Path Lit By Lightning

  • Author: David Maraniss
  • Narrator: David Maraniss
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 23:26:12
preview

Synopsis

A riveting new biography of America’s greatest all-around athlete by the bestselling author of the classic biography When Pride Still Mattered.

Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw’s New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind.

But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe’s life was a struggle against the odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk. At Carlisle, he dealt with the racist assimilationist philosophy “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. But for all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth.

Path Lit by Lightning is a great American story from a master biographer.

Chapters

  • 001 PathLitByLightning Open

    Duration: 35s
  • 002 PathLitByLightning Dedication

    Duration: 21s
  • 003 PathLitByLightning Preface

    Duration: 09min
  • 004 PathLitByLightning Chapter1 TheStuffHisPeopleAreMadeOf

    Duration: 39min
  • 005 PathLitByLightning Chapter2 PathLitByLightning

    Duration: 48min
  • 006 PathLitByLightning Chapter3 ThisIsTheIndiansHome

    Duration: 54min
  • 007 PathLitByLightning Chapter4 HighJump

    Duration: 49min
  • 008 PathLitByLightning Chapter5 AthleticDutiesAboveEverything

    Duration: 23min
  • 009 PathLitByLightning Chapter6 TheNewestStar

    Duration: 58min
  • 010 PathLitByLightning Chapter7 Railroaded

    Duration: 33min
  • 011 PathLitByLightning Chapter8 AlmostThere

    Duration: 58min
  • 012 PathLitByLightning Chapter9A Stockholm

    Duration: 49min
  • 013 PathLitByLightning Chapter9B Stockholm

    Duration: 29min
  • 014 PathLitByLightning Chapter10 NearCustersTomb

    Duration: 42min
  • 015 PathLitByLightning Chapter11 LoThePoorIndian

    Duration: 43min
  • 016 PathLitByLightning Chapter12 AmongTheGiants

    Duration: 29min
  • 017 PathLitByLightning Chapter13 AroundTheWorld

    Duration: 56min
  • 018 PathLitByLightning Chapter14 TheReckoning

    Duration: 21min
  • 019 PathLitByLightning Chapter15 TheMythOfAVanishingRace

    Duration: 25min
  • 020 PathLitByLightning Chapter16 NeverLookUp

    Duration: 27min
page 1 from 2