum Radio Network""
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