The Agony of Victory: When Winning Isn't Enough

Baby boomers will recognize this book's title as a pointed reshuffle of the intro for ABC's Wide World of Sports: "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport; the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." In Steve Friedman's persuasive inversion, the thrill of victory usually comes at a high price and is often replaced by a painful personal aftermath. The Agony of Victory follows more than a dozen gladiators of sport who excelled, then crumbled. His subjects include champion athletes from sports both major and minor: basketball, golf, boxing, running, cycling, bowling, and hiking.