By the author of the bestselling Moneyball: in football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play. The young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story will one day be among the most highly paid athletes in the National Football League. When we first meet him, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school such as, say, how to read or write. Nor has he ever touched a football. What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world's perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist turns out to be the priceless combination of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability: his blind side.
Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.
Date of Birth:
October 15, 1960
Place of Birth:
New Orleans, LA
Education:
Princeton University, B.A. in Art History, 1982; London School of Economics, 1985
Table of Contents
Back Story 15 The Market for Football Players 29 Crossing the Line 45 The Blank Slate 75 Death of a Lineman 103 Inventing Michael 131 The Pasta Coach 167 Character Courses 197 Birth of a Star 231 The Egg Bowl 263 Freak of Nurture 293 And Moses Stuttered 313 Afterword to the Paperback Edition 331 Author's Note 335
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