The breakthrough modern sports novel The Contender shows readers the true meaning of being a hero.This acclaimed novel by celebrated sportswriter Robert Lipsyte, the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in YA fiction, is the story of a young boxer in Harlem who overcomes hardships and finds hope in the ring on his path to becoming a contender.Alfred Brooks is scared. He’s a high-school dropout, and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His...

“You can’t play it safe when you’re the captain.”From celebrated author Robert Lipsyte, this powerful coming-of-age follows high school football player Ronnie "Rhino" Rhinehart after a violent incident at school leaves him questioning everything he ever believed.Ronnie Rhinehart, better known as Rhino on the field, is the captain of his high school team in Woodhaven, a small town obsessed with football. His only goal is to earn a Division I...

Celebrated sports journalist Robert Lipsyte—the New York Times’ longtime lead sports columnist—mines pure gold from his long and very eventful career to bring readers a memoir like no other. An enthralling book, as much about personal relationships and the culture of sports as the athletes and teams themselves, An Accidental Sportswriter interweaves stories from Lipsyte’s life and the events he covered to explore the connections between the games we play and the lives we lead. Robert Lipsy...

The acclaimed book behind the new major motion picture Measure of a Man, starring Donald Sutherland, Judy Greer, Luke Wilson, and Blake Cooper.A New York Times Outstanding Book and ALA Best of the Best Books for Young AdultsFor Bobby Marks, summer does not equal fun. While most people are happy to take off their heavy jackets and long pants, Bobby can't even button his jeans or reach over his belly to touch his toes. Spending the summer at Rumson Lake is sheer torture....

Tough and witty, SportsWorld is a well-known commentator’s overview of the most significant form of mass culture in America—sports. It’s a sweaty Oz that has grown in a century from a crucible for character to a complex of capitalism, a place where young people can find both self-fulfillment and cruel exploitation, where families can huddle in a sanctuary of entertainment and be force fed values and where cities and countries can be pillaged by greedy team owners and their paid-fo...

“You can’t play it safe when you’re the captain.”From celebrated author Robert Lipsyte, this powerful coming-of-age follows high school football player Ronnie ""Rhino"" Rhinehart after a violent incident at school leaves him questioning everything he ever believed.Ronnie Rhinehart, better known as Rhino on the field, is the captain of his high school team in Woodhaven, a small town obsessed with football. His only goal is to earn a Division...

A longtime sports columnist for the New York Times interweaves stories from his life and the events he covered to explore the relationships between the games we play and the lives we leadGrowing up, Robert Lipsyte was the smart-aleck fat kid, the bully magnet who went to the library instead of the ballpark. As the perpetual outsider, even into adulthood, Lipsyte's alienation from Jock Culture made him a rarity in the press box: the sportswriter who wasn't a sports fan. Thi...