Keith O'Brien's 6 must-read books about significant moments in sports history
The best-selling author recommends works by Laura Hillenbrand, Jonathan Eig and more

When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.
Keith O'Brien is the best-selling author of "Fly Girls," a group portrait of pioneering female pilots, and "Paradise Falls," which revisits the Love Canal environmental tragedy. His new book, "Charlie Hustle," recounts the unraveling of baseball legend Pete Rose.
'October 1964' by David Halberstam (1994)
At this time of year, the start of a new baseball season, we have to lead off with David Halberstam. He was one of our master storytellers and he is in peak form here, spinning a narrative about the 1964 World Series. The book is ostensibly about the New York Yankees taking on the St. Louis Cardinals. But thanks to Halberstam's approach, it's about way more than that. Buy it here.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Seabiscuit' by Laura Hillenbrand (1999)
Laura Hillenbrand was a reporter covering the horse racing industry when she decided to write a magazine article — and then, perhaps, a book — about a small, bowlegged racehorse who inspired America during the Great Depression. The result of her efforts: an incredible underdog story and one of the best narrative nonfiction sports books ever written. Buy it here.
'Ali: A Life' by Jonathan Eig (2017)
Jonathan Eig has carved out a name as one of our most talented and successful biographers, and this book shows why. In these pages, Eig paints a beautiful portrait of Muhammad Ali — so beautiful that it's easy to forget the mountain of research and reporting that Eig put into every page. Buy it here.
'Friday Night Lights' by Buzz Bissinger (1990)
Many people have probably seen the television show Friday Night Lights or the movie by the same name. But I recommend consuming this narrative about football in West Texas in its original form: Buzz Bissinger's unforgettable book. I read it in college and it made me want to be a writer. Buy it here.
'A Season on the Brink' by John Feinstein (1986)
In 1985, Bobby Knight, then the men's head basketball coach at Indiana University, gave sports writer John Feinstein unfettered access for the entire season. What unfolded was a disappointing year by Indiana standards — and an absolute gem of a book. After it was published, Knight wouldn't speak to Feinstein for eight years. Buy it here.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning' by Jonathan Mahler (2005)
We started this list with baseball and we'll end it there as well, with this narrative about New York City in 1977. Mahler's book has it all: murders, blackouts, politics, and money. But in the end, it's also a great baseball story — the best kind of story of all. Buy it here.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programme
The Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?
In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs
-
A city of culture in the high Andes
The Week Recommends Cuenca is a must-visit for those keen to see the 'real Ecuador'
-
Green goddess salad recipe
The Week Recommends Avocado can be the creamy star of the show in this fresh, sharp salad
-
Ancient India: living traditions – 'ethereal and sensual' exhibition
The Week Recommends Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are explored in show that remains 'remarkably compact'
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse