Evel Knievel, the father of extreme sports, was a high-flying daredevil. He was the personification of excitement and danger and showmanship, and represented a unique slice of American culture and patriotism. But behind the flash and the frenzy, who was this man in red, white, and blue?
Three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville is a former columnist at the Boston Globe and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He is the author of The Mysterious Montague, The Big Bam, Ted Williams, At the Altar of Speed, Manute, and Why Not Us? He lives in Boston.
An Esquire Best Book of the Year
A Boston Globe Best Sports Book of the Year
“Slick, pulpy, eye-filling, exhaust-belching. . . . Smart, rowdy
fun. . . . [Montville writes] as if pulling a wheelie across every
page. . . . Evel is never dull.”
—The New York Times
“[Evel] goes beyond the action-figure image, painting Knievel in
all his contradictions. . . . In Montville’s capable hands, Knievel
soars again in all his profane, self-deluded glory.”
—Sports Illustrated
“In the late 1960s and early 1970s . . . the coolest man on earth
was Evel Knievel. . . . Montville brings him vividly back in an
outlandishly entertaining new biography.”
—New York Post
“Engrossing. . . . A wild ride on the back of Knievel’s cycle.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Awesome. . . . A rollicking good tale. . . . Montville nails it
just right.”
—The Hollywood Reporter
“If Knievel lived ‘as if his pants were on fire,’ then his
biographer writes like a house on fire. . . . In describing the
complex, contradictory stuntman’s battles with the demons that
would ultimately destroy him, [Montville] pulls out all the
stops.”
—The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg)
“The best biographies not only tell you what people did, they
capture their personalities as well, making readers feel as if they
are sitting down at a long, well-lubricated dinner with the
subject. Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers is one such bio, and
another is Leigh Montville's brilliant recent biography of Evel
Knievel: Evel.”
—Jim Caple, ESPN.com
“Fresh and exciting. . . . A fast-paced thrill ride through a life
of success, sex and excess that is sure to leave you winded.”
—The Montana Standard
“Montville has been doing big time things with his clever writing
mind and his flying keyboard fingers for decades. . . . The job he
did on [Evel] tops the others, good as they are. The outrageousness
of his subject and Montville's matchless ability to entertain and
report make it so.”
—Hartford Courant
“Greatly entertaining. . . . A biography as sensationalist and
superior as the daredevil himself.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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