David Gessner is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestseller All the Wild That Remains. He has taught environmental writing as a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer at Harvard and is currently chair of the creative writing department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he founded the award-winning literary journal Ecotone. He lives in Wilmington.
"[A] lively and honest coming-of-age story. . . . An
exploration of the questing desires of the young heart, Ultimate
Glory should be recommended reading for every college student.
A 20-something, unsure whether to listen to the yearnings of the
soul, might find answers in Gessner’s chase of a flying plastic
disc." ---The Washington Post
"A moving memoir [that] celebrates the human ‘ability to get
obsessed’—in this case, with Frisbee." ---The Wall Street
Journal
“The history of Ultimate Frisbee had not yet been written by one
who was there, there for the ugly, early, drunken days when men
first turned to themselves and one another and asked whether a
modified form of football could be played using flying discs, and
answered, ‘Yes!,’ or didn't answer, just started playing it,
running and drinking and diving. Gessner has come for the game that
made him great. Read it.” —John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of
Pulphead
“An important contribution to the history of Ultimate—not a
'hippie-dippie' activity but an exciting sport requiring tremendous
athleticism worthy of respect.” —Booklist
“Gessner’s enthusiasm is unmistakable, and there’s much to commend
the story as a case in point of how a kid, once finding his or her
métier, can make of a pastime a life-transforming experience.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Gessner reflects with honesty and humor on his dedication to the
sport of Ultimate Frisbee. . . [He] remains entertainingly
unrepentant about a decade spent in the throes of a game that
itself was evolving beyond its carefree image. Gessner nicely
captures the persistent pursuit of greatness in the face of doubt
and failure.” —Publishers Weekly
“In Ultimate Glory, Gessner flings out not only a requiem
and a eulogy to a golden era of beginnings that has
since passed, but also offers up a trumpet blast in
celebration of a game that has
somehow remained, against all odds and despite the
tendency of almost everything else, uncorrupted by
its success and untainted by its mainstream adoption
while continuing to offer up a fierce and shining
testament to the spirits of those, like Gessner, who
gave the better parts of their youth over to its glory.”
—Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile
“Ultimate Glory is a book of wild youth, of derring-do . . . it
lifts us up into glory’s heights. Gessner is a compelling guide to
the scenes of ancient battles, knows where all the blood has been
spilled, knows a thing or two about greatness and how it fades, but
in that, too, there is glory, and this is a book to lift us up into
glory’s heights. Funny, fraught, deep, fascinating, so much more
than you thought: finally the game of Ultimate has its Jim Bouton,
its George Plimpton, its Bill Bradley.” —Bill Roorbach, author of
Life Among Giants
“In Ultimate Glory, David Gessner lets loose a barbaric yawp, akin
to Whitman’s in Song of Myself: 'I was the man, I suffered, I was
there.' Read it for all the hucks and layouts, for the epic battles
between Hostages and Rude Boys, and for its fascinating history of
the sport. But even more, read it to hear one of America's most
gifted writers sing an unabashed love song to the glory of being
alive.” —Patrick Phillips, author of Blood at the Root
“Even if I watched him play, I wouldn't be able to tell you if
David Gessner is any good at Ultimate Frisbee. But the man can
write, and this homage to his oddball sport is rich with life's
joys, sorrows and universal truths.” —Dan Shaughnessy, New York
Times-bestselling co-author of Francona
Praise for David Gessner and All the Wild that Remains:
“Gessner [has a] wacky sense of humor and rigorous mind. . . . [He]
proves to be an amiable guide, an aging, beer-loving jock. . . .
But Gessner also digs deep.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“[An] artful combination of nature writing, biography, literary
criticism, and cultural history . . . Like the best works of
Stegner and Abbey, Gessner’s book sands away the varnish of legend
that casts the West in the unlikely role of American Eden.” —The
Christian Science Monitor
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