Author Archives: Paul Knepper

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-duke In the early 1990s, Tommy Morrison, a young roughneck from Jay, Oklahoma, burst onto the boxing scene to become one of the most controversial fighters of his era. Handsome, eloquent, and dynamic, Morrison parlayed destructive knockout power and a homespun personality into celebrity status throughout middle America, where boxing rarely prospered.  But it wasContinue reading “Podcast with Carlos Acevedo, author of The Duke: The Life and Lies of Tommy Morrison”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/hoops From its early days as a sport to build “muscular Christianity” among young men flooding nineteenth-century cities to its position today as a global symbol of American culture, basketball has been a force in American society. It grew through high school gymnasiums, college pep rallies, and the fits and starts of professionalization. It wasContinue reading “Podcast with Thomas Aiello, author of Hoops: A Cultural History of Basketball in America”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/by-the-grace-of-the-game When Lily and Alex entered a packed gymnasium in Queens, New York, in 1972, they barely recognized their son. The boy who escaped to America with them, who was bullied as he struggled to learn English and cope with family tragedy, was now a young man who had discovered and secretly honed his basketballContinue reading “Podcast with Dan Grunfeld about his book By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-master There have been other biographies of Roger Federer, but never one with this kind of access to the man himself, his support team, and the most prominent figures in the game, including such rivals as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick. In The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer (Twelve, 2021), New York Times correspondent Christopher ClareyContinue reading “Podcast with Christopher Clarey about his book The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-kaepernick-effect In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of African Americans, the celebrated NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of quiet protests on the field, refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem. By “taking a knee,” Kaepernick bravely joined a long tradition of American athletes making powerful political statements. This time, however,Continue reading “Podcast with Dave Zirin about his book The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/ben-guest-zen-and-the-art-of-coaching-basketball-a-namibian-odyssey-2021 Pressure plays, buzzer-beaters, and mindfulness meditation: A team of teenagers goes for the championship in Namibia’s professional basketball league. Ben Guest takes a high school coaching gig on the other side of the world. On the first day of practice one of the ten players can’t complete a simple defensive slide. Follow their journeyContinue reading “Podcast with Ben Guest, author of Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball: A Namibian Odyssey”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/egypts-football-revolution Both a symbol of the Mubarak government’s power and a component in its construction of national identity, football served as fertile ground for Egyptians to confront the regime’s overthrow during the 2011 revolution. With the help of the state, appreciation for football in Egypt peaked in the late 2000s. Yet after Mubarak fell, fansContinue reading “Podcast with Carl Rommel, author of Egypt’s Football Revolution”

I spoke with the great Dave Zirin about my book on the Edge of Sports Podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-about-the-knicks-of-the-90s/id280938935?i=1000539597545

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-war The battle between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns is remembered as one of the greatest fights of all time. But in the months before the two finally collided on April 15, 1985, there was a feeling in the air that boxing was in trouble. The biggest name in the business, Sugar Ray Leonard,Continue reading “Podcast with Don Stradley about his new book The War”

https://newbooksnetwork.com/our-team In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland,Continue reading “Podcast with Luke Epplin, author of Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball”