{"product_id":"the-last-boy-mickey-mantle-and-the-end-of-americas-childhood-isbn-9780060883539","title":"The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAward-winning sports writer Jane Leavy follows her \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e runaway bestseller \u003cem\u003eSandy Koufax\u003c\/em\u003e with the definitive biography of baseball icon Mickey Mantle.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe legendary Hall-of-Fame outfielder was a national hero during his record-setting career with the New York Yankees, but public revelations of alcoholism, infidelity, and family strife badly tarnished the ballplayer's reputation in his latter years. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/em\u003e, Leavy plumbs the depths of the complex athlete, using copious first-hand research as well as her own memories, to show why The Mick remains the most beloved and misunderstood Yankee slugger of all time. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e Notable Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJane Leavy, the acclaimed author of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller \u003cem\u003eSandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy\u003c\/em\u003e, returns with a biography of an American original: number 7, Mickey Mantle. Meticulously reported and elegantly written, \u003cem\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/em\u003e is a baseball tapestry that weaves together episodes from the author’s weekend with the Mick in Atlantic City, where she interviewed her hero in 1983 after he was banned from baseball, with reminiscences from friends and family. It is the story of a boy from Commerce, Oklahoma, who would lead the Yankees to seven world championships, be voted the American League’s Most Valuable Player three times, win the Triple Crown in 1956, and duel teammate Roger Maris for Babe Ruth’s home run crown in the summer of 1961—a boy who would never grow up. \u003cem\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/em\u003e is an uncommon biography, with literary overtones—not only a portrait of an icon but also an investigation of memory itself.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Candid, compassionate...the best of the Mantle biographies.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With storytelling bravado and fresh research...[in] Leavy’s hands, the life of Mantle no longer defies logic. She hits a long home run.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A masterpiece of sports biography.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is one of the best sports biographies I have ever read. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, it reveals with stunning insight both the talents and the demons that drove Mickey Mantle, bringing him to life as never before.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDoris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Team of Rivals\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In sharp detail and graceful style, Leavy cuts through the myth and treats us to a rarely known Mantle: more flawed, more human and more likeable.  A terrific read.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTom Verducci, Co-author of the #1 bestseller The Yankee Years\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Every kid growing up in New York in the ‘50s wanted to be Mickey Mantle, including me.... Jane Leavy has captured the hold he had on all of us in this gripping biography.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJoe Torre, bestselling author and former manager of the New York Yankees\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e] is a tale deftly told, rich in detail, unvarnished and unsparing, researched to a fare-thee-well, alternatively fluid and florid, and without staleness because Leavy has found a new angle from which to come at a well-worked-over subject.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Do not walk—sprint—to the bookstore to get a copy of \u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Part biography, part memoir, and part fan’s note, The Last Boy is the most complete book ever about Mantle.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSalon.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The only thing about this book that is better than Jane Leavy’s vivid prose is her astonishing reporting. To my knowledge, no one has ever investigated the life of an American athlete with Leavy’s rigor and thoroughness.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition and Nine Innings\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is stunning. Jane Leavy captures the beautiful, imperfect Mickey Mantle with equal measures of depth and empathy. She finds the buried answers to the riddle of what drove and haunted the Mick.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDavid Maraniss, author of Clemente and Lombardi: When Pride Still Mattered\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Definitive.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is something new in the history of the histories of the Mick. It is hard fact, reported by someone greatly skilled at that craft...and presented so that the reader and not the author draws nearly all the conclusions.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKeith Olberman, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Leavy shows Mantle at his unfathomable worst and unrecognized best. For even the most ardent Mantleologist, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e, is an education.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTime magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Engrossing.… \u003ci\u003eThe Last Boy\u003c\/i\u003e is a fresh, thorough examination of Mickey Mantle’s life.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Newsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887723409637,"sku":"NP9780060883539","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780060883539.jpg?v=1730227319","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-last-boy-mickey-mantle-and-the-end-of-americas-childhood-isbn-9780060883539","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}