Snare drum backbeat plus electric guitar: the simple formula that launched the rock star, and contemporary teen culture along with it. Today rock \'n\' roll seems to define postwar American culture, especially in its impact abroad....

Halberstam (The Children, etc.) has written an excellent book about the game of basketball and its greatest player. Readers familiar with Halberstam\'s customary insight into American life might think he pulls some punches. But this is an engrossing portrait?much edgier than the ballplayer\'s own current bestseller, For the Love of the Game....