Americas
![Jeff Pearlman - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_jeff_pearlman.jpg)
The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
By the New York Times bestselling author of Showtime-the source for HBO's Winning Time-the definitive biography of mythic multi-sport star Bo Jackson.
"A legendary tome on a legendary athlete." -Chris Herring, author of Blood in the Garden
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character-and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America's most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth.
Then, almost overnight, he was gone.
He was Bo Jackson.
Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, New York Times bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University's transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball and ubiquitous "Bo Knows" Nike pitchman. Did Bo really jump over a parked Volkswagen? (Yes.) Did he actually run a 4.13 40? (Yes.) During the 1991 flight that nearly killed every member of the Chicago White Sox, was he in the cockpit trying to help? (Oddly, yes. Or no. Or … maybe.)
Bo Jackson isn't Jim Thorpe.
He's not Deion Sanders, either.
No, Bo Jackson is Paul Bunyan.
The Last Folk Hero is the true tale of Bo Jackson that only "master storyteller" (NPR.org) Jeff Pearlman could tell.
"A legendary tome on a legendary athlete." -Chris Herring, author of Blood in the Garden
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character-and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America's most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth.
Then, almost overnight, he was gone.
He was Bo Jackson.
Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, New York Times bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University's transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball and ubiquitous "Bo Knows" Nike pitchman. Did Bo really jump over a parked Volkswagen? (Yes.) Did he actually run a 4.13 40? (Yes.) During the 1991 flight that nearly killed every member of the Chicago White Sox, was he in the cockpit trying to help? (Oddly, yes. Or no. Or … maybe.)
Bo Jackson isn't Jim Thorpe.
He's not Deion Sanders, either.
No, Bo Jackson is Paul Bunyan.
The Last Folk Hero is the true tale of Bo Jackson that only "master storyteller" (NPR.org) Jeff Pearlman could tell.
Editorial Reviews
"A legendary tome on a legendary athlete that was almost too good to be true. Pearlman's research takes us into Bo's cramped childhood home, inside his elementary school classrooms and onto the first muddy fields he ever played on. And in doing so, he gets us closer than we've ever gotten to the truth of who Jackson really was, and how he got to be that way. The book is appointment reading; an undeniable masterclass." - Chris Herring, New York Times best-selling author of Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks
"It's just not possible to write a better biography than The Last Folk Hero, which is Jeff Pearlman's best book yet. And that's saying something." - New York Post
"As Jeff Pearlman depicts Bo Jackson's life, from neighborhoods in Bessemer to charter jets in Memphis, you begin to wonder whether Pearlman contacted every human being who has ever interacted with Jackson. That's how detailed this book is on a life seemingly so hard to depict. Former classmates, agents, teammates, attorneys and so many others provide an array of vignettes that distinctly portray the human arc of one of sport's most mythical figures." - Alec Lewis, Kansas City Royals beat writer, The Athletic
"Every word was devoured like cornbread and collard greens at a family reunion. Pearlman's beautiful and brilliant work here takes you deep inside the life of America's greatest athlete of all time, but there is so much more to this book. As a child of Birmingham, Alabama, who fell in love with sports in the 1980s thanks to Bo Jackson, I consider this one of the greatest sports biographies ever written." - Joseph Goodman, author of We Want Bama
"A captivating, copiously researched portrait of once-in-a-century supernova Bo Jackson." - Booklist
"A standout addition to biographies of hall-of-fame athletes. Jackson's fans are in for a treat." - Publishers Weekly
"An excellent, well-researched biography. . .Highly recommended for all interested in sports." - Library Journal (starred review)
"It's just not possible to write a better biography than The Last Folk Hero, which is Jeff Pearlman's best book yet. And that's saying something." - New York Post
"As Jeff Pearlman depicts Bo Jackson's life, from neighborhoods in Bessemer to charter jets in Memphis, you begin to wonder whether Pearlman contacted every human being who has ever interacted with Jackson. That's how detailed this book is on a life seemingly so hard to depict. Former classmates, agents, teammates, attorneys and so many others provide an array of vignettes that distinctly portray the human arc of one of sport's most mythical figures." - Alec Lewis, Kansas City Royals beat writer, The Athletic
"Every word was devoured like cornbread and collard greens at a family reunion. Pearlman's beautiful and brilliant work here takes you deep inside the life of America's greatest athlete of all time, but there is so much more to this book. As a child of Birmingham, Alabama, who fell in love with sports in the 1980s thanks to Bo Jackson, I consider this one of the greatest sports biographies ever written." - Joseph Goodman, author of We Want Bama
"A captivating, copiously researched portrait of once-in-a-century supernova Bo Jackson." - Booklist
"A standout addition to biographies of hall-of-fame athletes. Jackson's fans are in for a treat." - Publishers Weekly
"An excellent, well-researched biography. . .Highly recommended for all interested in sports." - Library Journal (starred review)
Readers Top Reviews
David FinerCharle
This may very well be the most-amazing, best-researched, stupendously-detailed biography I have ever read, and yet it still left me wanting more. Great job, kind sir. Thank you for writing and sharing this story.
B Ardell YoungDav
Anybody who is old enough to remember Bo Jackson at Auburn needs to buy this book regardless if you are a Dog fan. The opening sells the book and I have not finished the book yet but the first four-five pages are worth the price of the book.
Cory GilesB Ardel
This is, without a doubt, the best work of Jeff Pearlman's career. Combining exhaustive reporting with the deft touch of a writer at the height of his powers, this book tells the unbelievable but totally true story of one of the greatest athletes of his generation and the athletic feats that will live on forever (and almost certainly remain unmatched).
Michael LewisCory
As always, Jeff Pearlman has written a definitive biography of a terrific subject. Bo Jackson was a hugely important figure in American sports in the 1980s and early 1990s, a two-sport star who was mythical in his incredible athletic feats. Pearlman interviewed more than 700 people and it shows. Truly, this book is filled with one "can you believe Bo actually did that?" story after another. He was a one of a kind athlete who finally has the biography he deserves.
Jackson HerodMich
This book is fantastic (and sometimes brutally honest) look at former NFL/MLB player Bo Jackson. It included a ton of information that I never knew about him, which makes sense considering the amount of research that went into it. I've been a long time fan of Pearlman's writing, and in my opinion, this is one of his best. There are parts in the book that make me understand why Bo turned down the chance to make it an authorized biography. At times, he doesn't come off as the larger than life superhero that a lot of people see him as. But, I can say this after finishing the book, that it was a fair representation of the man, with just as many anecdotes about positive things he did as negative. If you get the chance to read this, don't miss it.
